The Board of TBWA\Concept Unit, the Lagos-based creative agency within the TBWA Worldwide network, today announced the appointment of George Isitua-Onukwu as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. George succeeds Kelechi Nwosu, whose leadership helped establish TBWA\Concept Unit as one of Nigeria’s most respected creative agencies, marked by bold creative thinking and a string of widely recognised campaigns, including the Proudly Made in Aba campaign and the Spirit of Lagos project.
The appointment marks the next chapter in the agency’s evolution rather than a break from what came before. TBWA\Concept Unit has, under Nwosu’s leadership, already begun diversifying its portfolio beyond traditional campaign work, a direction George intends to build on with greater intensity and structure. The agency’s vision for this next phase is to become a disciplined, future-thinking creative company that develops products to solve its own and its clients’ marketing performance problems, expanding beyond campaign work into owned intellectual property, technology-enabled solutions and scalable products.
During his tenure as Chief Operating Officer, George played a central role in the agency’s commercial and operational leadership, helping strengthen client relationships, improve business performance and support growth across sectors including banking, telecommunications, FMCG, technology and professional services.
“George combines commercial discipline with a deep appreciation for creativity,” said Kelechi Nwosu. “He understands both where this industry has come from and where it is going. I have every confidence he is the right leader to take TBWA\Concept Unit through its next phase of growth.”
The agency continues to draw on a strong bench of senior leadership across creative, account management, strategy, and operations, providing continuity and depth as it moves into this next phase. TBWA\Concept Unit is already developing a slate of owned ventures, including cultural and entertainment platforms designed to extend the agency’s creative output beyond client campaigns and into properties the agency can build, scale and monetise independently. The agency has also begun structuring new senior roles around this direction, including positions focused on technology and product development.
“We are not abandoning the agency model. We are expanding it,” George said. “Creativity remains our core product, but the future belongs to agencies that can turn creativity into assets, platforms and businesses. Ideas should not only solve marketing problems; they should create economic value that compounds over time. What excites me most is that this journey has already begun. My role is not to change direction but to accelerate it.”
The shift is intended to translate directly into client value, with technology-enabled marketing products and platforms designed to give clients faster insight, sharper creative solutions and new avenues for growth.
TBWA\Concept Unit will continue to strengthen its role within the TBWA network while expanding its influence across key African markets, positioning the agency as a modern creative company capable of delivering both world-class communications and scalable business solutions. The agency’s partnership with the global TBWA network has long felt like a natural fit rather than an integration, a reflection of the entrepreneurial, unconventional thinking that has defined the business since its earliest days as Concept Unit.
The leadership transition will be formally introduced to the agency’s clients, partners and the broader industry over the coming weeks, with George set to outline his vision for the agency in greater detail at a media briefing in Lagos.
About TBWA\Concept Unit: TBWA\Concept Unit is one of Nigeria’s leading creative agencies and a member of the global TBWA Worldwide network. Founded in 1984 by Lere Awokoya and Kayode Idowu as Concept Unit, the agency has grown over four decades into one of the most respected names in Nigerian advertising. Operating under the Disruption® methodology, the agency provides brand strategy, creative development, integrated communications, digital solutions and innovation consulting for clients across banking, FMCG, telecommunications, technology and professional services in Nigeria and the wider West African market.
