Keskese Nigeria Limited, one of Nigeria’s leading experiential marketing agencies, has emerged the winner of the Grand Prix at the just concluded maiden edition of the Experiential Marketing Agencies of Nigeria (EXMAN) Awards.
Dr. Rotimi Olaniyan, the immediate past president of the association capped his two-year tenure with the awards dinner which also feature the swearing in of a new Exco led by Mr. Kehinde Salami, CEO, GDM and former General Secretary as new President and the investiture of Chris Parkes, CEO, Chris Parkes Marketing Services (CPMS) with the EXMAN Life-time Achievement Award.
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 new President 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 hope to put in structures that will among others: enhance professionalism, earn for the practitioners respect of the clients and work towardd harmonizing interest rates which have put the practitioners’ businesses in jeopardy.
Similarly, the Mr. Parkes who has been in the industry for upwards of 2 decades advised that the younger generations to increase their professional depth and create value of their clients.
The entries were judged by five distinguished practitioners including Idorenyen Enang (former Commercial Director at Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Managing Director at L’Oreal Central West Africa & Samsung Electronics West Africa and also past-president, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) who is the lead judge), Mrs. Bimbo Alabi (ADVAN’s 2nd Vice President), Steve Babaeko (CEO, X3M Ideas) Sam Osunsoko (Managing Director Leo Burnett Lagos) and Mr. Ikechukwu Obiaya (Dean School of Media and Communications, Pan African University).
According to the outgoing President of the Association, Dr. Rotimi Olaniyan, 65 entries were received from 14 experiential marketing agencies among which are; Tequila Nigeria, EXP, Ideas House, Connect Marketing, Proximity, Keskese, Abbelinis, GDM, Towncriers, Linkpoint and Sodium.
The event which held Saturday evening at the Federal Place Hotel in Lagos, saw Keskese emerged with the most coveted award; also saw some categories without a winner. This according to Mr. Parkes shows the enormity of the work put in by the panel and integrity of the awards.
Speaking shortly after the awards, the Project 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 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 further on the award, Tade Adekunle dedicated the award to the agency’s clients for giving them the opportunity to come up with creative and innovative experiential campaigns and its staff for the dedication and resilience.
“We are really proud to be honoured with this award as it recognizes our efforts and places us tops above other agencies in Nigeria and most especially because of the pedigree and integrity of the judges who have crowns us as the best,” he said.
Adekunle lauded the Rotimi Olaniyan–led outgoing executives of EXMAN for setting up the award to identify and celebrate outstanding member agencies and the work they have done in the experiential marketing industry. He urged the incoming executives to continue the awards ceremony to help entrench the standards of the industry and provide the required encouragement for members.
