It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the 8th edition of the ADVAN Awards for Marketing Excellence. This year’s edition is truly significant as it rounds up the inaugural edition of ADVAN Week. An edition that has hosted a week of activities to commemorate ADVAN’s 25th Anniversary celebration. Yes, our dear Association has hit its Silver Jubilee.
I stand here and look at a room filled with the most renowned marcomms professionals of our time, and indeed I feel very privileged to see the vision that was birthed 25 years ago come to reality. Thank you all for being a part of this chapter of our story.
We are by no means at the end of the vision, but I make bold to celebrate the achievements of this Association over the years, Indeed ADVAN has evolved into a respected voice in the industry and wider national community. One of the significant achievements is the launch of this event we are all gathered for today, an award for marketing excellence in Nigeria to reward exemplary marketing initiatives and encourage best practices in the Industry, an event that the association has successfully run for eight editions now.
ADVAN has maintained its commitment to members and the industry as a whole, to consistently drive developmental changes in our environment, this we do through our various learning and interventions platforms.
The ADVAN Industry Dialogue creates the much-needed fora for key members in the Industry to discuss and trash out crucial concerns, as this will ensure continuous meaningful relations between all parties in the Value chain. The ADVAN Marketers Conference is one of the association’s knowledge dissemination platforms which provides the opportunity for members to learn cutting-edge strategies from industry leaders, provide the industry with current authentic information on the constantly changing technology and industry trends, as well as create a unique networking platform for industry peers.
Today, the ADVAN Executive Council continues with the vision for a vibrant ADVAN through various value-adding initiatives. As I have said previously the dominant idea which drives our actions as an Exco is encapsulated in our theme “Proactively creating an empowered future in Marcoms today.”
A proactive ADVAN must be the catalyst for the progressive strategic marketing thinking demanded by the future. We must be thought leaders in the industry and as thought leaders, we must think for today and the future. The future is now and the age of disruption is firmly upon us.
A strong focus for this Executive team will be to lead the crusade for a more data centric marketing environment. Our Data Insight and Content Committee is hard at work with relevant partners to accelerate this process. Knowledge enhancement and capacity growth is also a major item on our agenda, we recently launched our ADVAN Center for Marketing Excellence, and this Initiative is in partnership with some of the most valuable business schools and marketing institutions local and external. The center will provide professionals with the required information to aid marketing effectiveness, as well as identify and connect ADVAN members to the most valuable training and certification local and International. We invite you to take up the opportunity that the Center for Marketing Excellence offers. Details of the programs and schedules can be found on our websites.
We are here again to honor and reward the finest standards in Marketing–You will agree with me that high standards of quality and integrity are vital to the success of the marketing profession. Setting of standards and benchmarking exemplary marketing is the principal motive behind the establishment of this Awards. It is an the opportunity for brands to shine and show their marketing successes, but aside the aim to promote excellence in marketing, the ADVAN Awards is a fun place to be, to network, relax and catch up with old acquaintances. I ask that you ensure that you thoroughly enjoy yourself this evening.
This year we will be rewarding marketing brilliance in several categories. The categories have been carefully selected to cover the various marketing initiatives that are deployed towards Brand significance
The strict judging process, is our trademark of quality and value. Entries are evaluated by the most respected individuals in the Industry, the process itself is transparent and thorough, and so I assure you that the winners who will emerge, are indeed the true-picture of the industry’s finest. You must earn an ADVAN Award!
We decided that our theme this year should highlight one of the strongest marketing trends today. Storytelling! Today we focus on the significance of Brands telling their stories and creating a more meaningful connection with consumers. A recent Forbes article speaks to why story telling should be a priority for marketers, it says “Storytelling enables marketers to develop a deeper connection with the audience. In addition to being an important strategic tool, storytelling can be an important tactical tool that lets marketers engage consumers in a fragmented media world. Since there is such media fragmentation, consumers are not just looking for different experiences but different delivery. Why should a consumer give you their time? Storytelling isn’t just a creative approach to marketing. It gives your consumers a totally different entry to your brand”. To deliver on the topic we have the very cerebral Femi Odugbemi who has been at the forefront of creating stories in Nigeria for quite a while now. I earnestly look forward to his presentation
The 2018 edition of the ADVAN Awards promises to be a most rewarding experience, in terms of the quality of campaigns that will be celebrated as well as the quality of conversations that will come out of today’s event.
To all of you that have come out to celebrate with us, I sincerely appreciate you. I appeal that we work together and demand more qualitative outputs from ourselves and the industry, So that excellence can indeed become our standard.
Thank you
Folake Ani-Mumuney
(ADVAN President)
