As a way to help elevate the creative community in his native Nigeria, TBWAChiat Day New York sr. copywriter Dotun Bello has partnered with The One Club for Creativity to launch a free 10-week Lagos Creative Development Bootcamp.
The program is co-sponsored by TBWAChiatDay New York and Wieden+Kennedy, and based on the platform and curriculum of The One Club’s own long-running Creative Boot Camps. The Lagos Creative Development Bootcamp was developed to train creative professionals in Nigeria on how to build their own personal brands, and show them how to promote their work at an international level.
“Having worked in both Lagos and the U.S., some of the barriers for creatives in a smaller market like Nigeria gradually became more apparent to me,” said Bello, who began his copywriting career with Noah’s Ark, Etu Odi and Saatchi & Saatchi in Lagos and then came stateside to work at agencies including Goodby Silverstein, MullenLowe and Eleven.
“Creatives in Lagos are focused on the client’s work, but don’t give the same energy to building their own brands for themselves,” he said. “Most creatives in Nigeria don’t have websites and don’t often think to promote themselves on social media or with international press. At the global level, a creative person without a book is seen as less professional. These are some of the barriers the bootcamp will address.”
A group of leading industry figures will coach attendees on topics including personal branding, creating a portfolio site, building their brand on LinkedIn and other social platforms, getting press coverage, tips on salary negotiating, and more.
Among those confirmed to serve as tutors are Lionel Carreon, executive director, global creative recruiting, TBWAWorldwide; Chapin Clark, ECD, R/GA New York; Aisha Hakim, ACD at Preacher in Austin; Sai He, copywriter, Wieden+Kennedy; Anna Melissa Ledesma-Raquid, copywriter on Nike at Filter Los Angeles; David Griner, international editor at Adweek; Derek Walker, creative/owner, Brown & Browner, with more to come.
Deadline to apply for the free 10-week program is April 1, 2022. The bootcamp kicks off on April 21, with sessions running 2-3 hours every Thursday evening. Applicants must be based in Nigeria–preferably in Lagos–and currently employed as a creative in advertising.
While run as a virtual bootcamp, the program will also utilize an onsite location at the office of Lagos-based agency Yellow Brick Road. Local program coordination will be handled by Jolomi Awala, CD at Ogilvy Lagos.
“Dotun contacted me last year with the idea of a free virtual creative bootcamp in Lagos, and we jumped at the opportunity,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club, the world’s foremost nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the global creative community. “We have nearly 15 years of experience in running impactful DEI programs around the world including our own Creative Boot Camps, and were eager to provide the planning, platform, operations and curriculum to help bring his amazing idea to life.”
Lagos Creative Development Bootcamp branding was created by Arthur Mazi, art director at Vosshall Marketing in Kiel, Germany.
Bello credits Ogilvy Advertising North America president Chris Beresford-Hill, his former boss and mentor at TBWAChiat Day, for pushing the bootcamp funding proposal through the approval process before leaving the agency last November. The funding helped Bello and The One Club kick off the production of the program.
Lagos is the second-largest metropolis on the continent of Africa and a major business hub in the Western region, yet creative work from the region consistently flies under the radar at global award shows and in industry publications.
“We want to help shine a light on the advertising industry in this region by creating a bridge to the biggest advertising stages in the world,” said Bello.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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