Winners at the maiden edition of the Nigerian Marketing Awards (NMA) have been rewarded.
The NMA is designed to encourage and stimulate hard work, innovation and overall high quality in marketing, planning and execution in Nigeria.
Speaking during the award ceremony in Lagos recently, the convener of the awards, Tony Agenmonmen, said: “Today is a very unique day, the start of an historic journey. A journey to redefine how the hardworking, highly professional marketing people in Nigeria are acknowledged and celebrated. I am proud to be part of this journey.
“Tonight, we celebrate our own, the very hard-working marketing professionals that continue to enliven our marketing environment. We celebrate their creativity, effectiveness, and great work. We hope this will drive further motivation in the industry.
“Our vision is simple and clear – to be the biggest and most credible marketing awards in Nigeria. In line with this vision, we have obtained the full endorsement of the following industry sectoral groups; National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) and Outdoor Advertisers Association of Nigeria (OAAN). The sectoral groups also have full representation in the Awards Decision Council. This is a first in the industry. This formidable partnership promises to raise the overall quality of marketing and marketing awards in Nigeria.”
He further pointed out that they have also worked hard to ensure international accreditation and recognition for Nigerian Marketing Awards right from the current maiden edition, adding that this allows for the first time a Nigerian marketing awards to be recognised internationally and featured in the list of marketing awards by the global marketing community.
According to him, “We are therefore happy and proud to have received the Awards Trust Mark accreditation from the UK-based Independent Awards Standards Council (IASC). This represents the first award in the region to receive an international Awards Trust Mark.
“The Awards Decision Council is comprised of seasoned marketing professionals, accomplished experts in the marketing field and leaders in the industry. We went the extra distance in the careful selection of the council members. They all have pledged to the highest standards of transparency.
We have implicit confidence in the distinguished members of the council to deliver the quality expectations of this awards.”
Talking about the credibility of the awards, the marketing professional pointed out that awards are most valuable when they are credible.
“We recognize this and will seek to enthrone the highest level and standards of transparency to ensure credibility. Transparency and credibility will therefore always be our watchword. We want those who have won to have genuine reasons to celebrate and those who did not win in a particular year to see it as a challenge to work even harder to make the elite list of winners in the subsequent years.
“We can have a great vision but without funding it would end as just a dream. Our thanks go to the organisations that are taking the leap of faith with us to bring our dream to reality. We thank Nigerian Breweries for headlining with the Gulder brand, the ultimate. We thank Stanbic IBTC for being the very first to say yes to us. We thank Eko Hotels, our host for the great support.
“Special thanks also to the following organisations for their kind sponsorship — Unilever, Seven Up Bottling Company, First Bank, MTN, Invent Media, Friesland Campina WAMCO, New Crystal Communications, Grand Oak, NaijaTimes, Ekaterra, FanMilk, Lafarg, McVities, NAS Advertising, Leaf Tobacco & Commodities, Kurioucity, KSquare Security and Brandlife. Thank you NTA, our broadcast partners, for the great support and for taking the awards live tonight,” Agenmonmen said.
Biodun Shobanjo, Segun Abimbola, Elder Philip Ohiewere and Bola Thomas, among other top marketeers, were crowned with the awards of Doyen of Marketing, Goldberg emerged as the Alcoholic Brand of the Year, while the award of Best Influencer Marketing of the year went to CloseUp.
MTN got the award of the telecommunications company of the year and Oracle Experience was crowned the best experiential marketing agency of the year.
Speaking after receiving the award of Doyen of Marketing, Sobanjo, who thanked the Almighty God and the organisers of the awards, said to him, the award is a testament of vision, mission, hard work and above all, the grace of God.
On his part, Ohiewere, who after climbing the podium gave a resounding shout of hallelujah, dedicated his award to Almighty God for His grace towards him and said the awards will inspire the younger generation of marketeers to do excellent job.
