By Adedapo Adesanya
The Future Brand Idol (FBI), a prestigious advertising contest, is making a return on a bigger scale from August 12, 2024, according to the organisers.
Recall that in September 2023, FBI was rebranded following a two-year hiatus after a new partnership with Forbes Black Member community member, Mr Emmanuel Dairo and the founder of the contest, Mr Abdullahi Ahmed Atewe.
The duo have now expanded the horizon of the challenge to offer more value to participants.
The competition, which seeks to discover and breed young creative talents in Nigerian tertiary institutions, has created top talents who have gone to explore new grounds in their respective endeavours.
The exceptionally planned creative contest will take three phases over three weeks starting on August 12.
The organisers also said participation will come from over 10 tertiary institutions and schools which will be represented by four contenders each. Out of the contenders expected, only five will make it to the final stage.
For the first week, the contenders will be taken on a rigorous bootcamp to train them on idea formation, brief development, and execution among others.
For the second week, there will be the practical application of the training and will also see the streamlining of the candidates to five finalists, who will then contest for the top prize in the grand finale in the final week.
Speaking on the event, Dairo noted, “What we are looking at here is the evolution of Future Brand Idol. Our industry is reaching a point where opportunities need to meet talent because there are so many undiscovered people breaking new ground and it is cognisant we give them the backing and recognition they wholly deserve.”
On his part, Mr Atewe said initiatives like the Future Brand Idol provide students with access to practical knowledge about their courses via interaction with professionals through training, seminars and workshops.
He said so many changes had occurred in the industry and it was important for many emerging talents to be engaged with the best hands.
At the last event in 2021, Oluwadara Adesanya of the University of Ibadan emerged as the winner while Favour Olushola (University of Lagos) and Shola Adido (University of Ilorin) emerged as first and second runners-up, respectively.
The previous editions have seen input from top industry leaders like Lanre Adisa and Ozone Mbanefo.