UKAEG hosts virtual trade mission to Nigeria

This week the UK Advertising Exports Group hosted its first virtual trade mission as part of its new series of #TradeTuesday events through the creative sectors virtual venue, UK House. #TradeTuesday’s will support UK advertising and marketing services that are looking to grow their international customer base. The special, online events will host marketing and advertising professionals from India, Brazil, and Japan, with more countries due to be added over the coming weeks. 

The first stop on the UK House global tour was Nigeria. Nigeria’s economy has become the largest in the continent & its creative industries are growing fast. Over 95 UK and Nigerian advertising companies came together to meet, share ideas and network.

It featured 90 minutes of high-quality discussion and presentations by leaders and innovators from both the UK and Nigeria advertising industries. This was followed by networking which allowed UKAEG companies to meet potential new business partners. The platform then stayed open all day to allow for viewing of this year’s UK Cannes Lions winners and agency showcase. 

UK House at Nigeria featured an impressive line-up of speakers. Opening the event was Aisling Conlon, UK Advertising Export Group Marketing Manager, followed by Chim Chalemera of DIT Nigeria and Ben Llewellyn-Jones OBE, British Deputy High Commissioner, Lagos, who welcomed attendees to Nigeria.  

Next to take the stage was Steve Babaeko, a Nigerian advertising and music executive, public advocate and founder of X3M Ideas, who gave his insightful perspective on the future of advertising in Nigeria.

This was followed by a session with Nnamdi Ndu, Chief Executive Officer at CHINI Africa and Lanre Adisa, MD & Chief Creative Officer, Noah’s Ark Communications, who gave an overview of Nigeria consumer behaviour, income and eCommerce. 

Neil Davidson, CEO of HeyHuman and HeyLab, then talked us through how Guinness reached Nigeria’s younger drinkers through neuroscience, rappers and silky sofas, with their collaboration with Guinness Africa creating a unique sensory experience to amplify the global brand. 

In a meeting of minds, we then joined Kelechi Nwosu, Managing Director, TBWA\Concept and Michael Moszynski, CEO of London Advertising, who looked at campaigns that they have worked on, such as the launch of GO and what the future holds for advertising. This was moderated by Sindy Foster, Managing Director of NY/Lon Marketing. 

Laura Swinton, LBB, sat down with Noah’s Ark Communications‘ Lanre Adisa and LONDON Advertising‘s Michael Moszynski to find out more  about the opportunities for the two markets to collaborate. Read the interview here. 
You can also view all sessions from the Nigeria mission on our UKAEG YouTube channel here. 

A huge thanks goes to all of our attendees and speakers – what a fantastic session to kick off the tour!

We hope to see you at the next stop, UK House in UAE on October 19th at 11am. Speakers include Natalie Amos, Four Communications presenting a new white paper on the consumers driving the travel industry’s recovery and a a series of behind closed doors roundtables with clients and companies in market.  You can register for your ticket to attend here.

Also confirmed is UK House at Brazil on November 9th at 2pm.  Speakers include Bruno Brux, Executive Creative Director at GUT, Kris Tait, Managing Director, US at Croud in conversation with Fernando Scheller, Editor de negócios do Estadão looking at Creativity: Intuition & Data, opportunities for e commerce and collaboration across markets. We also have a special panel discussion with Brittaney Kiefer, European creative editor at Adweek on the the South American creative invasion. You can register for your ticket to attend here. 

More speakers for both events are to be announced over the coming days.  UK House is also heading to India, Amsterdam, Japan, Bangladesh and lots more.

If you share the UKAEG mission to grow your business global we would love to hear from you. Contact Aisling Conlon to find out more about our growing community of UK advertising businesses.