64 years after independence: Nigerian advertising agencies step up into global space

In recent years, Nigerian advertising agencies have started making strides globally, earning recognitions. Daniel Obi, Editor, Marketing and Brands, BusinessDay, looks at the Nigerian agencies on the international stage as they break new grounds fuelled by creative innovation and strategic storytelling, competing with players in advanced regions.

The European giants once dominated the advertising world, but in recent times, Nigerian agencies are stepping into that space, delivering campaigns that resonate internationally.

With the back-to-back emergence of Nigeria’s creative agency, X3M Ideas, as the ‘African Agency of the Year’ at the annual African Cristal Awards in Casablanca, Morocco, the firm, for example, is consolidating on its growing global market acceptability profile. In an interview, Steve Babaeko, Group CEO of X3M Ideas, didn’t leave anybody in doubt about his determination to make a global impact in the creative industry.

“Some agencies, including X3M, Noah’s Ark, DDB, and others, have since pushed the frontiers, flying the Nigerian flag on a global level.”

While speaking about the changes and achievements his creative firm had witnessed within a decade of operation, Babaeko made reference to the effort being made by the local players to put the Nigerian flag all over the continent and even across the world. In particular, he pointed out that his mission from the beginning was to be able to make a mark not just in Nigeria but in other places in Africa. Some agencies, including X3M, Noah’s Ark, DDB, and others, have since pushed the frontiers, flying the Nigerian flag on a global level.

In 2023, Steve’s agency broke a 70-year jinx to become the first-ever Nigerian and West African agency to win at the Cannes Lions International Festival for Creativity. The same year, at the 8th African Cristal Awards, the agency won again, this time as African Agency of the Year’. The two feats were not seen as victories for the agency but remarkable achievements for an industry that had long carved for global relevance and, by extension, Nigeria and the entire African continent.

Last week, at the 9th edition of the same African Cristal Awards in Morocco, X3M Ideas again clinched 6 trophies in various categories, thereby consolidating its continental and global relevance. With the remarkable feat, the Babaeko-led agency was also pronounced ‘African Agency of the Year’.

At the event, X3M Ideas didn’t only reaffirm its position as a foremost player in the African advertising industry but also proved its mettle as a leading agency in digital application, storytelling technique, and creativity. The agency’s campaigns that won in various categories are Digital Craft Outstanding Illustration Mortein, Digital Online Display Advertising Mortein, Digital Online Video ADS Lyrics of Innocence, and Brand Storytelling Campaign Entry DSTV. Others are social & influencer social campaigns (DSTV and healthcare public awareness tobacco advocacy.

The African Cristal Awards, now in their 9th edition, have continued to celebrate the innovation and creativity driving Africa’s communication and media sectors. Since its inception, the Awards have been dedicated to honouring the best talents across the African continent in communication and media. This year’s edition saw over 527 entries from 22 African countries, with 70 campaigns ultimately recognised for their excellence in creativity and strategic innovation.

In his reaction, the CEO of X3M Ideas, Steve Babaeko, who won ‘the African Personality of the Year’ during the 2023 edition, said the beauty of it all is the fact that the agency consolidated on the victory recorded at the 2023 edition. He described it as another wake-up call to his team to continue giving their best to any brief that comes their way.

“For me, the excitement is the fact that our team has continuously fixed their eyes on the ball. We won at the 8th edition, and here we are at the 9th edition with the same victory song. Having said this, let me add that the creative industry is a living discipline that requires total commitment. At X3M Ideas, we approach every brief like the only brief with all it requires to make it impact the bottom line of our client’s business as well as position us as the best.

“Our achievements at the African Cristal Awards and others before it, both locally and on the global stage, are testimonials of our resilience and dedication. While thanking, we continued to trust our creative judgement. Succinctly speaking, this is humbling, to say the least,” Babaeko said.

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Under the leadership of Nimo Awil, a highly awarded creative leader at D&AD and Cannes Lions, the jury of the 9th African Cristal Awards comprised more than 20 jurors from 18 African nations, including Nigerian creative agencies Lanre Adisa of Noah’s Ark and Esosa Osagiede from Insight Publicis. Their role was to identify and reward the most innovative campaigns that pushed the boundaries of storytelling, creativity, and impactful advertising.

Meanwhile, the 2023 edition of the competition was a double celebration for X3M Ideas, as Babaeko was named African Personality of the Year while X3M Ideas emerged as the African Agency of the Year.

Also, it emerged as the 2023 Agency of the Year at the Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF) Awards, where it led the medal table with 15 gold, 20 silver, and 7 bronze.

Every year, X3M keeps proving that it’s one of the strongest agencies in the country and on the continent with all the quality campaigns it keeps bringing forth.

Recall that the nation’s integrated marketing communication ecosystem shone brightest early this year at the 2024 ACT Good Report, where the same creative firm earned another global recognition, which further affirmed Nigeria’s creative industry.

Until a few years ago, when the trio of X3M Ideas, DDB, and Noah’s Ark started clinching trophies at international awards competitions, competing and winning on the global stage was considered almost alien to most African countries.

Nigeria’s agencies and their founders have featured prominently at the Cannes Lions International Festival, Loeries Creative Week, Luerzers Archive, and African Cristal Advertising Festival.

In the ACT Good Report ranking released in April, “Motherhood Sentence,” a campaign from the stable of Steve Babaeko-led X3M Ideas, secured the 38th place in the best 40 ranked campaigns selected from over 1,250 campaigns reviewed by the editorial team of the ranking institution.

The report also indicated that X3M Ideas achieved 12th place among the best 25 agencies in the world. The ACT Good Report also reviewed and ranked the 20 most successful networks and the 10 most successful brands promoting sustainability in the world.

The ACT Good Report is a unique ranking showcasing the world’s most impactful use of creative communications to promote sustainability and social responsibility and raise awareness of significant social and environmental issues. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the report.

The Good Report is compiled by ACT Responsible, the international non-profit association and largest source of the world’s best social and environmental campaigns, in collaboration with WARC, the global marketing insights company and publisher of the WARC Rankings.

The ranking is calculated by combining the performance of campaigns across various initiatives of the ACT Responsible Program (such as the ACT Exhibition, the ACT Care Awards, One Minute of Responsibility, the ACT Tributes, etc.), with the results of the recently published WARC Creative 100, the global benchmark for creative excellence. There are no complicated criteria or categories, just great work for Good.

In the report under review, a total of 1,250 campaigns produced by 804 agencies for 995 advertisers (non-profit, public sector, and commercial brands) across 76 markets were evaluated.

Of the best 40 campaigns featured in ACT Good Report 2024, 22 are for non-profits, 18 for commercial brands (including one produced in collaboration with a non-profit), and three for the public sector. A total of 37 agencies (20 are part of 15 networks and 7 are independent) across 18 markets are represented.

With the fresh continental victory, X3M Ideas, and by extension the industry it represents, have thus recorded another feat in the global space, which confirms Nigeria’s agencies recent victories at local and international creative awards.