DDB Lagos comes tops at LAIF, dominates continent

Nigeria’s most globally awarded agency, DDB Lagos of the Casers Group, celebrated more wins at the 2014 Lagos Ideas and Advertising Festival (LAIF) that took place at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, recently, winning 31 awards including the prestigious and most sought after Grand Prix award.

DDB Lagos also carted home five awards in three different categories during the African Cristal Awards held in Morocco this year. These stellar performances, both locally and internationally, continue to reinforce DDB Lagos’ reputation as Nigeria’s leading agency.

The LAIF Grand Prix was awarded to DDB for the MTN Saka Ports Campaign of last year. Many will remember this particular campaign due to the unprecedented talk value it generated when it was launched. Never had such a thing been done in the Nigerian advertising realm where a renowned celebrity, who earned his popularity by featuring in various advertising campaigns for a rival network, ported to MTN.

Newspapers and the social media instantly put out stories and speculations about how the campaign was conceived and executed. It was simple, yet ingenious, and had all the elements DDB Lagos is famous for when it comes to creative communication solutions – simplicity, surprise and a smile.

For a little background, the Grand Prix historically is awarded to the ‘best of the best overall’ and is the most respected award amongst professional advertising bodies. To win a Grand Prix, a piece of work must have been judged to have advanced the frontiers in its category. Gold winners in any given category automatically qualify and on the rare occasion where one meets such standards, a Grand Prix is awarded.

Other than the prestigious Grand Prix win, DDB Lagos proudly walked away with seven Gold, 12 Silver and 12 Bronze awards all in different categories ranging from Best use of New Media online, Press, Outdoor, Best use of Original Photography, Best use of Music, Best use of Photo illustration and the list goes on, making DDB Lagos the most awarded Agency for 2014. For the detailed list of LAIF awards, see addendum below.

The African Cristal Awards show in Morocco was no less eventful as DDB Lagos made the roll call as the 8th ranked agency in all of Africa, proving once again that the agency’s brand of creativity is of international standards. This is not the agency’s first win at the international event as just last year 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. This year, ‘MTN Saka Ports’ and ‘Mouka Active Rest’ campaigns brought the wins home.

DDB’s wins at International and local level with consecutive wins at not only the African Cristals and LAIF but also the Loeries and the Epica International Awards further proves that Nigeria’s foremost advertising agency for the last 26 years continues to demonstrate its drive to push creative excellence to the next level both locally and internationally.

DDB Lagos was founded by the visionary Enyi Odigbo, the chairman of Casers Group and a former president of AAAN. The agency is currently steered by Ikechi Odigbo, who has a mandate to transform DDB into the biggest and best builder of brands in Africa.