Out of more than 550 works submitted for this year’s African
Cristal Festival which held in Morocco, Egypt, the outstanding Official
Jury, constituted of African & International representatives, has
awarded 77 Prizes to agencies across the continent including Nigeria.
For its entries, Nigeria recorded 8 medals in all with DDB Lagos
leading the pack with 1 Sapphire (Silver), followed by most awarded,
Noah’s Ark who returned with 5 Emeralds (Bronzes) and Insight
Communications’ 2 Emeralds (Bronzes).
DDB Lagos won its Sapphire (Silver) in the NGO / Great Cause /
Charity / Public Interest segment of the Press Cristal category with its
entry ‘No to Xenophobia’.
Insight Communications’ two Emeralds (Bronzes) also came from the
same segment of the Press Cristal. The entries that brought the honour
for the leading Nigerian agency were its public Interest (political
advertising) works for the All Progressive Congress (APC). The works
tagged: ‘Stop Boko Haram Vote For Change’ and ‘Stop Corruption Vote for
Change”were part of the series that propelled the part to victory in
the last general election in the country.
Amazingly, out of the five honours won by Noah’s Ark, two came
through the agency’s self-appointed Corporate Social Responsibility
initiative. It works on under the Hollow veil series #BringBackOurGirls –
Dorcas Yakubu and Naomi Zakariya won an Emerald each. These were won in
the NGO / Great cause / Charity/ Public Interest segment of the Outdoor
Cristal category.
Likewise it recorded another three Emeralds with works for one of
its client - Dufil Prima Foods Plc subsidiary company -Hypo. The entries
that won under the Beauty / Hygiene / Health (Cosmetics, Make-up,
Medicine...) segment of the Press Cristal are ‘Platitude Hypo Made Of
White (Guinness spoof)’, ‘Define Hypo Made Of White (Guinness spoof)’
and ‘Yanga - Hypo Made of White (Guinness spoof)’
It is however sad to note that Nigeria did not feature on the award
lists for Integrated, film, radio, Promo& Direct, Digital &
Mobile, Media Cristal and Special & Regional awards.
In the current edition of the Festival, Nigeria recorded a total of
1 Sapphire (Silver) and 8 Emeralds (Bronzes) out of a total of 77
medals awarded - 1 Leaders Grand Cristal; 1 Grand Cristal (Film), 14
Cristals (Golds), 24 Sapphires (Silvers) and 37 Emeralds (Bronzes). This
indicates that Nigeria is yet to be registered on the gold list.
Special awards include Advertising Agency of the Year won by
King James Group South Africa while Network of the Year and Holding
company of the Year went to Publicis Africa Group.
Reacting on the agency’s (country’s) performance at the 2015
African Cristal Festival, Ikechi Odigbo, Managing Director, DDB Lagos
said, “All of us at DDB feel simply elated and humbled at winning Silver
and leading the pack of Nigerian agencies at the recently concluded
African Cristal Awards. We believe the showing is not just an
endorsement of DDB but overall, it represents global approval of
Nigerian creativity. We are equally proud of the impressive showing of
other Nigerian agencies”.
According to Ikechi, this outing represents the third consecutive
year of DDB wins at the Cristal - In 2012 DDB pioneered global creative
wins with EPICA and, Loeries Award wins for its Girl Hub Speechless Ad
Material. In 2013 DDB Lagos won laurels at the maiden edition of The
African Cristal, picking up Sapphire and Emerald Awards for their work
on Girl Hub and Durex, respectively. In 2014, ‘MTN Saka Ports’ and
‘Mouka Active Rest’ campaigns brought the wins home to emerge 8th most
Creative Agency in Africa by Cristal rankings. He sees these
achievements as clear progress for the entire advertising industry in
Nigeria and look forward to more.
It will be recalled that more Nigerian agencies registered their
presence through improved number entries at the awards this year. These
include Noah’s Ark, DDB, Insight, X3M, SO&U, Thiink shop and X3M
group of companies’ 7even Interactive. 7even Interactive is barely three
months old but got shortlisted in two categories including film. This
is shows there is enourmous potential for the Nigerian agencies on the
international space.
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