8 key things that shape 2017 LAIF Awards
By Daniel Eteghe
The impact of the 2017 Lagos Advertising Ideas Festival, LAIF Awards which was held on December 13, at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos has continued to resonate in the minds of stakeholders in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) industry.
The 2017 LAIF was themed: “Fresh Thinking”, a reflection of the determination by the AAAN Executives and the LAIF Management Board headed by Mr. Steve Babaeko, CEO X3M Ideas, to strengthen the equity and acceptance of the award.
No doubt, the event created an indelible mark in the industry because of the ability of its organizers to showcase the award in a unique way that was far different from what was obtainable over the years.
MARKETING EDGE findings revealed that the organizers of the award took a twist in its approach in organizing the award to meet up with international standards.
It was learnt that before the organizers rolled out the drums, adequate preparations had been put in place to ensure a buy-in by various stakeholders in the advertising industry.
MARKETING EDEGE now examines some of the key innovations that distinguished the 2017 LAIF Awards.
ENGAGEMENT
One of the key factors that brought about a tremendous change in the 2017 LAIF Award was due to the level of engagement between the participants and the organizers of the award, both on the online and offline platforms.
MARKETING EDGE gathered that due to the level of engagement, there was a tight connection between the various participating agencies and the organizers of the awards who took out time to get information from its clients on how to organize a befitting award ceremony of international repute.
LAIF WENT DIGITAL
The 2017 LAIF Award was also quite significant because it was the first time in the history of the 12-year old event to deploy digital strategies towards the enhancement of the award.
Digital technology is primarily used with new physical communications media, such as satellite and fiber optic transition.
This year’s award got a wider publicity especially on the digital space like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, amongst others which helped in promoting the event within and outside the shores of the country.
The essence of using the digital strategy played out very robustly at the venue of the 2017 LAIF Award as most participants were seen tweeting about the event online which served as a means of propagating the award across the various digital space.
JURY PANEL SWORE IN
Another remarkable change that occurred during the 2017 LAIF Award was the swearing in of a 9-man Jury Panel which was chaired by Mrs. Julia Oku-Jacks.
The panel was sworn in a few days to the award ceremony by the President, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr. Kayode Oluwasona.
The panel was set up to allay the fears of participants and to plug some of the loopholes that created rooms for controversies and side-talks after the 2016 edition.
Oku-Jacks, one of Nigeria’s iconic figures in advertising, was part of the three-man team that founded SO&U Advertising, where she worked for years, creating some of the great advertising campaigns that have remained relevant till date.
A LAIF PORTAL WAS OPENED
Prior to the 2017 LAIF Award, a dedicated portal was opened for participating agencies to submit their entries electronically in the various award categories.
The move helped in simplifying the process of having to collect entries on hard copies which had hitherto been very cumbersome over the years.
A SHORTLIST OF PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR ENTRIES FOR THE AWARD RELEASED
With the foresight of the organizers in creating a portal for the award, it was easy to evaluate the number of entries for the various categories and select those that were qualified to participate at the award.
Based on that, fifteen agencies were shortlisted and posted on the tweeter handle of LAIF Award a few days to the award date.
SHORTLISTED ENTRIES EXHIBITED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE VENUE OF THE AWARD
Another significant change that added glamour to the 2017 LAIF Award was the display of the shortlisted entries of participants at the venue of the award.
This gave the opportunity to all and sundry to know those agencies that were taking part in the award.
WINNERS MEDAL TABLE WAS RELEASED
For the first, the result of the winners at the LAIF award was released the same day the award was conducted which had never been the case in the history of the 12-year old award.
Noah’s Ark topped the award chat as the most creative agency in Nigeria by winning a grand prix at the 2017 LAIF Award in addition to six gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals that the agency won.
AWARD WAS PROPERLY ORGANIZED
This year’s LAIF Award took a different dimension in terms of how the event was organized in line with international standards.
At first, the organizers of the award thought it wise to use the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, an event centre that is quite different and spacious to accommodate all the participants.
There were artistic designs and decorations all over the hall which added beauty and glamour to the event.
President, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr. Kayode Oluwasona, said the 2017 LAIF Award was quite remarkable because it was the first time the organizers of the award made use of digital technology.
Oluwasona stressed that with the aid of technology as a driver of the award, there was a reduction in the rate of human interferences in the process of organizing the award.
In his words: “This year’s LAIF is quite different. We are going more digital with LAIF now, as you can see for the first time; the organizers were able to open up a portal that allowed the submission of entries electronically as against the typical old ways of brining hard copies”.
“Judging and all of those things had been reformed ;even the jury level had been reformed such that we had little or no human interferences anymore. So, LAIF is becoming more and more scientific such that we can now play our parts and pull out and then you find out that all the collation, all the aggregation is being done with the aid of technology.”
“I think that the use of technology in LAIF is one major area of difference that we have today and then again going forward in another dozen years, you will see LAIF becoming more international, you will see LAIF becoming more commercial; but AAAN will still hold the franchise. We are going to make it stronger as a brand.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of LAIF Award, Mr. Steve Babaeko, had said his team was determined to deliver a great award of international repute to the practitioners in the advertising industry.
Babaeko noted that the innovations were borne out of the need to ensure that LAIF Award begins to compete amongst other international awards globally.
He said: “We expect to see fantastic show, we expect to see excellent work, and we expect to see Nigerians doing it right because the people that are doing other awards in other countries don’t have two heads. So we have set up the right structure to deliver excellent award today; so I am hoping it will be rated like other international awards”.
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