Chain Reactions Africa, a Nigerian-based public relations and integrated marketing communications firm, has demonstrated its prowess by winning seven impressive award categories, the highest at the 2024 SABRE Africa Awards.
The award ceremony was held at the end of the annual African Public Relations Association (APRA) Conference, which took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The newly elected President of APRA, Arik Karani, also specially recognised and presented certificates of Excellence to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs, CG Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr. Ike Neliaku, for their exemplary leadership qualities.
Chain Reaction won three awards, including CEO of the Year, Public Affairs, and Public Sector/Government awards, for its Lagos Blue Rail campaign for LAMATA. It also received two awards, ‘Superior Achievement in Reputation Management’ and ‘Special Event/Sponsorship’, for its ‘The Hack—Expand Your Hustle’ campaign for 9mobile.
Similarly, the PR firm also bagged the ‘Crisis and Issues Management’ award for removing the fuel subsidy by the Presidency and the Employee Communications award for the ‘Next Era of Happiness’ campaign for Pladis Foods Nigeria Limited.
Another multiple award winner announced by Arun Sudhaman, the CEO and editor-in-chief at PRovoke Media, the organiser of the ceremony is Razor/ M&C Saatchi Group of South Africa with five trophies. Three PR firms, BCW (Mauritius and Kenya), Clockwork (South Africa), and Ogilvy (South Africa), bagged three awards each. At the same time, Newmark Group (Kenya), Blanche Aigle Communications (Nigeria), Tribeca Public Relations (South Africa), and WE Communications received two awards each.
After receiving multiple awards at the event, Chain Reactions Africa’s managing director and chief strategist, Israel Jaiye Opayemi, attributed their success to hard work.
Israel Opayemi of Chain Reaction with multiple SABRE Trophies
Opayemi, President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN), emphasised that the honour truly belongs to their clients and dedicated staff.
Opeyemi, the president of the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCAN), thanked the clients for trusting the company and commended the staff for their dedication, professionalism, and creativity.
Yushau A. Shuaib, the Chief Executive Officer of Image Merchants Promotion Limited and publisher of PRNigeria and Spokespersons Digest, praised Chain Reaction’s remarkable achievement of winning seven awards at the Africa SABRE.
Shuaib noted that since the inception of SABRE Africa in 2017 as part of the APRA Conference, Chain Reaction’s record-breaking success underscores the rapid growth of the PR industry in Africa, fueled by technological advancements.
Meanwhile, at the end of the conference, APRA announced the election of Mr. Arik Karani from Kenya as its new president, Dr. Michele Mekeme from Cameroon as vice president, and Omoniyi Ibietan from Nigeria as secretary-general.