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Marketing Organisation
6 Awards
Marketing Company of the Year (Not Open for Entry)
This category recognises the organisation that has performed best at the Nigerian Marketing Awards® 2023. This will be awarded to the organisation with the highest number of winning entries, or which has demonstrated the highest marketing impact in the year. Points will be allocated for actual wins and being in the nominees list.
The epitome of marketing excellence, the one that stands out head and shoulders above the rest and showcases the brilliance of the industry as a whole. This is the one that will inspire all ambitious marketers, and which all the judges wish they could put their own name to.
Brand of the Year (50% Public Voting)
This award is special for a brand recognized as a champion in the industry. It will be based on the current year market standing and consumer preference. It will honour only the brand every year which dominantly led through all the levels of selection criteria.
To emerge a winner, a brand needs to have built a good reputation and trust with consumers, as 50% of the scoring process will come from consumers voting for their favourite brands in the country.
Campaign of the Year
The Marketing Campaign of the Year Award will recognise the standout campaign, the one that “got everyone talking and that people will use as an example of what good marketing looks like.” It will be awarded to the brand that has launched the major marketing campaign in the past 12 months. We are looking out for the most successful campaigns in terms of innovation and reception.
This category will recognise the best advertising campaign which has most engaged the target consumers through strong creative thinking and media utilisation to achieve specific marketing outcomes.
It will not just be about the end product, the Awards Decision Council would want to know the full journey – how innovative was the idea, what inspired the campaign, what insights were gathered and how did that influence strategy, how did you execute the campaign and how was success measured.
Best Rebrand of the Year
For great brands, it is important to preserve DNA that makes them what they are. However, to endear the brands to the new generation continually, it is important to embrace modernising the brands as part of its management.
This category will therefore honour the company that in the past year best made their brand feel fresh again while retaining their long-standing legacies.
Submissions should include assets around the rebrand or new identity and should explain the thinking behind the new direction.
Brand innovation of the Year
This category recognises an organisation that has really pushed the boundaries and excellently demonstrated outstanding marketing innovation. The strategy should show evidence of the creative thinking applied to create a new method, idea, product, or service, transforming it into outstanding success.
The company should also demonstrate how an understanding and application of market research, analysis, planning and most importantly, execution in the launch led to very measurable results.
The Awards Decision Council will be looking not only at Return on Investment (ROI) but also the potential for change and innovation in the long-term. Entrants should therefore include within the entry
- What problem has the innovation solved
- Challenges met and how they were overcome
- Smart execution and deployment of the innovation
- Results from deployment of the innovation
‘Innovation’ has become a loosely used word in marketing, but if you genuinely feel you have done something game changing this is where you should tell us about it.
Excellence in Experiential Marketing
It is evident that people want not just to buy products but also the experiences. A brand that really gets very close to and connects with its consumers can turn them into passionate advocates for the brands. This will lead to increased consumer loyalty and invariably business success.
This category celebrates and recognises the organisation that best implemented an experiential programme that allowed consumers to get involved in, feel, enjoy, live the brand or share in the brand experience. This should have translated into a positive perception of the brand for consumers and excellent business results.
Industry
18 Awards
Digital Agency of the Year
This award recognises the Agency that consistently delivered campaigns for brands and business which encompass multiple marketing platforms, maximise influence and build brand growth.
PR Agency the Year
This award recognises outstanding work from an agency which has made a significant impact to their clients’ overall PR campaigns, executions, and results.Entrants can use a particular campaign as a case study of evidence to form their entry or can use aspects from various projects, but all work must have taken place within the eligibility period and they must show evidence of:
- Outstanding achievements in campaigns and project management
- Creativity and innovation
- Strategic thinking
- Excellent execution
- Successful results against objectives / KPIs
- Any other exceptional achievements or work that especially merits this award.
Testimonials for this category are encouraged.
Advertising Agency of the Year
This award will honour the advertising agency which has designed the most popular and effective advertising campaign for their client, advertised through outdoor, print & electronic media, social media etc. Its evaluation will also include the story board, concept, contents, and jingle.
The winning agency will demonstrate how it helped its client achieve their business objectives.
The Awards Decision Council will be looking for examples of true partnership and collaboration as well as examples of creative and innovative thinking in tackling business, category or sector challenges.
Experiential Agency of the Year
This is open to all experiential agencies who have produced brand experience campaigns during the qualification period that have exceeded all brief expectations in terms of brand awareness, brand sales after the campaign, customer interaction, ROI and bringing the brand to life.
