One of the major highlights of Creativity Week 2019 was the announcement that Pitcher Awards will from 2020 open entries for work created or implemented anywhere on the African continent. Another exciting news from Creativity Week 2019 was the naming of the 3-day onsite conference as Pitcher Festival.
Creativity Week 2019 was indeed a time of learning, empowerment and networking. It started with a bang on 25 March and closed on 30 March. The week-long event began with webinars taken by international creative leaders on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26. On Wednesday, we welcomed our international delegates from different countries as well as delegates for the Future Creative Leaders Academy from various tertiary institutions. The onsite activities, now to be known as Pitcher Festival, kicked-off on Thursday with exciting individual presentations, workshops and panelist sessions that left the attendees in awe.
Thursday events started with a press briefing by Thomas Kolster; International speaker and author of Goodvertising, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem; Head of Corporate communications and Marketing, Union Bank and Chair of the Creating a Better Africa Programme, as well as Nnamdi Ndu, Managing Director CHINI Africa, organizers of the Creativity week.
The briefing was followed immediately by a workshop anchored by Thomas Kolster for The Creating a Better Africa programme. The Creating a Better Africa programme had speakers like Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem, who spoke on “How brands can play a role in the United Nation’s SDG’s” and Noella Ekezie, Founder/Creative Director Ellae Creative, who spoke on “The Critical Role Of Creativity in Driving Social Change”.
Notable female creative leaders came together to deliver top notch talks to help female creatives accelerate their career path and encourage them to take up leadership roles in the industry at the See It Be It Programme. The See It Be It commenced with a press briefing by Debola Adegbulugbe; Creative Lead at Leo Burnett Lagos, Sinmisola Hughes-Obisesan; Creative Director at Leo Burnett Lagos and Adaobi Chukwudozie; Senior Strategist Leo Burnett Lagos. This was followed immediately by a session with Biola Alabi; CEO Biola Media who spoke on how women should brace up and take up leadership positions without limiting themselves.
Creative leaders like Temitope Jemerigbe, Fiona Uwagwu, Chidinma Uwadiae and Sinmisola Hughes-Obisesan took the stage with an interactive panelist session to discuss the need for female creatives to get the right knowledge, know their path and invest in themselves so that they can build confidence in themselves. There were also individual presentations from notable industry leaders like Lanre Adisa, Bunmi Oke, Omowunmi Owodunni and Nnenna Onyewuchi.
Viacom International Media Networks Africa, hosted by MTV Base, dazzled the audience with an exciting panelist session on “branded content and the effective use of brand ambassadors” which was moderated by Country Manager, Akintunde-Johnson Bada, with other panel members like Fade Ogunro, Chuka Obi and Di’ja. The MTV Base concluded their session with the Future Creative Leaders Academy delegates on Saturday with Samantha Walsh and Solafunmi Oyeneye who spoke on “Creating Audience-Loved Content; The MTV Base Way”.
The Young Professionals Academy (YPA) also opened with a session taken by Dozie Okafor, Managing Director PHD Nigeria, who spoke on defining Target Audience and Market Prioritization, an interactive session with practical examples. Other speakers including Seyi Owolawi associate creative director, DDB lagos also shared tips on “Winning in Business – Awards and ROI” with his main focus on how creatives can stand out in the industry. This was followed by a session held by Agatha Emina, General Manager Wildfusion, who delivered her presentation on “Measuring Successful campaigns: Digital Parameters”.
The main seminar room also had mind blowing seminars from top media personalities and creative leaders like Osagie Alonge, Head of Editorial, Pulse Africa and presentations by Studio 24, Nigerian Info FM and many others. One of the most remarkable sessions that kept the attendees talking was the session held by the Airtel team from Noah’s Ark Communications moderated by Lanre Adisa which also featured the major characters in Airtel commercials. The session tagged “Story Time with Airtel” displayed various Airtel commercials and the panelists shared the human truths that informed the campaigns.
The week-long event ended with the Pitcher Awards on Saturday. The awards night hosted several creative leaders as well as delegates from several ad agencies and clients. The Pitcher Awards celebrated the best ideas in the industry, awarding deserving works in the various categories. The awards night ended with Noah’s Ark winning the Pitcher Awards Agency of the Year, while Union Bank went home with the Advertiser of the Year award.