The Loeries, the international advertising festival for Africa and the Middle East is here again. As the highest honors for creativity and innovation across our region, the Loeries recognize, reward, inspire and foster creative excellence in the advertising industry.
It has entries from over 20 countries and judges from across the regions are selected on the panel. Among the international heavyweights this year is Nigeria’s Sinmisola Hughes-Obisesan, Africa’s first female Creative Director of the global Leo Burnett Advertising network. Sinmisola was also the first female and millennial Creative Director at Insight Publicis and also stands as the second female Creative Director in the history of advertising in Nigeria.
She has had a thriving career in advertising spanning over 13 years.
A firm believer in co-creation and an ideas person at heart, her superpower lies in her ability to create award-winning, impactful campaigns for local and international brands that connect with today’s digital consumer. Some of her work include the Pepsi ‘Naija All the Way’ campaign, the famous Pepsi Long Throat campaign, Pepsi ‘No Shakin Carry Go’ campaign, Nestle Maggi, Gulder, Bank PHB, and the award-winning Heineken Campaign featuring Jidenna. Sinmisola not only understands today’s digital consumer, she also understands the importance of the creative vision of placing people at the heart of advertising storytelling, a philosophy driven by Leo Burnett’s ‘Humankind’ culture.
Within these people are Nigerian women who form over 80% of the primary purchase decision making in homes. Sinmisola has successfully connected with this important demographic with a stand-out body of work that has won her recognition locally and globally.
In recognition of her contribution to the advertising industry and in addition to her efforts for driving change within the industry, Sinmisola was awarded Outstanding Creative Personality of the year by Marketing Edge. To say this is a remarkable achievement is an understatement considering the statistics, as globally only 3% of advertising Creative Directors are female and of the top 50 most influential CMOs, only 18 are women. Sinmisola undoubtedly deserves her “accolades” as she continues to redefine adland through her creativity and craft, while demonstrating that creativity is not a matter of gender, but of courage, character, passion and purpose.
