5 Great Nigerian Ads of Post-Millennium Years and Agencies Behind them
In the last decade and half of the advertising rebirth in Nigeria engineered by the telecom revolution of the early 2000, some TV commercials have been adjudged great by both consumers and analysts because they met the basic parameters of a good advertising.
According to experts, a good advertising must; have attention value, be memorable (unforgettable), creative (innovative) and must connect the target with the intended message( intended results). It is about emotional connection with target.
As Kevin Roberts of the Lovemark’ s fame would admonish, “Emotional connections with consumers have to be at the foundation of all our cool marketing moves and innovative tactics.”
Here, we serve you five of best out- of-box creations since the turn of the millennium and agencies behind them:

MTN’s Mama na Boy(SO&U)
MTN’s Mama na Boy was considered a ‘creative disruption,’ because a departure from what was going as advertisement at the time it was launched in 2004. The TVC has been described variously as ‘unprecedented,’ ‘sensational,’ and ‘controversial.’
The last of the adjectives came from hundreds of kicks it got from gender activists who felt it reinforced the societal gender discrimination against the girl-child. However, both critics and consumers agreed it was a ‘bomb.’
In the TV commercial, a city-based young man calls his mother who lives in the typical Niger-Delta village setting on his mobile phone to announce that his wife has been delivered of a baby boy, “ Mama na Boy’ was the crisp announcement that sent the mother and the entire village into an ecstasy of joy and dancing.
Coming at a time when the sleepy advertising industry was bouncing back from limbo, the ad generated a lot of excitement by using local nuances to pass a global message of how communication via MTN is breaking barrier that distance poses to connecting people far and near.
Although, critics had their way and the ‘offensive’ commercial was yanked off the air, it has remained a reference point in Nigeria’s recent advertising history.
MTN’s Mama na Boy advert was produced by SO & U, a first-rated advertising agency headed by advertising veteran, Udeme Ufot. The over 23-year old agency which at the time the campaign was produced enjoyed global affiliation of an international agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, has produced other outstanding ads such as Malta Guinness’
Let’s Go there, Street Dance and Guinness’ Udeme.

1. Indomie’s Mum Like No Other( Noah’s Ark)
“Mum like no other” better known as Mama Do Good is a classic whose popularity transcends its primary target –children- to include mothers because of its central message of espousing a mother’s love for her children.
The Indomie’s Mum Like No Other advert starts with a very beautiful mother in the market shopping for Indomie. She gets home & quickly cooks the noodles for the seven children who are already showing signs of hunger. She finally serves them and that brings smiles and some mischief. Two of the kids are shown conspiring without talking. Thirty minutes after, shown by a fast moving minute hand on their clock, the lady comes back home to meet a very quiet house.
She wonders where everyone went to till the kids suddenly appear from where they were hiding behind the two sofas in the house and starts dancing around the woman to the tune of Mama, you do good o! You do good. Mama, wey cook for us, you too much. E give us Indomie…” The advert ends with all the kids giving the woman a group hug.
The most striking thing about
Mum Like No Other is the effective use of non-verbal communication. Apart from the song and the tag-line, the whole commercial was rendered in non-verbal communication. The kids showed hunger while they were waiting for the food and joy was written all over their faces when the food was ready. The two conspirators showed the viewers that they were up to something and ’ mama do good’ clearly asked “where is everybody?” when she got back. The innocent bum-shaking dance by the small children however, was the high point of the advert.
Children jumped to their feet to sing, dance and wriggle their waist alongside their peers in the TVC any time the advert created by then budding Noah’s Ark played on
air.
“I like the advert but my children love it. They can sing it from their sleep,” said a housewife, Mrs Femi Lawal, while stressing on the popularity of the advert with children and mothers. Although the campaign has been replaced by another also by Noah’s Ark, Mama do good remains ad like no other in the noodle category.


