The Sun Assistant General Manager, Corporate Services, Mrs. Net Nwosu, has been appointed one of the judges in the Afro Santa Search.
Coca-Cola is organizing the Afro Santa Search. It is designed to reconnect, refresh and reward loyal consumers by using locally relevant icons that easily incorporate Africa in the global representation of Christmas. It is also aimed at making African people feel proud of being African.

According to the organizers of the event, the Afro Santa concept is one such creativity that Coca-Cola initiated last year to create a distinctively African touch to the widely perceived alien image.
Afro Santa is a branded icon depicting an authentic and proudly African Santa Claus, which the company successfully used as one of the pillars of the widely acclaimed 2007 Coca-Cola Christmas campaign. Pa Emmanuel Tufanchi, a Hollywood star actor was the 2007 Afro Santa.

For this year, Coca-Cola Nigeria has decided to create a platform that could make the people own the Afro Santa as well as make the process of selecting the Afro Santa engaging and participatory. The company, therefore, commenced a nationwide search to select a male model for the Afro Santa character from October 27 to November 15. The eligibility criteria for aspiring Afro Santa models include ages of 30 and 50 years old, certified good health, amiable visage, humour and high energy, with demonstrable ability to connect and engage with persons of all ages and social categories.
Another criterion was mastery of multiple Nigerian languages. Interested persons were also required to send their personal details along with a recent 5x7-inch photo in 150 dpi scanned format to a dedicated e-mail address coca-colanaija@afr.ko.com.

This idea was well received to the extent that the initial two-week deadline for submission of entries, which began on October 27, had to be extended to November 15 so as to give opportunity to lot of consumers to explore the platform to become the Ambassador for their beloved brand Coke this festive season. The enthusiasm was just great; thousands of entries were sent.

One other feature that makes this year’s Christmas campaign unique is the transparent nature of the selection process as the task of selecting the eventual winner of the search is handled by an independent panel of judges that comprised eminent Nigerians. They are Adesua Onyenekwe, ace television presenter and publisher of Today’s Woman; Neta Nwosu, senior journalist and management staff with The Sun newspapers; Moyo Oyatogun, celebrated radio personality with Star FM, Pa Emmanuel Tufanchi, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, ace photographer and ID Ogungbe of the famed Prime Time’s ID on the Street.

On Monday, December 1, the veil will be lifted on the lucky man that will adorn the Afro Santa Claus colour for the year 2008 Coca-Cola Christmas campaign. The anxious moment that everyone has been waiting for will be decided by the judges with the selection and announcement of the final winner. The win is coming with lot and lot of prestige. This includes a cash prize of N500, 000, while the Afro Santa model will also, among other roles, play host at this year’s Coke Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony holding in few days’ time.

He will also lead the brand’s charity visits to some orphanages, old people’s homes and hospitals planned to take place in several cities across the country during the festive season.