From Opening Speech at Cannes Lions Rewind 2011

As you would have already heard, this year, Cannes Lions once again broke its own records as the world’s greatest gathering for communication professionals, with increase in attendance, increase in entries and increase in learning and networking opportunities.

All of these may mean little to us, if as a nation we do not have a place in this success story. But we do. We may not have won a Lion or two. But we’re well on the way to doing so.

When a young creative mind is exposed to world-class ideas as are presented by Cannes, they become sufficiently radicalized and completely uncomfortable with the statuesque of mediocre work, with their hearts desperately burning for a change.

This is why we are strong believers in promoting the youth events. This year seven young Nigerians participated in Cannes, bringing the number of under 28’s that have been exposed to Cannes to a total of 22. Believe it not, the revolution has started. We have successfully planted world-class award winners in the system.

This night we’d like to recognize a few industry leaders who share our vision of making Nigeria the hub for world-class creativity. They are the ones that have made this possible through their support and endorsement.  

Registration Opens for Miami Ad School Scholarship Competition

Registration is now open for scholarship competition to the Miami Ad School, the most awarded advertising school in the world and according to Gunn’s Report, “the best advertising schools in the world”.

This call for registration is a follow up to the earlier announcement of the offer of a full tuition scholarship and 10 half tuition scholarships to Nigerians by Miami Ad School on the appointment of a representative in Nigeria in the name of Mr. Nnamdi Ndu, who is the Managing Director of Chini Productions and also the Cannes Lions Representative in Nigeria. The scholarships are for study at any of the Miami Ad School full time campuses in Miami, Madrid, Minneapolis and Hamburg.

Those eligible to apply for the scholarship are young advertising creatives who want to improve their skills, talented advertising professionals who want to move from other departments to the creative department as well as graduates of tertiary institutions in any discipline who believe they have the talent and passion to succeed in the creative communication industry.

Registrations are to be made online at http://www.chinionline.com/programmes.html

Approved registrants, will be required to pay a participation fee of N5, 000. The test questions will be posted on the website and forwarded to the email addresses of participants by 12:01am of Monday, February 28, 2011. Participants will be invited in person for interview on March 5, 2011. The competition will be judged by the creative jury of the Nigeria Young Lions Competition, whose president is Mr. Colin Morris, the executive creative director of LTC/JWT and winners will be announced at the Awards Night on March 12 at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel along with the winners of Roger Hatchuel Competition, Young Lions Competition and Young Clients Competition. Registration will close on February 24, 2011.

Participants who do not win any of the scholarships, but display sufficient talent to work in the creative communication industry will be counseled on how to pursue the admission on their own if they have the means or how to realize their dreams locally.

Organisers announce jury presidents of Young Lions Competitions in Nigeria

Chini Productions, the Cannes Lions representatives in Nigeria and organisers of the Young Lions Competition and the Young Clients Competition have announced jury presidents for the various categories of the competitions. The jury for the Young Lions Media Competition will be headed by Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, who is the managing director of mediaReach OMD, while Mr. Fatai Odesile, head of marketing at Grand Oak Limited, has been named as the jury president for the Young Clients Competition.

The jury for the creative categories which include the Young Lions Cyber Competition, the Young Lions Film Competition and the Young Lions Print Competition will be overseen by Mr. Colin Morris, executive creative director at LTC/JWT. The creative jury will also have the additional task of selecting winners for the 11 scholarships recently offered to Nigeria by the Miami Ad School. Each of the presidents will work with a team of professionals from across the industry that will soon be announced.

Speaking on the choice of jury presidents, the Cannes Lions representative in Nigeria, Mr. Nnamdi Ndu said “these are men who have earned the respect of the industry and have shown great support and commitment to our vision in raising industry standards. We will rely on their leadership to deliver top-notch, bias free competitions that the industry will be proud of.”

All the competitions, except the scholarship competition, are open to teams of 2 professionals from the relevant arm of the industry and the national winners will represent Nigeria in the global finals of the competitions at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity from 19 to 25 June, 2011 in France.

Entry for the Young Lions and Young Clients competitions will require employer endorsement. Event details are available from www.canneslions-ng.com. ADVAN members can also contact the association’s office for forms and details. The winners of all the competitions including the Roger Hatchuel Academy selection competition that will be moderated by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, will be announced at the Awards Night on the 12^th of March, 2011.

