Udeme Ufot Receives Another Recognition for Brand Management

By Bennett Oghifo

Within and beyond the marketing communications sector, little or no introduction is required about Udeme Ufot MFR, Group Managing Director of the SO&U Group whose reputation towers high amongst his colleagues. It therefore was no surprise when marketing edge honoured the great Ad man with a Lifetime Achievement award for his “patriotic contributions to the growth, development and continuing evolution of the Nigerian marketing and brand management business in the face of daunting challenges”.

Renowned for his dogged pursuit for excellence and consistent drive for breaking new frontiers in the attaining greater heights, Mr. Udeme Ufot in the course of his career has made great impact in the Nigerian marcoms sector inspite of the growing competition. His recognition, with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Marketing Edge brand magazine, is the latest of many feathers in his glittering professional cap.

Indeed, those familiar with the Akwa Ibom-born advertising guru, knows it simply followed what has now become a routine. A leader of a professional association. A leader of alumni. A national honouree. A leader of a professional body that sets and maintains standards. A member of the decision making body of Nigeria’s economic think tank. A contributor to the continued development of the country’s marketing and brand management sector. A jury member for a continental award.

It is an understatement to say that Udeme, as he prefers to be called, is a revered figure in Nigeria’s marketing communications industry. And if you go outside his professional constituency, you must also mention that he is a motivational speaker and mentor to young and budding entrepreneurs, and a giver of hope to the hopeless. You name it. They are many.

Udeme, who marked three score years on earth in March, 2018, has put in 36 years into a profession that has brought him fame (and, perhaps, fortune), and is still soldering on with no indication of when he will finally rest his fertile brain that has been the workshop for the manufacture of ideas and a depository of knowledge for his colleagues, protégé, mentees and others which has contributed in small measure to the development of the sector and effectively the economy.

An epitome of success, Udeme’s achievements in his chosen field can be measured from two broad perspectives – corporate and personal. From the corporate perspective, he is a leader, friend, not a boss. This has defined his leadership style which his colleagues have quite emulated.

In the 28 years he has been at the helm of affairs at the SO&U Group, Udeme has proven to be a team player, with the highest consideration for the contributions of others, no matter how seemingly inconsequential they may be. A stickler for excellence, he has the uncanny ability to recognize gold in its very raw state. This explains why he has been able, without difficulty, to bring out the best in the large pool of highly skilled and committed professionals which the Group has assembled over the years to churn out exciting and award winning campaigns for high profile local and international brands in Nigeria.

Today, what started as a single advertising company has four highly successful subsidiaries under its umbrella, each handling one of the specialized components that give the Group an edge in the entire gamut of marketing communications. They are, SO&U, Soulcomms, Maximedia Global Limited, Vyrus Digital Engagement and Lucid Audio Visuals.

It would not be hyperbolic to suggest that if a list of the nation’s six leading advertising groups were to be drawn up today, the SO&U Group would not be missing from that list. That is the height Udeme has driven the Group to attain today – from a challenging beginning in 1990.

A visit to the boardroom at the Group’s corporate headquarters at Opebi, in Ikeja, attest to its winning streak and creative prowess under Udeme’s leadership reflecting the Group contributions to the different sectors of national life

Without sounding immodest, the awards and recognitions are not limited to Nigeria. The Group’s successes have also assumed international dimensions as well. Just in March, this year, The SO&U Advertising won Gold at the annual African Cristal Festival Awards in far-away Marrakesh, Morocco for its mother’s day ad.

Udeme’s successes have also come at the personal, perhaps more than the corporate, although the former is a beneficiary of the latter. He could not have achieved any personal success if he had not taken the SO&U Group to the enviable height it has attained today.

His rise to personal prominence in the industry began when he held the position of honorary secretary and chief executive officer at the secretariat of the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN) – as the Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (AAAN) was then known. He was later returned unopposed, first as vice president of the association, then as its president, at the age of 41 – the youngest to hold the position.

The emergence of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) occurred during Udeme’s tenure as president of AAPN. The crisis which trailed the development was such that threatened the continued existence of AAPN as a professional body. But Udeme nipped it in the bud, thanks to his dexterity in crisis management. Not only did he get the new association accepted by AAPN, he also got the two professional bodies to form a synergy and collaborate for the development and growth of the marketing communications industry. It is also to his credit that he put in place a framework to engender understanding and cordial relationship in the tripartite relationship involving advertisers, advertising companies and media owners.

In March, 2015, former president, Goodluck Jonathan, appointed Udeme chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria signaling a crescendo of his professional attainment in the country. His recognition also came from abroad, when he was named member of the jury of the African Cristal Festival Awards that held in May, 2017.

A holder of the national honour of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR), Udeme, a volunteer and supporter of numerous causes, is the board chairman of LEAP Africa, and also sits on the boards of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and Special Olympics Nigeria (NESG). He is a former president of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association and a facilitator at FATE Foundation.

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