Leo Burnett Lagos was recently awarded as the Young Creative Advertising Agency of the Year at this year’s Brandcom Awards held at Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos based on the disruptive innovations it deployed in the industry.
Interestingly, the agency made waves in 2018 within the advertising industry, as seen in its number of pitch wins. This is why today Leo Burnett Lagos is arguably one of the fastest growing advertising agencies in Nigeria. Behind this growth are the people and philosophy. A philosophy is driven by a fundamental belief that creativity has the power to transform human behaviour, a core belief known as Humankind (TM).
HumanKind is not about advertising but ACTS; designing ideas that get the people participating in the world of the brand because the Agency believes in the power of creativity to move people. This is very imperative in today’s cluttered content world, disrupting them with a brand’s message comes at a huge cost to the businesses compared to getting the brand involved in the world of the people. This is why to Leo Burnett Humankind is a big idea, springing forth from a passionate millennial workforce who think differently; and one that puts people at the heart of all their communication. This possibly accounts for the series of business wins and successes that have trailed the agency right from the first quarter of 2018.
According to Chief of Operating Officer of the agency, Lekan Lawal, who has a wide range industry experience working on world-class brands such as Nokia, Airtel, Friesland Campina, producers of Peak and 3Crowns Milk brand and others; and who joined the company early 2018, “At Leo Burnett, we believe solving real human needs is what helps businesses grow”. This is the core belief of what we call HumanKind. It’s not about advertising or brand propositions or marketing. lt’s about people and purpose. lt’s an approach to marketing that serves true human needs, not the other way around. That’s why everything we do for brands is designed with a human purpose in mind. A brand without purpose is one that will never be understood or embraced by people. A brand with purpose can be a true agent of change and transform the way people think, feel or act. A brand with a true Humankind purpose can change the world. Our dream is to be the best creator of those ideas that truly move people – bar none.”
As a creative solutions company with a people first philosophy that puts diversity at its centre, Leo Burnett Lagos also made a number of new appointments to inject new and fresh thinking into the agency. Among them was Sinmisola Hughes-Obisesan, the first, ever female Creative Director of Insight Publicis who while there, led campaigns such as Pepsi “Long Throat,” “No Shakin Carry Go,” and “Naija All the Way”, the H2oh! “Water’s going to be Jealous” and Heineken’s “Jidenna” campaign. It will be recalled that Sinmisola won the WIMCA award for Creative Director of the year and Outstanding Creative Personality of the year in 2018. This in addition to being appointed as an International judge for the 2018 Loeries, the prestigious international advertising festival for Africa and the Middle–East.
After a distinguishing year of grabbing international and local awards and winning a series of keenly contested pitches, the agency stepped away with choice accounts, beating well established names in the industry to bag the Nigerian Breweries BTL account, Amstel Malta ATL account and Grand Oak, just to name a few. Leo Burnett’s competitive edge can be attributed to one of its in-house proprietary shopper marketing tools known as “Arc“. The ‘Arc’ empowers brands to understand consumers as shoppers because the agency sees a clear difference in behaviour at consumption and purchase moments.”
By understanding the human truth behind the how and why shoppers make choices in a retail world that is constantly reinventing itself; Leo Burnett gets people to choose a brand over another. As today’s consumers expect brands to know them intimately, connecting with them in deeply personal and authentic ways, it looks like Leo Burnett Lagos has the magic formula.
Reinforcing the Leo Burnett global belief, Leo Burnett Lagos has an ambition of leading from Nigeria with work that is rooted in Humankind, because the agency believes that its humanness is its greatest creative asset. 2018 was a good year for Leo Burnett Lagos for the pitch wins. The agency is passionate about developing innovative creative solutions with maximum ROI for its clients, meaning when the clients are happy, the agency is happy.”
These contributions and a passion for what they do, have earned Leo Burnett Lagos, an enviable position as one of the agencies to reckon with.
Guided by a vision to be the best at what it does without exception, Leo Burnett Lagos, a full-service marketing communications agency, is undoubtedly an iconic creative brand in the mould of its global affiliate – Leo Burnett Worldwide.
The Lagos-based agency commenced business in Nigeria’s bustling Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) industry in 2015 with the twin goals of creating very distinct voices for brands in the marketplace and expanding the advertising frontier in the country.
Leo Burnett Lagos has solidified its iconic creative credential within the local creative industry by propelling itself into the number four position on Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF) Awards ranking table in its first outing in 2016.
Based on such incredible performance, the agency served notice to players in the nation’s highly competitive advertising industry that it is here for business and has the wherewithal to play at the highest levels.
The agency disrupted the status quo at the 2016 LAIF Awards and joined the elite of the advertising industry by placing fourth on the medal table winning three Gold, five Silver and five Bronze medals.