CHINI Africa, Cannes Lions Official Festival representative in Nigeria and organizers of Creativity Week, the number one annual WECA Creativity event and awards show, have named Union Bank as 2019 recipient of the Advertiser of the Year Award.
The award will be presented at the Pitcher Awards Night and Gala in Lagos on 30 March 2019 as part of the Creativity Week, which will hold from 25 – 30 March 2019.
Nnamdi Ndu, CEO Creativity Week, said;
“We are happy to honour Union Bank with the Advertiser of the Year Award in recognition of their impressive use of creative advertising and storytelling to portray their rejuvenated 100-year old brand in a way that connects with the people.”Union Bank’s comprehensive transformation programme began with a recreation of the Bank’s business model, rebuilding of its technology, physical infrastructure and reengineering of its work force.
These efforts tied into the rebranding initiatives and quickly helped to dispel the lingering perception as “old fashioned”, coming from the bank’s century long history.
Following the internal operations overhaul and rebranding exercise has been a series of successful campaigns that have resonated with the Nigerians, including the award-winning Uncle Thomas advertising campaign and the Enabling Success short film which received wide acclaim, gaining 1 million views on Youtube within 3 weeks of release and boasting of over 2 million views at present.
Speaking on the award, the Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing at Union Bank, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem said;
“Our brand is a core part of our identity and we are truly honoured to be recognized as Advertiser of the Year. It is rewarding to see our message resonate deeply with Nigerians, and we thank CHINI Africa and the general public for recognising and honouring our efforts.”
To celebrate the award, Union Bank is partnering with Creativity Week to launch the “Creating a Better Africa” programme, which will also take place as part of the Creativity Week 2019. Creating a Better Africa (CBA) is designed to inspire social purpose and sustainability thinking as well as promote creativity as a catalyst for national development.
Mrs. Ekezie-Ekaidem has also been named as the Chair of CBA, while Thomas Kolster, renowned international speaker and author of Goodvertising has been announced as keynote speaker.