Text of Opening Speech at Cannes Lions Rewind, 9 September 2010

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Cannes Lions theme for this year is “Connections Made Easy”. This is so apt as indeed the festival this year has been a time when industry professionals from around the world made connections for learning, connections for business and connections for friendship.

With an impressive 35% increase in attendance and 7% increase in entries, the industry once again proved that recession or no recession, creativity is unstoppable. As you will soon see from the two film categories that we’re going to review tonight, creativity is alive and strong. Our colleagues around the world produced mind blowing works, some of which were supported by very low budgets.

My hope is that by the time we shall leave here, we would have been sufficiently inspired to work together as agency and client to achieve extraordinary results.

Right at the core of our hearts as representatives of the festival in Nigeria are two events, the Young Lions Competition and Roger Hatchuel Academy. We are particularly interested in these programmes because we know that our creative future lies in developing tomorrow’s workforce. So far we have had 12 young professionals participate in the Young Lions Competition in Cannes. We are grateful to their employers namely, DDB Lagos, MediaReach OMD and TBWA/CONCEPT who have acted as our partners in this vision.

In this light also, we can not thank APCON enough for supporting the Roger Hatchuel Academy and sponsoring Nigeria’s delegate to Cannes. It is important to add that Nigeria’s delegate was the only African in a class of 34 students from around the world. I recall the young man telling me recently that he found himself carrying the burden of Africa! This year 2 student of the University of Lagos has also been selected by Draft FCB, sponsors of the Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes, for internship in one of any 3 countries of his choice in which Draft FCB has an office. Imagine the level at which he will engage the industry on graduation from school.

I welcome all of us tonight, to support the future of the industry by supporting the Young Lions Competition and the Roger Hatchuel Academy.

As for the numerous arguments about whether Nigeria can or cannot win a Lion, that is a story for another day. But suffice it to say that Cannes is where true creativity is rewarded. And true creativity can neither be masked by colour, culture nor language. And yes, nations, agencies and networks battle for rank on the awards table, but beyond these competitions, Cannes is a place for learning, a place for networking and making connections with your aspirations.

Due to time constraints, we can only show you materials from Film and Film Craft categories tonight. But the other ten categories: Media, Direct Marketing, PR, Outdoor, Design, Print, Radio, Promo and Activation, Titanium and Integrated, as well as their support audio-visual documentaries are available in the Official Cannes Lions Winners DVDs.

As they say in Cannes, Merci d'être venus. Please enjoy the show and I look forward to seeing you in Cannes in June 2011.

Cannes Lions Commend Chris Doghudje

The outgoing chairman of APCON, Mr. Chris Doghudje has been commended by the organizers of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his role in promoting creativity in Nigeria by encouraging agencies to produce high quality work that can be entered for Cannes and sending students to participate in the global competitions that take place in Cannes.

The presentation was made at Cannes Lions Rewind - which took place in Planet One, Maryland, Lagos on the 9^th of September 2010 - by the Cannes Lions Representative in Nigeria, Nnamdi Ndu and Jean-Pierre Bey of the French Embassy in Nigeria, who was represented by Mohammed Musulumi. The Chairman of Cannes Lions, Terry Savage, in a letter which was read during the presentation stated that Chris Doghudje has demonstrated “vision that one day Nigeria will be standing on stage collecting a Lion and for that vision and creative commitment we would tonight like to recognize and thank Chris Doghudje.”

The Cannes Lions Rewind is an annual event organized by Chini Productions, the official Cannes Lions representatives in Nigeria to promote the festival locally. According to the Managing Director, Nnamdi Ndu, the event this year recorded an increase in attendance of over 40% compared to 2009 which shows that interest in Cannes Lions is growing.

More importantly, is the fact that more clients are attending. This is a mirror of what is happening at the global stage in Cannes. We recorded more attendees from Guinness Nigeria this year than from any other single organization. When clients begin to embrace this level of creativity, it’s a strong indication that the hour of change has come.

The financial sector was not left out with participants coming from Oceanic Bank and some insurance companies. Unlike in previous years when it was an all ad agency affair, the media independents were also strongly represented by delegates from mediaReach OMD and Capital Media. It is hoped that subsequently, PR agencies will make their presence felt as Cannes Lions is not just about adverting but covers all aspects of Marketing Communications.

The event was anchored by Clara Okoro of Brandworld Media, who has consistently attended the Festival in Cannes for over 3 years. The Film Craft Category Winners Reel was presented by Tolu Ajayi, Associate Director Broadcast Production at SO&U Saatchi & Saatchi, while the Film Category Winners Reel was presented by Lanre Adisa, Managing Director Noah’s Ark.

The Nigerian participants at the Young Lions Competition from DDB and mediaReach OMD as well as the Roger Hatchuel Academy delegate from the University of Lagos were also in attendance to share their Cannes experience.