The Pitcher Awards, recognized as the new benchmark for creative excellence in marketing communications across Africa, has announced its winners for this year.
The winners were announced at the 2020 Pitcher Awards Show, which is the crowning event of the Pitcher Festival of Creativity organized by CHINI Africa, the official Festival representative of Cannes Lions in Nigeria. The show was aired on TVC News and TVC Entertainment Channels and also streamed on the Pitcher Festival website.
Speaking at the awards show, Nnamdi Ndu, CEO of CHINI Africa, said: “With the COVID-19 crisis, we were faced with 2 choices: to cancel the 2020 festival, or to migrate online. As a company that champions creativity, it wasn’t difficult at all for us to make a choice. At no time in recent history has creativity been more important. We need creativity to restore hope, livelihoods, businesses and economies. So, this is not the time for us to step back in our role of honouring creativity. We must encourage those that are doing well to do better for the sake of all of us.”
He also thanked the Advertising Practitioners Council for their support on the programme especially with the Future Creative Leaders Academy.
The Pitcher Awards’ 4 main categories were judged by 3 juries: Heritage, Channel, and Innovation. The Heritage category jury judged entries in Film, Audio, Print, Design, Branded Content and Outdoor, including Installations and Activations. The Channel category jury judged entries in Use of Media, Use of Data, Use of Insights and Strategy, PR and Reputation Management and Integrated Campaigns; while the Innovation category looked at works in Social Media, Messaging, Devices and Novel Ideas, in addition to the Pitcher for Good category.
Special awards include Advertising Agency of the Year, Media Agency of the Year, Digital Agency of the Year and Advertiser of the Year. Apart from the Advertiser of the Year, the other special awards are based on cumulative points garnered by the agency. The agency of the year is the agency with the highest cumulative points across the entire awards category. The Media agency of the year is the agency with the most points in the Channel category and the Digital Agency of the Year is the agency that scores the highest in the Innovation category.
The gold winners at this year’s festival are:
“In Sync with Sho Madjozi” for Johnson & Johnson by King James Group, South Africa for Messaging
“Kings Stitch” for Budweiser by Isobar Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria for Integrated Campaigns
“Jumia Black Friday” - Jumia Nigeria |Entrant Company: Universal McCann, Lagos, Nigeria
“Kings Stitch” for Budweiser by Isobar Nigeria again for Use of Influencers and Brand Ambassadors
“#ItCouldBeYou” for Time to Change Global for Now Available Africa, Accra, Ghana also won in the Use of Influencers and Brand Ambassadors
“The Mum-Star Classes” by KOKO Media, Nairobi, Kenya for Use of Insights and Strategy
“Budweiser King of Football Show” for ABInBev International Breweries |Entrant Company by Vizeum, Lagos, Nigeria for Use of Media
“What Did You Just Eat?” for Power Oil by mediaReach OMD, Lagos, Nigeria for PR and Reputation Management
“Corona X Parley Street Surfers” for AB INBev by King James Group JHB, Johannesburg, South Africa for Branded Content
“Sanlam Cost of Cancer” by King James Group South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa also for Branded Content
“A Kenyan Love Story in 360” by KOKO Media, Nairobi, Kenya for design
“The Restaurant” for Cape Verde Government by Maianga Cape Verde, Praia, Cape Verde for Outdoor, Installations and Activations
“Let History Repeat Itself – Fela” by Noah's Ark Communications, Lagos, Nigeria also for Outdoor, Installations and Activations
“Feeding the Freedom” by KOKO Media, Nairobi, Kenya for Film
The Pitcher for Good was awarded to “#ItCouldBeYou” for Time to Change Global by Now Available Africa, Accra, Ghana.
The Heritage Jury awarded Design Grand Prix to “Annual Report Sonatel Orange 2018” by Caractère, Dakar, Senegal
Details of the shortlist, bronze and silver awards as well as the winning materials are available for viewing at pitcherfestival.com.
The Pitcher Festival of Creativity also organized competitions for Future Creative Leaders Academy, programme for students in tertiary institutions and the Young Professionals Academy. The winners of the Young Lions Competition organized under the Young Professionals Academy will go on to represent their country at the next Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France at the global competiton. They 2020 winners are as follows:
Young Lions Print: Competition: Damilola David Aiki & Ademola John Adeyoola of Nitro 121 Limited
Young Lions Digital Competition: Anakhuagbor Sule & Toni Fagbemi of DigitXplus, Nigeria
Young Lions Media Competition (Nigeria): Olashile Owolabi & Timilehin Oyedeji
Young Lions Media Competition (West Africa): Emmanuel Addo & Deborah Eli, PHD Media, Accra, Ghana
Young Lions Film Competition: Ukwadinamor Gift & Damilola Oyewo, TBWA Concept, Nigeria
Meanwhile, Ayobami Olajide from Covenant University was announced as the winner for the Future Creative Leaders Academy (FCLA) competition. He will be sponsored to attend the next Dubai Lynx Festival. Also, his supervising lecturer was declared FCLA lecturer of the Year and Covenant University became FCLA Best School of the Year with the total scores of their 3 participating students exceeding those of other participating schools.