Enyi Odigbo wins Innovators Award
Recently an elite group of 
advertising
agency executives and marketing leaders gathered at New York’s Trump
Soho Hotel, for the 2011 global Innovators Summit. Organized by The
Internationalist Magazine and sponsored by Sky News and Financial Times
of London, this year’s summit, the 5th in the series, sought
to underscore that innovation is alive and well in the global
advertising, media and marketing industry. It also celebrated a stellar
group of the world’s top agency innovators and breakthrough thinkers
from such diverse locations as Singapore, Lagos, Mumbai, Beijing,
London, Montreal, Chicago, Miami and Rogers Arkansas.
advertising
agency executives and marketing leaders gathered at New York’s Trump
Soho Hotel, for the 2011 global Innovators Summit. Organized by The
Internationalist Magazine and sponsored by Sky News and Financial Times
of London, this year’s summit, the 5th in the series, sought
to underscore that innovation is alive and well in the global
advertising, media and marketing industry. It also celebrated a stellar
group of the world’s top agency innovators and breakthrough thinkers
from such diverse locations as Singapore, Lagos, Mumbai, Beijing,
London, Montreal, Chicago, Miami and Rogers Arkansas.
Africa’s flag was flown by Nigeria’s
Enyi Odigbo, one of 30 winners of the Agency Innovator Award, said to
clearly demonstrate how innovation can take many forms, and is not
limited by geography, age, company size, or one’s position in the
organization. Candidates for the award, largely made up of expansive
individuals who think about advertising in new ways, and are today’s
breakthrough communicators, champions of multinational strategy and
advocates of international brand-building, were polled from nominations
from their local industry and readers of The Internationalist Magazine
worldwide. A final selection was made by the Innovators Committee and
The Internationalist’s editorial team.
This year’s award spotlighted people
from fast-growing markets and from old-world cities. New York and London
retained their primacy as homes to a strong contingent of talented
individuals; however, Innovators were found in Rogers, Arkansas;
Montreal, Canada; Emaar Square in Dubai and Lagos, Nigeria. Plus cities
like Mumbai, Shanghai, Chicago and Singapore, considered hot spots for
innovation today. They were recognized for helping their clients to
better navigate in a digital world; for finding new ways to build
solutions for brands; and for leading with new culturally-sensitive
initiatives as campaigns cross more borders and more boundaries.
Nigeria’s Enyi Odigbo falls under the
latter category, and used the occasion of the Summit to discuss the
misconceptions associated with Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest and
fastest-growing regions. He also shared how his agency, DDB Lagos, won
the South African telecom giant MTN, for the entire African continent,
and has continued to champion the company’s communications and strategy
well beyond its Nigeria operations.
During a breakout session with a team of The Internationalist editors, 
Mr.
Odigbo said winning the MTN business demonstrated how an agency group
that starts with integrated strategic thinking can make all the
difference to an international client – even if the agency was based in
Lagos Nigeria. According to him, MTN has adopted products and strategies
developed in Nigeria by DDB Lagos and implemented them across markets
in West and Southern Africa.
Mr.
Odigbo said winning the MTN business demonstrated how an agency group
that starts with integrated strategic thinking can make all the
difference to an international client – even if the agency was based in
Lagos Nigeria. According to him, MTN has adopted products and strategies
developed in Nigeria by DDB Lagos and implemented them across markets
in West and Southern Africa.
Asked what were some of the biggest
challenges in practicing advertising in Nigeria, he highlighted
diversity, underdeveloped IT infrastructure and a dearth of manpower.
“Few people recognize that Nigeria has 279 languages and nearly as many
ethnic tongues…. It is certainly a challenge to plan a truly national
campaign…”
Enyi Odigbo is chairman and chief
integration officer of Casers Group, one of Nigeria’s leading marketing
communications holding companies comprising a number of strong
individual firms like DDB Lagos, member of the DDB global network of
advertising agencies; Capital Media, one of Africa’s largest independent
media buying companies; Magenta Consulting, a digital and branding
company, and Fin Lagos, an affiliate of Fin London, specialists in
financial industry marketing and Superbrands Nigeria, a global brand
rating company. He is a Fellow of the Advertising Practitioners Council
of Nigeria and former President of the Association of Advertising
Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN.
