The turn-around efforts at Universal McCann Lagos (UM) has finally climaxed with the appointment of Austin Efienamokwu as Chief executive Officer in a move industry sources termed a major generational leadership shift.
Austin Efienamokwu, formerly Media Director & Business Head at Vizeum Nigeria, a subsidiary arm of Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network is a holder of MBA from Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho and a graduate of Quantity Surveying from Yaba college of Technology.
The new agency head started his media advertising career with MediaReach OMD as a management trainee and rose to become maiden country manager of the Cameroun office and later proceeded to work with Capital Media, a media agency of DDB Lagos as their Strategy Director. He however resigned his position at the media agency to take up appointment at the client’sside with Bharti Airtel Nigeria.
Still poised for career satisfaction and encouraged by his passion for creative media solutions, Austin Efienamokwu joined Vizeum as Media Director/Business Head where he served at the West Africa Hub media director overseeing launch of ABInBev’s Budweiser in Nigeria and other international and national brands across the region until his recent appointment as the CEO of Universal McCann (An IPG Mediabrandsnetwork). His appointment at Vizeum helped to accelerate the agency’s rapid growth and drive development of services and capabilities for competitiveness. It is to the credit of Austin Efienamokwu that Vizeum became one of the fastestgrowing media agency, winning several juicy media advertising businesses and awards within the Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network.
Austin has over 15years experience managing multinational brands.His key areas of specializations include connections planning, strategic media planning & implementation planning, and brand management on several multinational brands across sectors (Brewery, Tobacco, Pharmaceuticals, Telecom, FMCG, & Financial Services) in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon & Central Africa regions.
Austin has been privileged to work on 2 leading telco brands in Nigeria, one as a client as media manager with Bharti Airtel Nigeria for 2years(2015- 17) and as an agency account led on Etisalat(2013 – 14) delivering remarkable results for both brands.
Until recently, Austin led the Vizeum business in west Africa as the Hub media director/Business Head managing a media portfolio for ABInBev&Arla foods in Nigeria.
Key achievements include winning 2 awards at the 2019 Pitcher awards for best use of media and best integrated campaign for Budweiser launch in Nigeria and the Budweiser FIFA world Cup sponsorship.
Austin is passionate about challenging the way things are, inspiring a shared vision of better possibilities. Has ability to be both strategic and tactical without losing sight of the “big picture”, a passion for solving complex problems, combined with innovative thinking are his core strengths.
