President, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria & CEO/CCO X3M Ideas, Steve Babaeko has been named as jury president for Pitcher Awards Heritage and Channel category.
Another industry top player, Tokunboh George-Taylor, Managing Director, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Lagos, was also named the Good Jury President.
Earlier, Pitcher Festival had announced the jury presidents for the other five categories namely Craft, Entertainment, Digital, Channels, and Good.
The Heritage jury headed by Babaeko will review entries in Print, Film, Design, and Outdoor while the Channel jury will review entries in Integrated Campaigns, Use of Media, Use of Data, PR, and Reputation Management as well as Use of Insights and Strategy.
Steve is an unusual type of ad man who stepped in and wrote a new chapter for the advertising industry when it needed it most. Now, his X3M Ideas Group, which he founded in 2012, has become the yardstick for a new generation of Nigerian creative entrepreneurs.
Steve’s unyielding belief in looking challenges in the eye and staring them down has attracted the best talents to his firm and pulled in clients from around the world.
His next stop? South-Central Africa, via Lusaka and Johannesburg, where he recently opened independent offices for X3M Ideas.
He continues to represent Africa on the global stage, having been a member of the jury at the New York Advertising Festival, the Loeries, and the African Cristal Awards. He has also been a speaker at the Cannes Lions Festival and also one of Adweek’s Top 100 Creatives in the world in 2019. He was also conferred with the “Visiting Fellow” honours at the Henley Business School, University of Reading.
Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the esteemed Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. He is currently the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and a member of the board of the International Advertising Association (I.A.A), Nigeria. Outside advertising, he was the former Chairman, Public Relations Committee of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.
The Good jury President, Tokunboh George-Taylor is the pioneering Managing Director of Hill+Knowlton Strategies Nigeria, one of the world’s leading global communications companies which opened offices in Lagos in January 2015. Tokunboh draws upon over 27 years of experience and her areas of specialization include Public Relations, Advocacy, Public Affairs, Community Relations, Marketing and Branding in the Telecoms, Information Technology, Finance, Education, Energy, Oil & Gas Sector.
Before joining H+K Strategies, Tokunboh spent over 14 years at integrated energy group Oando Plc in Lagos where she was part of the Group Leadership Council, heading up the Corporate Services and the Corporate communications/CSR divisions.
Tokunboh has worked with local, regional, and global clients such as Canon, Visa, LaLiga, Eat’N’Go, Eko Atlantic, OVH Energy, Western Digital, Netflix, Bolt, Standard Chartered Bank, Procter and Gamble, NLNG, and Shell.
Tokunboh holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, USA.
She is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), Public Relations Association UK (PRCA), and Institute of Directors (IOD). She is the Acting Chairman of the Oando Foundation, Board Member of Legacy Office, Advisory Board Member of Terra Kulture & Studios Limited, Wiscar PR, Events, and Marketing Committee, and other bodies.
The other four Presidents are Joel Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Digital & Customer Experience, Dentsu Aegis, Kenya who is the Channel Jury President, and Karim Yermeche, Chief Executive Officer, Lotus Conseil, Hydra, Algeria who is the Digital Jury President.
Others are Ambofo Sakia Directeur Général, Agence Efées, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, President, l’Association des Agences-Conseils en Communication de Côte d’Ivoire (AACC-CI) who is the Entertainment Jury President, and Vincent Montocchio Managing Director CIRCUS! Mauritius & Chief Creative Officer Publicis Groupe Africa Who is craft Jury President.