The entrants must show a high level of originality and an innovative solution for each event.
Out-of-Home Agency of the Year
This category awards and celebrates those driving forward innovation in the out of home space, showing that this medium can live on for a lot longer.
The winner of this category will showcase an OOH innovation that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. This could include overcoming a physical or technological challenge or pioneering something new to deliver the campaign objectives.
The Awards Decision Council will consider both high-profile innovations and smart technologies that underpin the campaign, making it work harder/more efficient.
Financial Institution of the Year
This category recognizes the top work being done in branding, marketing, advertising, and user acquisition in financial services and fintech. It is a celebration of the very best of financial services marketing.
This award will reward the best new financial product and the campaign that has excelled within the sector.
Telecom Company of the Year
The awards programme is on the lookout for outstanding initiatives of telecom companies in Nigeria such as projects, products, services, strategies, campaigns that were either launched, in part or full, over the last 12 calendar months
Best Use of social media
This category recognises the best campaign, initiative, or programme that best optimised social media channels to build strong relationships with customers, recruit new audiences or engage existing consumers whilst driving core business objectives.
The Awards Decision Council understands the ubiquitous nature of social media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and more and they want to see the campaign that has truly, really, and deeply engaged.
Best Alcoholic Brand of the Year
This category recognizes and honours excellence and creativity in the alcoholic beverage industry advertising, promotion, merchandising and packaging. These are the marketing efforts that most effectively and creatively earned the attention of consumers, distributors and trade members during the last year.
Entries are judged for creativity, effectiveness as a sales communication tool and production quality.
Best Non-Alcoholic Brand of the Year
This category recognizes and honours excellence and creativity in the non-alcoholic beverage industry advertising, promotion, merchandising and packaging. These are the marketing efforts that most effectively and creatively earned the attention of consumers, distributors and trade members during the last year.
Entries are judged for creativity, effectiveness as a sales communication tool and production quality.
Best Dairy brand of the Year
This category rewards and celebrates best creative dairy marketing strategies and the wide array of innovative new products that are being introduced.
Entries are judged for creativity, effectiveness as a sales communication tool and production quality.
Best Public Sector Marketing of the Year
This category recognises the best public sector or non-profit campaign, initiative or programme that raised awareness and successfully drove business objectives for government schemes, community services and/or NGOs.
Best Reputation Management of the Year
This category recognises the best all-round reputation management strategy. Your strategy should demonstrate integrated thinking, conveying an understanding of the brand’s or company’s role in society and the planning required to successfully achieve a high level of influence across a variety of stakeholders.
Best Social Responsibility Campaign
This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme by an organisation for a charity or cause the organisation had a partnership or association with. The organisation should be able to prove the initiative benefited both parties and had positive effects and outcomes for society or the cause.
‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is no longer the box-ticking exercise companies could get away with ten years ago. This is where you show your company genuinely has a heart.
The Awards Decision Council will be looking at how the campaign’s PR strategies created genuine benefits for both the cause and business objectives, as well as strengthening the company’s image as a responsible entity of society.
Best Influencer Marketing of the Year
This category recognises the organisation that effectively used influencers within a marketing campaign to enhance awareness and successfully achieve business objectives. Influencers could include appropriate experts, ambassadors, bloggers, or celebrities.
The Awards Decision Council will be rewarding a creative, well-executed and effective performance-based influencer marketing campaign that has met or exceeded the stated objectives from the client. They will seek evidence of diligent planning and creator recruitment, whilst keeping a keen eye on measurement, creativity, and most importantly flawless execution.
The campaign must have included a performance based metric. i.e. the objectives state a specific measurable outcome that was fulfilled.
Best Personal Care Brand Campaign
The award recognizes an outstanding marketing campaign within the personal care industry that effectively promotes a product or brand. This category highlights creativity, innovation, and strategic execution in communicating a brand’s message, engaging the target audience, and driving consumer preference. Campaigns will be judged based on their ability to combine strong brand storytelling with measurable results, such as increased brand awareness, customer loyalty, or sales growth, while showcasing the benefits and emotional connection of personal care products to the everyday lives of consumers.
Best Use of Social Media in Food & Beverage
The award celebrates a brand or campaign that has excelled in creatively and strategically using social media to promote products within the food and beverage industry. This category recognizes campaigns that effectively harness the power of social media platforms to connect with consumers, engage audiences, and enhance brand visibility. Judges will consider how the campaign utilized innovative content, influencer collaborations, community management, and audience interaction to achieve key objectives, including driving brand awareness, increasing customer engagement, and delivering measurable business outcomes like sales growth, product launch success, or audience reach.