3.Guinness- Udeme ( SO&U)
The Guinness’ Udeme advert is one of the most popular adverts of the last decade. ‘Udeme’, another master production from the creative powerhouse, S.O & U,(remember Mike Power ad?), generated a lot of excitement in 2013 when it was launched such that “My friend, Udeme” became a greeting code for ‘real men’ and a show of comradeship amongst bar patrons.
The TVC opens with a shot of the back of a broad- shouldered young man walking through the street then pans to an old man who tells the story of the young man and his dream to greatness.
“My friend, Udeme, is a great man. When he was a boy, his teacher asked him what he dreamt of work.
‘There,” the old man continued, raising his mouth skyward to show the transformation from a dream to a reality as a shot of an airplane cruising the sky with Udeme as pilot, follows. Udeme winds up his day as a pilot with a time out at the bar over bottles of Guinness Stout with his drinking pals. Then the old man who announces once again that “My friend Udeme, is a great man signs off with, “There is a drop of greatness in every man.”
The Udeme ad was the topic of discussions on the social media and received rave reviews from analysts. Its popularity stretched beyond the black beer drinkers to women and other non-alcohol drinkers who weaved myths and funny stories around ‘Udeme’ which incidentally is the name of the agency’s helmsman and the former Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners council of Nigeria(APCON), Udeme Ufot.
Although, some associates knocked Ufot for ‘using Guinness to promote himself’ in he commercial, he revealed in an interview with Business Hallmark that he was not in the known and even contested the choice of his name in the TVC when he found out.
His words: “I didn’t choose the name. I got to know about the name at the last stage of the production. I protested when I learnt that was the name that was going to be used. That evening I called the Account Director and I said that I heard that you agreed that you are going to use my name for the commercial. You people are going to embarrass me. He said that everybody on the agency side from Cape Town to London has signed off on this name. We knew if we told you, you would say, ‘No’. That was why we did it behind your back’,” Ufot recalled.
Although, not shot in Nigeria, the TVC resonates with the Nigerian spirit of sharing successful moments and drinks with friends and family and remains a reference point till date.


4. Always’ No check, No stain
(Rosabel)
Amongst teenage girls, the No check, No Stain TV campaign is a danceable number that gingers them to go for Always Sanitary pad if they must get an 8-hour protection against stain and save themselves the discomfort of having to keep ‘checking’during their monthly flow.
The TVC was launched in 2009 by the mother brand, Procter and Gamble for its African market. However, the Nigerian version was produced by Rosabel, a foremost second generation agency founded in 1978. An affiliate of the Leo Burnett global network of agencies, Rosabel is a leading agency which harvests awards like oranges every year at the annual LAIF(Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival)Awards. Some of the memorable ads from the agency include First Bank o, Una do well o! MKO’s Hope 93 and of course, No check, No Stain which some of the TVC ‘s enthusiasts on its Facebook page described the advert in the superlatives. Okoro Susan Chinedu says, “ Kudos to Procter and Gamble, The advert is the bomb.”
Teen girls and women loved the commercial and said as much. “This is wonderful. I love it. It reminded me about my Secondary,” says Adejumo Temitope.
“Yeah, Always rock remarks Candy Osama Ogbebor. Mary Osinubi says, “The advert is just too cool. I hope it is going to be among the nominations for the best adverts.”


5. MTN’s I don port(DDB Lagos)
When Saka (Afeez Aiyetoro) announced “I Don Port,” in a TVC during the mobile portability season engineered by Nigerian Communication Commission, the integrated marketing communication landscape literally caught fire. The TVC garnered 100,000 in the first week of its release. Saka who until that announcement modeled for Etisalat adverts jumped ship to MTN as an ambassador with a most dramatic blow that caught Etisalat on the jaw.
According to advertising expert, Udeme Ufot, Etisalat built Brand Saka while MTN harvested the dividend.
“I can say for certain that MTN in their short portability campaign, got more value from the character, Saka, than Etisalat got from many months of campaigns. The sad case of Saka for Etisalat is that they simply invested several millions of naira in building a bomb (that wasn’t much value to their brand equity) that MTN detonated masterfully in their face. Etisalat made the investment in building Saka, MTN reaped the dividend,” Ufot concluded.
Of course, Etisalat through its then CEO, Steve Evans regretted that ‘mistake’ however, the agency behind the masterstroke, DDB Lagos, a foremost agency led by Enyi Odigbo got the glory for the uppercut. DDB Lagos is a multiple award-winning agency that has both local and international laurels in its kitty. For instance, the agency won the Loeries Silver award in the print communication category for the landmark ‘Speechless’ Advert for Girl hub/Nike Foundation. It’s Saka TVC won it both Best Telecom Advertising Agency of the Year and The Best Telecom Advert of the Year at the Nigerian Telecom Awards in 2013.
Winning awards runs in DDB’s blood. In 2013 LAIF Awards, the agency grabbed 19 awards (9 silver and 10 bronze.)

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#Backtodaura...Best advert eva

No etisalat advert here? All their adverts or at least two deserve to be here