2021 Epica Awards: Noah’s Ark’s ‘Rainmaker’ Ad For Airtel Emerges Only Shortlisted Work Out Of Africa

The Rainmaker TV Commercial for Airtel Nigeria by Noah’s Ark Communications Limited has emerged as the only creative work from Africa to make the shortlist of this year’s Epica Awards.

This was contained in the 2021 Epica preselection announcement made last week by the organisers of the globally acclaimed awards for rewarding outstanding creativity.

The “Rainmaker” campaign which was shortlisted in the Communication and Public services category, will be in contention with other campaigns such as “In The Spotlight Campaign” for SAY by BBDO United States, “The Children’s General Assembly” for Capital of Children by Mensch & Sansir, “Poetry All Around” for Yandex, “Meet Sarha” for stc for Wunderman Thompson Riyadh, for the coveted prize.

According to the organisers of the award, a total of 3184 entries from 64 countries were received for the 2021 edition of the Epica Awards, representing a sharp increase from the number of entries recorded last year.

The organisers noted that all the shortlisted entries including ‘Rainmaker’ have been carefully appraised and scrutinized by esteemed jurors through an online voting platform to meet the standards of rating required.

The “Rainmaker’ campaign for Airtel Nigeria is among the over 3000 pieces of work or entries submitted from agencies, production companies and clients that were analysed by a unique jury of editors and senior reporters for the 2021 competition”, it stated.

Since its launch, the Airtel “Rainmaker” campaign has generated several media reviews, editorials and word of mouth conversation among TV audience in Nigeria.

The campaign recently won Gold at the 2021 edition of the Lagos Advertising Festival (LAIF) Awards.

The campaign also won the maiden ‘Authentic Africa story’ category at the awards.

Speaking on the shortlist, the Managing Director/Chief Creative Officer of Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, Mr. Lanre Adisa, described the selection by Epica Awards as a huge honour and testament to the quality of works crafted by the agency, attributing the success to the team’s resilient spirit as well as the dynamic partnership that existed between the team and the client.

“It is a great privilege and honour for our creative work to be appreciated. This means a lot to us and our client especially considering the fact that we are the only agency in Africa whose work was shortlisted for this award”, Adisa said.

‘Rainmaker’ and other finalists are expected to go through the grand jury, who will vote online between 24 November to 2 December to determine winners of the different categories.

While Gold and Grand Prix winners will be screened during a special online ceremony on 9 December, Silver and Bronze winners will be published on the Epica Awards website the next day, 10 December.

It would be recalled that Noah’s Ark’s Airtel ‘Lost’ campaign also won Gold at the 2017 edition of the awards.