Miami Ad School Offers 11 Scholarships to Nigeria, Appoints Representative

Miami Ad School has announced the offer of one full tuition scholarship and 10 half tuition scholarships to deserving students of Nigerian origin at any of their full time schools in Miami, Madrid, San Francisco, Minneapolis or Hamburg. This offer followed the appointment of Mr. Nnamdi Ndu as the schools representative in Nigeria. Mr. Ndu, who is the Managing Director of Chini Productions, also wears another cap as the Cannes Lions Representative in Nigeria.

According to Mr. Ndu, plans are already in place to hold a competition in March to select beneficiaries of the scholarships. The winners will be announced on the 12^th of March at an Awards Night alongside winners from other competitions organized by Chini, which include, the Roger Hatchuel Academy selection competition, the Young Lions Competition in Film, Media, Cyber and Print categories as well as the Young Clients Competition.

In the letter of appointment, the Global Director of Miami Ad School, Mr. Ron Seichrist, stated that Mr. Ndu will facilitate the school’s directives in educational workshops and student scholarship competitions and also counsel prospective Nigerian students for any Miami Ad School educational program, including students who wish to apply to a Miami Ad School full time school.

Speaking on the appointment, Mr. Ndu said ”the new relationship with Miami Ad School will strengthen our three pronged mission of Training, Equipping and Celebrating creatives and marketing communication professionals in general. Before now we’ve been holding high profile workshops, but this takes it further to a whole new level and is really the first step towards having a full-fledged Miami Ad School campus in Nigeria. We will also continue to provide inspiring books and other resources that will help the professional stay at the cutting edge of the industry through our partnership with Lürzer’s Archive and of course with training and equipping, we know that excellence is bound to follow, so we’re desperately looking forward to celebrate these successes at Cannes Lions and Dubai Lynx.”

The Miami Ad School, also known as the School of Pop Culture Engineering has campuses in Miami, New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Hamburg, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Madrid. It is the most awarded ad school in the world and for the past four years, the Gunn Report, the top advertising ranking authority globally, has named the Miami Ad School the best advertising schools in the world based on the quality of the awards received by the school and their students.

Registration Now Open For Cannes Academy 2011

Registration is now on till February 18 for 2011 Cannes Academy also known as the Roger Hatchuel Academy, a one-week intensive training programme for international students held during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France. Typically, there are about thirty students from different countries every year in a Roger Hatchuel Academy class. Each student has to be specially selected in his or her country by their national Cannes Lions Representative.

Already, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has offered, for the second year to provide financial assistance for the winner of the Nigeria qualifying contest to attend the Roger Hatchuel Academy in France. This will include flight ticket, hotel accommodation and $500 pocket money. Since 2008, APCON has been collaborating with Chini Productions, organizers of the event and Cannes Lions representatives in Nigeria to moderate the contest and ensure unbiased judgment. Several other organizations have also indicated their interest in participating in the programme. On the global scale the Roger Hatchuel Academy is sponsored by DraftFCB. In 2010, the advertising network offered 14 internship positions in their various offices around the world to the Roger Hatchuel Academy participants in Cannes.

The Nigeria programme usually includes sessions where students are taught by senior industry figures. This is done to ensure that everybody benefits from the programme even if they do not win the competition that takes them to France. This year, plans are also on the way to use the programme as a selection platform for Lynx Academy, which is a regional version of the Roger Hatchuel Academy, designed for students from the Middle East, North Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.

Traditionally, the Roger Hatchuel Academy affords participants the opportunity of meeting the global giants of the profession. Previous editions have witnessed the attendance of the likes of Michael Conrad, president of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft and Alex Bogusky, co-chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Clive Challis, head of the advertising course at Central Saint Martins in London functions as the tutor for the Academy.

The Roger Hatchuel Academy is the breeding place for the industry heroes of tomorrow and there's probably no other programme in the world that surpasses the Roger Hatchuel Academy in assuring young aspiring communications professionals that they have chosen. the best career in the world.

To register visit http://www.canneslions-ng.com/gpage.html