Best Food Delivery Marketing Campaign
The award honors the most impactful and innovative marketing campaign designed to promote a food delivery service or brand. This category recognizes excellence in strategy, creativity, and execution in communicating the value of food delivery to consumers, whether through convenience, speed, variety, or customer service. The winning campaign will be judged on its ability to engage the target audience, boost brand loyalty, and achieve significant results such as increased orders, app downloads, or customer retention. Successful use of digital media, social platforms, promotions, and customer insights to create a memorable and effective campaign will be key evaluation criteria.
People
7 Awards
Rising Star of Marketing
This award category is designed to honour a young and very talented marketing professional who has no more than three years’ experience in marketing. The awards shine a light on our marketing leaders of the future.
The nominated individual must show what initiatives and or execution he/she brought to bear on the organisation and the impact on the business. This must be the person to watch with outstanding quality. The person must show evidence of initiative, imagination, creativity, and adaptability. The person must demonstrate great passion for the marketing profession.
The Awards Decision Council will be looking out for clear evidence of how the young marketing talent has made an impact on the organisation and demonstrated marketing best practice.
Nominations are welcome from across all demographics; this could be directly from individuals with employer endorsement, or from their employers, however, employers must outline the impact the nominee has had on the business and their performance during the judging period.
The Awards Decision Council will assess the nomination on the following areas:
- Client service excellence
- Recent projects / achievements
- Creativity and innovation
- Initiative and willingness to development in role
- Commitment and enthusiasm
- Team working and flexible working skills
A reduced fee of N20,000.00 is applicable for entry.
Marketing Student of the Year
The Marketing Student of the Year Award focuses attention on the variety of ways marketing students demonstrate excellence and commitment to their learning.
The award recognizes final year marketing students who demonstrate academic achievement.
This category will reward academic excellence as demonstration of the applicant’s commitment to education. GPA will be a strong component of determining academic excellence. Students will further demonstrate their academic excellence in a brief essay which focuses on their passion for learning, willingness to explore new ideas and creative application of marketing knowledge to real-world solutions.
Marketing Educator of the Year
The Award honours living marketing educators for distinguished service and outstanding contributions in marketing education.
All Marketing educators in tertiary institutions who have made sustained contributions to marketing over an extended period of time are eligible. Such contributions should take a variety of forms and should not be limited to a single professional achievement such as research or administration.
The two main criteria for the award are:
- Outstanding marketing scholarship as reflected in extensive, impactful research contributions and
- Outstanding contributions to the Nigerian Marketing Community.
The nominations when submitted should include:
- Summarising the nominee’s creative accomplishments, public service, research, teaching, and service contributions to the marketing profession.
- A current curriculum vitae for the nominee.
- The nomination must include a one-page summary of the nominee’s citations.
Brand Manager of the Year
The category is to celebrate the successes of a Brand Manager, who has done a truly fantastic job throughout the year. The Brand Manager must demonstrate standout innovation in marketing. Entries should show this through the work the marketer delivered in the period, as well as through other moves or accomplishments that reflected out-of-the-box thinking.
Marketing Journalist of the Year
This award recognises the excellent and outstanding work of journalists in marketing reporting efforts from across the country in print, online and electronic media, for the benefit of the Nigerian public. Successful candidates will demonstrate how their articles, features have excelled in marketing awareness and understanding.
Entries can be either a published article (print or online) or a broadcasted radio/television clip in English.
Inspirational Marketing Leader of the Year
We want to find the most inspirational leader there is in our industry and recognise the impact they are having on their team, brand, industry and of course Society as a whole. The winner will be selected based on a combination of proven achievements: their success as a leader, how they empower those around them, how they have pushed boundaries themselves and how they are having an impact on their brand and society as a whole and raising the reputation of the industry.
This category is open to chief marketing officers and other top-of-the-marketing-function leaders whose titles might vary slightly, as brand marketers. The successful Marketing Leader of the Year entry will show not just competent leadership and good management but achievements of note in building, resuscitating, or repositioning a brand.
Nominees will have demonstrated ingenuity, innovation, and creativity in their role, evident not just in the work they signed off on but in ideas that they themselves contributed.
Doyen of Marketing Awards (By Invitation Only)
This special non-competitive award will be given to all living legends of the marketing profession in recognition of their past contributions to the development of the marketing profession in Nigeria.