Foremost global creative and CEO/CCO of X3M Ideas, Steve Babaeko, has been named one of the global creatives to join the jury for this year’s prestigious D&AD Awards.
D&AD is an education charity that promotes excellence in design and advertising. Now in its 60th consecutive year, the D&AD Awards have grown to incorporate more than 40 categories, judged by a cohort of nearly 400 of the world’s leading creatives from across the full spectrum of design, advertising, craft, production and impact disciplines.
Taking to his social media to make the announcement, Babaeko wrote, “I am delighted to join some of the biggest and brightest names in the creative community as a jury member of D&AD Awards 2022 in the Press & Outdoor category.
He added, “D&AD is much more than just Awards. When creatives enter their work, they enable D&AD as a charity to provide learning programmes such as New Blood, bridging the gap between education and the commercial creative industries, and Shift, which supports underrepresented talent.”
Since 1962, D&AD has been inspiring a community of creative thinkers by celebrating and stimulating the finest in design and advertising. The D&AD Awards are recognised globally as the ultimate creative accolade, entered and judged by the best from around the world.
As a not-for-profit, D&AD invests all surpluses from the Awards into education programmes that help new talent prosper and pave the way into the creative industries for more diverse talent. The winning work forms valuable learning resources for students and emerging talent around the world who are looking to make their first steps into a creative career.
Works shortlisted by the judges appear in the D&AD Annual, an honour of distinction and a platform for exposure to over 75,000 creative people globally.The D&AD Awards Ceremony will be held over two nights on 25 and 26 May 2022 and broadcast live, as many international travel restrictions may still be in place.
Steve Babaeko has over 20 years of experience in advertising and is the only Nigerian named in Adweek’s elite list of 13 Global Creative leaders in 2019. He is also the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, and for three years running, has served on the Grand Jury of the New York Advertising Festival, as well as being a keynote speaker at the 2018 International Advertising Association conference.
Steve is renowned for his creativity and consistency as he has successfully marshalled one of Nigeria’s most innovative creative agencies, X3M Ideas, to become Nigeria’s most creative agency in 2020 and 2021 according to LAIF and one of Africa’s foremost creative powerhouses. Between 2016 and 2018, Babaeko was a jury member of the New York Advertising Festival, and his impressive stint in the International advertising scene also saw him act as judge on the 2017 The Loeries Awards, among other global engagements.
He began his career in 1995 with MC&A Saatchi & Saatchi where he worked for five years, then to Prima Garnet Ogilvy, where he also worked for another five years. After 7 years at 141 Worldwide, where he worked as creative director, he left to set up X3M Ideas in 2012.