The thirty-seven members of the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) have been tasked to see unity, capacity development and innovations as the key factors to grow the industry in the coming years. Speaking at the inaugural EXMAN awards while completing his tenure as the Association President, Dr Rotimi Olaniyan said, unity, innovation, capacity development and solidarity among members of the association will aid the speedy growth that is anticipated by the industry players and practitioners.
The immediate past president advised members to maintain a united front to end the clients’ unnecessary bickering among agencies. He also added, “Innovation is key and we must build on it to distinguish ourselves from illegal practitioners, knowledge is important and that comes through training and retraining of personnel as it will be witnessed tonight.”
Olaniyan said, “There is need for us to understand that as agency practitioners, we should show solidarity to one another.” Before now, he stated, “clients used to knock the heads of agencies and fundamentally have reduced the game to commodity pricing. We must not allow that to continue, because the Mackenzie of this world will not lift a finger until a fee has been agreed. They don’t operate on the basis of commodity pricing, they operate on the basis of the fact that they are good and they should pay for it.”
The new president, Salami…, in his maiden address, said it is a new order that calls for new strategic ideas and execution proficiency in running efficient experiential agencies. He hopes to put in structures that will, among others, enhance professionalism, earn for the practitioners respect of the clients and work toward harmonising interest rates which have put the practitioners’ businesses in jeopardy.
The association’s annual general meeting/congress, which climaxed with the awards at the Federal Palace Hotel recently, saw the emergence of 22 winners out of 65 entries in the 11 categories. Keskese Nigeria Limited emerged the best experiential marketing agency of the year by becoming the only agency in the fold of EXMAN to clinch a grand prix at the maiden edition of the EXMAN Awards. Keskese won the grand prix for its strategic interpretation of client’s brief, innovative experiential idea and seamless execution of the first-of-its-kind noiseless party for one of its clients – MTN Nigeria, tagged “The MTN Music+ Noiseless Party”.
The agency won a total of three (3) awards at the 2017 edition of the EXMAN Awards for Excellence which include: Best Activation of an Entertainment Property (Silver) for MTN Music+ Relaunch, Best Event B2C (Silver) for MTN Music+ Club Tour and the EXMAN Grand Prix Experiential Marketing Campaign of the Year for MTN Music+ Relaunch. Speaking shortly after the awards, the project’s consultant, Keskese Limited, Mr. Tade Adekunle described the award as a befitting reward for the hard work, resilience, passion and innovation the team has always put into all the experiential marketing solutions they offer their clients over the years.
The EXMAN Life Time Achievement Award that went to Chris Parkes, founder of Chris Parkes Marketing Services, witnessed glitz and glamour. Other agencies on the winning list included EXP Marketing-Gold for Heineken/Live Your Music in Best Event (B2C) category, GDM-Gold Smirnoff/Guinness House Party- Best Activation of an Entertainment Property, GDM-Gold Smirnoff/Guinness/DJ Spinall album launch in Best Use of Digital in Experiential Marketing, Abelinis-Silver Abelinis Fans Championship Africa in the Best Activation of a Sporting Property and Towncrier-Gold Nigerian Breweries/33 Export in Best Use of Branded Installation or Prop in Experiential Marketing, among others.