CHINI Productions, the organizers of the Pitcher Awards and the Cannes Lions Official Festival representative in Nigeria have announced Yomi Badejo- Okusanya, MD/CEO, CMC Connect as the Jury President for the Channel category of the Pitcher Awards 2018, part of the Creativity Week.
This follows the announcement of LanreAdisa, MD/CCO Noah’s Arkas the Jury President for the Heritage category Yomi and members of his team in the Channel Jury will judge entries for Use of Media, Use of Data, Use of Insights and Strategy, PR and Reputation Management as well as Integrated Campaigns.
Badejo-Okusanya who holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Benin began his career in marketing communications in 1988 with CT & A, a Lagos based advertising agency and then became a director in 1991. YBO, as he is often called, has a strong passion for the practice of public relations in Africa. Over the years, he has proven to be a giant in the Public Relations industry with over two decades of work experience in Integrated Marketing Communications coupled with his pioneering of the perception management business in the Nigerian communication market.
His experience cuts across Corporate Communications, Government Relations, Marketing PR, Financial Public Relations and Crisis Management.He is a consultant for many private and public organizations which include multinational companies and governments such as the 1st female elected President in Africa, H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, the British American Tobacco Nigeria, Renaissance Group, Transcorp, Peugeot Nig. Ltd, Shell, Virgin Nigeria, Federal Inland Revenue Service, and Delta State Governments to mention a few.
His company which was established in 1992 as Nigeria’s premier perception management consulting firm that provides solution to clients and ancillary marketing communication challenges and has since then been serving its clients till date.
He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and was a past Chairman of NIPR, Lagos State Chapter. He is on the board of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and also the current President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), the umbrella body for the practice of public relations in Africa, which allows him the opportunity of working closely with the African Union (AU) in the areas of strategic thinking on how to improve the image and perception of Africa. Working with African Union, he birthed an initiative tagged ‘Campaign Africa’ designed to sell ‘Positive Africa’ through the instrumentality of the profession – public relations.
He is also a recipient of the prestigious PR Golden Eagle Award (Male) as the Most Outstanding Public Relations Person for the Year 2010.
The Pitcher Awards is set to celebrate the best of the best ideas in tech and marketing communications from West and Central Africa. Entries are currently open at www.creativityweek.events. One more jury president is expected to be announced soon to join Lanre Adisa of Noah’s Ark and Yomi Badejo- Okusanya of CMC Connect as Jury President for the Innovation category of the Pitcher Awards.
The Innovation Jury will judge Social Media, Websites, Microsites and Web Services, Apps, Games, Messaging as well as Devices and Novel ideas. Special awards will include Agency of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, Young Pitcher Award and Best Original Work in French. Also expected to be announced soon are the Academy Deans for Young Professionals Academy and Future Creative Leaders Academy.
The 3 Pitcher Awards jury presidents and the 2 academy deans make up the Creativity Week leadership committee and will preside over judging for competitions and awards. Nnamdi Ndu, Managing Director of CHINI Productions and Cannes Lions representative in Nigeria, explains that “as organizers we never get involved with actual judging. Our role is to provide organizational and administrative framework that allows the best materials to emerge.”
The Creativity Week is CHINI Productions’ pre-Cannes Lions Festival programme and will take place at the MUSON Centre Lagos from 19 – 24 March 2018. Other events held as part of the Creativity Week are the Young Lions Competitions, the Miami Ad School Scholarship Competition, the Young Professionals Academy, Future Creative Leaders Academy, the Creativity Week Expo, Creativity Week Seminars and the closing Pitcher Awards Night and Gala on 24 March 201
