Practitioners laud brand award organisers on transparency, due process

Practitioners of the nation’s integrated marketing communication space have showered encomiums on African Brands Award, organisers of Nigerian Brand Award, held recently over the transparency of the awards and for sticking to due process. In Lagos, some of the practitioners stated that the transparency of the selection process of award winners and the utmost independence the selecting jury enjoyed had went a long way to give the award huge credibility.

Corporate Affairs Manager, Sifax Group, Muyiwa Akande, whose company was one of the recipients of the awards, stated that the company’s decision to participate was informed by the credibility of the process, adding, “We had never participated in the award before. We were surprised when we were contacted by the organisers. But when we did our due diligence, we discovered that it was a credible organisation. They had really done their home work on us, keeping track of some of the milestones we had achieved in the past few years.”

Akande also expressed delight that some of the company’s achievements were being celebrated, a development, he argued, would further spur the management on.

In his reaction, Chief Executive Officer of Chain Reactions, whose company came tops in the Public Relations category, Mr. Israel Jaiye Opayemi, expressed delight that the PR firm was being recognised at a time the nation’s business climate was on the downward side.

“It simply attests to our resolve that to always give whatever brief we have the best shot, irrespective of the situation. Today is a testimony to that resolve. Perhaps, what makes it more interesting is the fact that the award was coming from an organisation, though credible, which was totally unknown to us.”

Julius Agenmonmen, whose company, Brandlife, won laurel in Marketing Activations category, commended the organisers for deeming it fit to reward excellence, especially at a critical period, when businesses were finding it difficult to survive.

“What actually made this thrilling for us is the transparency of the whole process,” he stated.

In an exclusive chat, Chief Executive Officer, African Brand Award, organisers of the award, Mr. Abidemi Adesanya, explained that the award, now in its seventh edition, was put together to celebrate and recognise corporate organisations that have continued to excel in spite of the challenging business environment. He added that one of the highlights of this year’s edition was the setting up of a team that actually visited some of the nominees for claim verifications and authentication.