I want to grow Noah’s Ark into an iconic brand – Lanre Adisa
Ten years ago when Lanre Adisa set sail with Noah’s Ark, the coast was murky and frightening. But against all odds, the agency has forced its way to the top of the Nigerian creative industry with works that are undoubtedly the best in the industry; and has wowed global competitors. Lanre Adisa, CEO of the agency tells MARKETING EDGE’s JOSEPH EKENG in this interview how the agency has been able to surf the storms of ideas to attain global relevance. And what lies ahead.
What would you consider as some of the major milestones that have been recorded in the last 10 years of Noah’s Ark?
We set out with a different mindset in terms of what kind of agency we wanted to be. First, the agency is a brand in its own right and we have always seen and projected ourselves as a brand. That, in a way, influenced and shaped the culture that drives Noah’s Ark. It’s all about the culture. We are creating a set of environment about who we are and what we do and how we see business. So, the things that you will attribute to us have been informed by that state of mind.
We are here to save the brands from being ordinary and getting drowned in the sea of sameness. In terms of the things which we have done, you will recall that we are the first agency in West Africa to get a work published in Luther Archive. We followed that up with the National Diploma from Cannes Lions. It’s on record that we are the first Nigerian agency to win any international Gold. That was at Cristal. Hitherto, people had won Silver and Bronze; but we were the first agency to win Gold.
On the local front, we have been consistent. We started out in 2008, but we started entering for LAIF in 2009, because you had to present works from the previous year. Right from then, as you are aware, we have been winning at LAIF. The first piece of work that we did for Peak Milk, an Outdoor material, won us Gold. That was the first brief for the agency. And from then we have not looked back. Over the period, we have always been somewhere in the top three, or top five of the table, even when we were very much younger and didn’t have the budget to enter as much as the big agencies. Up till now, we still don’t enter as much as the big agencies.
But Noah’s Ark is now one of the big agencies?
Well, we started small and we still have a small agency mentality; which is good for business, because right here in this building we have a couple of small agencies that make up Noah’s Ark. Then, of course, we are the only agency in Nigeria to have won the LAIF Award Grand Prix back-to-back. There was a one-year gap in between. LAIF Award has only given out four Grand Prix, in its twelve years; and we have won two of them.
On the continental front, two years ago at Loeries, we were adjudged the number one agency in Africa, from the ranking they did after the awards. We followed that up with Cristals. Apart from having always been leading Cristals for the past two or three years for Nigeria, this year it got more rewarding with a Grand Prix ad agency of the year. That is a big deal for us. And given the fact that the previous winners have always come from South Africa, I think it’s something that our industry should celebrate as a feat not just for Noah’s Ark but for us as an industry. Of course, we won an Epica Gold as well.
Following the Epica win, we got an unsolicited Adweek report on one of our works, which was included in the 20 funniest ads in the world. For me, that was really fantastic. Not just for ourselves, Airtel was also adjudged advertiser of the year by The Pitcher award.
But beyond that, the selection of our Executive Creative Director in the Adweek Global top 100 is quite interesting. Then, of course, without Noah’s Ark I probably wouldn’t be considered to be a Juror for Cannes Lion festival. And beyond just being on the Experiential Activation Jury, just this last week I got additional invitation to be on the Young Lions Jury for Digital at the Cannes Festival this year as well. I probably would have missed out on one or two things, but those are the milestones I can remember.
Out of all those, which one is your number one pick?
There is no number one; everything adds up to the story. Every part matters. And there is a whole lot more that will happen after that. For instance, Bolaji here was the first person from around this part of the world to have an interview in Archive. So there is whole lot to the story.
In a nutshell, what is your competitive edge as an agency?
It’s about the mindset. It’s wherever you set your mind to that you will find yourself as a business. Our mantra is we go where the idea takes us. We are ready to do whatever it is. Our mission statement says that we are an extension of our clients’ marketing department. And we mean that. Those businesses mean as much to us as they mean to the clients. Meaning that there has been a couple of instances where we proactively come up with the ideas and sell to clients and they love them. So it’s a mindset more than anything else. Our mindset is that we are not claiming to be the very best in the world; it is pointless. But wherever people speak about brands, brand building, you will find us there. We don’t limit ourselves by our geography; the whole world is our stage. Truth be told, we don’t have super stars. Everybody has a role to play.
In an environment where the pool of talents is small; what is your strategy for attracting the best of talents and retaining them?
As much as people want to earn fat cheques, the key consideration for getting the best hands is not always about the money. Do I get a chance to do my best work? Do I have an environment that believes and respect what I have in me? Can I be at my best in this environment? Do I have likeminded people there? Do I have people who can inspire me? Like they say, iron sharpens iron. That, to me, is the attraction for Noah’s Ark. It’s not because we pay the most – we’d love to – but we’ll probably give you a career that when you look back in time you’ll be glad that you were here.
Would you say you have contributed to awakening the competitive spirit in the industry which, at a point, was flat?
Well, I want to believe so. That will be good. I once saw during the last Olympics; there was a particular relay race, somebody tipped the American relay team; so they were given the chance to do it all over again. They did it all by themselves. It is a very terrible thing when you have to run with no competition. So, competition is the tonic we all need to be better. I want to believe that – with every sense of modesty – that the little we have been able to accomplish has been able to inspire people to say yes we can do that. Fair enough, I have received calls from people in the industry saying ‘we are proud of what you guys are doing, you inspire us’. Even in Ghana we get that. That is good; it means that we can’t rest on our oars. Our industry needs to be saturated with people who are thinking in a particular way.
Having done all these what next for you?
I want to grow this to an iconic brand that people will reference anywhere in the world. It started from Noah’s Ark? Who are they? Is it a ministry? And later they’ll start saying ‘oh, you are Noah’s Ark!” I want that to reverberate around the world.
You are probably running out of space in your office to keep your plaques. Do you have a routine after each success?
The most we probably do, once in a while, is the time we have some light entertainment. We don’t do anything out of this world, celebrating something that, in no time, somebody else can top it I you are not topping it.
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