MIPAN’s 2021 President’s Dinner & Awards hold amidst glitz and grandeur
By Abimbola Mohammed
It was a night of glitz, glamour and splendour for the bigwigs in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) ecosystem and the entire guests at the just concluded Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria’s (MIPAN) inaugural President’s Dinner and awards, held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos.
In attendance at the glamorous dinner and award party were the Governor of Kano State, represented by the Deputy Governor, MIPAN’s patrons, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) Registrar, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) MD, Prince Adedamola Docemo, represented by Tope Akande, Heads of advertising sectoral group, past presidents of MIPAN, the Experiential Marketing Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) presidents, the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) president, Steve Babaeko, industry stakeholders, diverse marketing professionals, the pressmen and friends of MIPAN.
The one of a kind premium black-tie event venue was decorated with decorations in shades of blue, which symbolized the colour of the association, live band music performance at the background with songs from the oldies, tables decorated with candles and centrepieces to beautify it which gave the event a welcoming ambiance.
The dinner party also featured awards presentations to MIPAN patrons, and industry practitioners who have contributed immensely to the growth of the industry in the past years.
Speaking during the occasion, Femi Adelusi, President of MIPAN said the event was organized to build the marketing communications and entertainment industry ecosystem.
“The purpose of the event is to build a marketing communications and entertainment industry brand, an iconic and industry brand assets that will be social yet professional. We need brand assets that will drive engagement and collaboration in the marketing industry, particularly for senior business leaders across various sectors.
“We also want to celebrate those that have impacted the advertising and media profession for the past 30 years. We all can see the positive result of their influence, not only in Nigeria but across Africa. We also want to recognize the initiative of the public sector because at the end of the day, it is really about the people and the man on the street,” he said.
While asking for the support of the governor, Mr. Adelusi disclosed that one of the key initiatives for the association for next year is to have MIPAN secretariat at the heart of Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria. He added that it is not just about having a secretariat as an association, but also to have a platform that will be driving its vision.
The chairman of the occasion, Dr. Biodun Sobanjo, who said that his journey in the IMC industry would complete 50 years on 5th of December 2021, noted that it wouldn’t have been a fruitful and exciting journey without the support of the people he met on the way. He mentioned George Edwin Thorpe, Ahaji Garba Kankarofi among others who played pivotal roles in his career.
Dr. Sobanjo noted: “Casting our minds thirty-one years ago with the establishment of All seasons media, little did we realize that we had laid the foundation for giving this sub-sector of the advertising profession a foot that, today, celebrates the achievements of MIPAN in leaps and bounds.”
He commended the efforts of the past executives of the association for their tremendous work over the years.
“The previous leadership team of this association has laid a solid foundation for their successors and I am glad that the banking exchange has continued to witness transformational growth with significant impact to the advertising industry in Nigeria at large.
“From a mere five association members that it begin with, MIPAN has grown into thirty-four members, strong bodies of committee taking out lead responsibilities in development of the association and professional tactics. It is quite commendable that the present executives have taken cognizance of the economic realities and categorizes membership with a full and associate status,” he said.
Dr. Shobanjo advised that all advertising practitioners continue to work together to flush out the quacks that are parading as professionals in the industry, while creating rooms to accommodate more members to the profession.
The Awards were in three main categories which include: Outstanding Media Personality award (OMP), Lifetime Achievement Awards (LAA) and Patron Extraordinaire Award (PEA).
Award of OMP was presented by the Dr. Fadolapo to Tolu Ogunkaya, Emeka Okeke, Alan McCarty (Posthmous), while the Governor of Kano, Dr. Umar Ganduje, represented by his deputy Nasir Gawuna, presented the life time achievements awards to Biodun Sobanjo and Alhaji Kankarofi and the PEA was presented to George Thorpe.
The event came to an end with the CSR-MIPAN Initiative/ cause to support mental health inclusivity by Dr. Maymuah Kadiri, MD Pinnacle Medical Services who gave a wonderful lecture on self-awareness.
MIPAN noted that, it has plans to partner with the renowned Dr. Kadiri from 2022 in specific activities around mental health awareness and management to improve inclusiveness around mental health in Nigeria.
Commending the efforts of the association, Dolapo Ogunbambo, Associate Director, Strategy and Innovation, Starcom Media Perspectives, said MIPAN now has a committee that is beginning to drive inclusiveness.
“For the first time, we are having an executive committee that is beginning to drive all inclusiveness and which is a very good thing, expanding the frontiers of our practice beyond just traditional media independent agencies to more of digital agencies. Conversations are ongoing; we have a lot of handshakes within other sectoral bodies in the marketing communications industry. We also have the opportunity for us as a body to know our selves more. It has been fun, having had to interact with ourselves and grow on a larger scale. I think that is one thing that is beautiful about this,” he said.
Ozone Mbanefo, Founder, 02 Academy, also applaud MIPAN for creating affinity among different stakeholders. “This helps to create some sort of bonding across different sub-sectors of the industry. Together we can make this industry go far. Events like are highly welcoming, and coming from MIPAN, my respect for them just increased on another level.”
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