Maurice C. Ugwonoh
Cottingham
Summary
With over a decade as a Creative Director, Maurice drives team leadership, marketing innovation, and consumer engagement. Proficient in creative strategy, design oversight, brand development, digital marketing, content production, and tech integration in marketing and more. Maurice is adept at mentoring high-performing teams and aligning strategies with business goals for award-winning results in dynamic environments.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
2
2
Certification
Work History
Creative Director
Noah’s Ark Communications
06.2015 - Current
- Supervising 67 creatives, across 5 teams, managing 26+ accounts while ensuring innovative service
- Achieved record-breaking success with Airtel’s “Data Is Life” campaign, amassing 31M social media views and acquiring 2M data subscribers in 2 months and won gold at the Epica Awards, showcasing strategic marketing leadership
- Delivered strategic "Own Your Flavor" repositioning for Maltina, surpassing acquisition targets by 36% in 4 months
- Resulted in a 2.8% increase in brand score by targeting youth demographic through Traditional, Digital Marketing, and PR channels
- Collaborated with product and tech teams on Airtel TV SVOD campaign, boosting downloads from 60K to 1M within 2 months
- Topped Apple and Google Play Store charts in 2 days, accumulating 10M social media views.
Associate Creative Director
DDB
01.2011 - 05.2015
- Headed 2 teams bolstering brand presence via brand storytelling across Traditional and Digital platforms
- Concluded MTN Pulse relaunch, co-designing strategic brand proposition and campaign that resulted in 19.66% surge in subscribers, increasing from 47.441M to 56.766M in 10 weeks
- Co-created Nike foundation campaign for Girl-Hub, securing 10% donor input in Kano
- Won Nigeria’s first international awards: Epica Emerald in Berlin followed by a Silver at the Loeries
- In Cape Town
- Collaborated with brand teams for Knorr, conducting market immersion research, enhancing target profiling by 15%, and refining communication strategies for sustained market leadership
- Established a team of photographers, writers and art directors equipped with tools including Adobe Creative Suit for the design of “A Hand & A Smile”, a compendium of MTN Foundation’s Corporate Social Responsibility milestones and sustainability impact across partner communities in Nigeria.
Group Head Copy and Strategy
JWT
05.2010 - 09.2010
- Recalled as Group Head Copy & Strategy at Glo, guiding a team in crafting telecom marketing campaigns
- Delivered online retail report tracking 5K web leads, resulting in email conversions totaling N150M
- Revitalized Glo Bolt with promotional campaign plan key to launching Glo’s premier data offering
- Conceived and pitched Knoor Taste Quest which became the N0
- 1 reality cooking show in Nigeria
Education
Marketing
Darden School of Business – University of Virginia
Machine Learning in Business -
Parson School of Design
Postgraduate Diploma - Professional Marketing
Chartered Institute of Marketing
Bachelor of Science - Sociology
University of Ibadan
Skills
- CAREER SKILLS
- Concept Development
- Relationship Marketing
- Art Direction Oversight
- Adobe Photoshop
- AI and ML in Marketing
- Integrated Marketing Communications
- Multichannel Marketing
- Business Application
- Brand Development
- Market Research
- Empathy
- Social Media Marketing
- Consumer & Market Insight
- Leadership & Mentoring
- Analytical & Driven
- Copywriting & Storytelling
- Illustration & Storyboarding
- Digital & Content Marketing
- Leadership & Mentoring
- Analytical & Driven
- Copywriting & Storytelling
- Digital & Content Marketing
- Campaign Development
- Creative Team Collaboration
- Design Understanding
- Social Media Platforms
- Communication Strategies
- Project Management
- Vendor Negotiations
- Standards Implementation
- Avid and Final Cut Proficiency
- Brand Messaging
- Creative Vision Development
- Strategic Leadership
- Studio Management
- Manage Client Relationships
- Art Composition
- Maintain Budgets
- Blog Posts
- Visual Communication Expertise
- Corporate Identity Branding
Accomplishments
· Achieved record-breaking success with Airtel’s “Data Is Life” campaign, amassing 31M social media views and acquiring 2M data subscribers in 2 months and won gold at the Epica Awards, showcasing strategic marketing leadership.
· Delivered strategic "Own Your Flavor" repositioning for Maltina, surpassing acquisition targets by 36% in 4 months. Resulted in a 2.8% increase in brand score by targeting youth demographic through Traditional, Digital Marketing, and PR channels.
· Collaborated with product and tech teams on Airtel TV SVOD campaign, boosting downloads from 60K to 1M within 2 months. Topped Apple and Google Play Store charts in 2 days, accumulating 10M social media views.
· Concluded MTN Pulse relaunch, co-designing strategic brand proposition and campaign that resulted in 19.66% surge in subscribers, increasing from 47.441M to 56.766M in 10 weeks.
· Co-created Nike foundation campaign for Girl-Hub, securing 10% donor input in Kano. Won Nigeria’s first international awards: Epica Emerald in Berlin followed by a Silver at the Loeries. In Cape Town.
Affiliations
Member Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) UK 06/2013 – PRESENT)
Associate Member, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (12/2021 – PRESENT)
Interests
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
, Young African Bookworm – Lagos, Nigeria 06/2015 – PRESENT
Non-Profit Organization
Volunteer delegate to the opening and launch of the Makoko Children Community School
Girl Hub/ Nike Foundation - Lagos, Nigeria 02/2013
Volunteer Creative
Co-designed a Nike Foundation supported campaign for Girl Hub titled “Speechless”.
Additional Information
- AWARDS AND HONORS , Most Outstanding Creative Personnel of the Year-Marketing Edge. 10/2018 Ranked 10th on the Creative Director Global Ranking- Lurzer’s Archive 01/2023 Member of Grand Jury (Digital) - New York Festival International Advertising Awards 05/2018 Member of Preliminary Jury- Ad Stars International Advertising Awards, Busan, Korea 2018 & 2019 Member of Jury – Loeries International Advertising Awards, Cape Town, South Africa 10/2021
Certification
· Artificial Intelligence in Marketing. Darden School of Business, University of Virginia 09/2023
· Artificial Creativity. Parsons 09/2023
· Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Business - Alison 08/2023
· Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Marketing, CIM Level 7- Chartered Institute of Marketing 01/2023
· Corporate Digital Communications, CIM Level 7- Chartered Institute of Marketing 12/2023
· Global Marketing Decisions, CIM Level 7- Chartered Institute of Marketing 05/2021
· Creating Entrepreneurial Change, CIM Level 7- Chartered Institute of Marketing 12/2021
· Mastering Metrics (HL), CIM Level 6 –Chartered Institute of Marketing 07/2015
· Strategic Marketing Diploma in Professional Marketing– Chartered Institute of Marketing 06/2016
· Diploma in Digital Marketing – Chartered Institute of Marketing 02/2014
· Certificate in Consumer Behavior -EBS, Heriot Watt University, UK 01/2013
· Certificate in Marketing Communications –EBS, Heriot Watt University, UK 01/2014
Languages
Igbo
Native language
English
Proficient
C2
Timeline
Creative Director
Noah’s Ark Communications
06.2015 - Current
Associate Creative Director
DDB
01.2011 - 05.2015
Group Head Copy and Strategy
JWT
05.2010 - 09.2010
Marketing
Darden School of Business – University of Virginia
Machine Learning in Business -
Parson School of Design
Postgraduate Diploma - Professional Marketing
Chartered Institute of Marketing
Bachelor of Science - Sociology
University of Ibadan
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