DDB Lagos Hauls Five New Accounts

The year ending 2015 has been a challenging period for most marketing communications outfits in Nigeria, but for DDB Lagos, the story has been very different, as the agency has continued to flourish not just in terms of creative capital but by accumulating several new accounts.

While a great number of the advertising agencies are groaning, DDB Lagos added five impressive new accounts to its rich portfolio in 2015 alone, one more than it yearly projection. Some of the new businesses are Orlam, an Asian multinational that is into confectionaries, beverages, yoghurt and many more products, Wakanow, Nigeria’s undisputed king of online travels, Huawei, an Asian technology giant and Africa Reap.

“We are not only growing in terms of creative capital but we are growing also as a business. Every year, we have targeted that we must win four new businesses, and this year we have exceeded that with very impressive new business wins. We are pleased that despite the uncertainties of the economic business landscape, we have been able to make much progress,” Ikechi Odigbo, Managing Director of DDB Lagos said in an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE.

With these new accounts DDB Lagos has further reinforced its position as one of the frontline advertising agencies in Nigeria and has shown that despite being an old agency it still remains a force to be reckoned with. The agency equally reinforced its reputation with another dominant performance at the just concluded LAIF where it emerged as the most awarded agency with five gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze.

Since the commencement of LAIF Awards 10 years ago, DDB Lagos has been one of the two dominant agencies carting home the Grand Prix a number of times including last year when it won it with Saka “I don port to MTN”. This year, they lost the coveted Grand Prix to a fast rising agency, Noah’s Ark.
Speaking on DDB’s performance at this year’s LAIF, Odigbo said it was consistent with the agency usual dominant displays in previous editions. “I believe our outing at the 10th anniversary of LAIF was consistent with our past performances of being dominant, being among the first two at the awards, and I believe it’s an indication of the fact that over the years we have been able to build creative culture within the agency to be able to continue to deliver creative values to our clients.

“What I also found impressive was the fact that we continue to win with both our big and small clients, showing that we place equal value on the clients we work for,” DDB Lagos MD said, adding that this goes to show that the entire breath of the agency’s portfolio is being properly engaged by its creative and account management team.

Perhaps one of the reasons why DDB has continued to be a dominant participant at LAIF is that they pay close attention. “Though we are focused on helping our clients win in the market place, there is no doubt that our ability to build our creative reputation through award wins enhances the opportunities we have to be invited at pitches and to be able to have greater access to new prospects in the corporate landscape,” he said.

While commending Noah’s Ark for their remarkable outing at the 10th anniversary of LAIF Awards, Odigbo who is the Chairman of the LAIF Awards Management team, said he was encourage by the distribution of the awards this years, as new agencies are beginning to prove their mettle against the established ones like DDB and Insight, thereby making competition a lot more intense and healthy.