The inaugural Advertising and Media Association of South Africa (Amasa) awards took place on Thursday with The MediaShop taking home the Roger Garlick Grand Prix for its innovative media execution of the Coca-Cola rainbow campaign.. Other well performing agencies included Gloo, which won two highly commended certificates and two gold awards as well as PHD which won a highly commended and gold award in different categories.
“In a word, we can describe this year’s Roger Garlick Grand Prix winner as breathtaking,” said Wayne Bishop, head of the AMASA Awards portfolio. “The Coke Rainbow campaign had everything from tech to scale and we hope to see it at the top of the global media world in the coming months. A thoroughly extravagant campaign with creative flair, media wit and a real-life rainbow to go with it.” As the RGA winner, The MediaShop will have their campaign entered into the international Festival of Media Awards sponsored by AMASA.
“We are very happy and excited. This campaign was a team effort between ourselves, creative, media owners, and a very brave client,” said Chris Botha, group managing director at The MediaShop. “We are privileged to have won, and to work with the amazing people of Coca-Cola South Africa”.
Fiona Brauns, group head of the Coca-Cola account at The MediaShop said she was “extremely privileged” to work with such a great team. “Coca-Cola South Africa, is a wonderful and brave Client who allows the team to constantly strive and push the boundaries, FCB is an amazing partner to work with as they have great insight & creativity. Lastly but certainly not least the phenomenal team at The MediaShop – truly an amazing bunch, nothing is ever too much of an effort. We are absolutely thrilled to have won,” she said.
With 106 entries in this year’s AMASA awards the judging panel, made up of industry specialists, had a tough job to analyse and select this year’s candidates.
Although the prestigious Roger Garlick Awards (RGA) have been in existence since 1999, this year’s grand ceremony marks the first of AMASAs solely hosted awards. The awards have been completely rebranded for 2014 as well as re-named to the ‘AMASA Awards’.
“The new format of the AMASA Awards has been created to not only launch a larger celebration of industry work but also to build on the famous Roger Garlick Awards from previous years to include new categories, new standards and new scale,” said chairman of AMASA, Wayne Bischoff. “We believe South Africa’s media industry is in a healthy space and it won’t be long before we start seeing our work featured in the pages of the international trade press for creativity in media.”
The AMASA awards celebrate ‘all-rounder’ media campaigns; ones which are based on sound insights, underpinned by great ideas, followed through with perfectly executed strategy to achieve outstanding and measurable results – all the while celebrating innovation. “Innovation is a must-have trait in the media world in order to keep up with the ever-changing landscape” said Bishop.
AMASA AWARD WINNERS LIST 2014:
Best Branded Content Campaign
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Centrum Guardian Project – One Lady and a Tribe
GOLD: The 15% more Show – eBucks Rewards from FNB – MediaMark/FNB
Best Use of Mobile
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Puma Pixel Pong – Gloo
GOLD: Are You 2 Enough? – Gloo & Vizeum
Best Use of Technology
HIGHLY COMMENDED: BMW 7 Series Launch – Gloo
GOLD: ATM Switch – FNB – Gloo
Best Integrated Campaign: Retail
GOLD: Whopper Your Selfie – King James Group
Best Social Media Campaign
GOLD: Magnum Pink & Black Twitter auction – Liquorice/Hardy Boys/Marcus Brewster/Ultimate Media)
Best Experiential/Event
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Zoo Biscuits – M&C Saatchi Connect
GOLD: Coke Rainbow – The MediaShop
GOLD: #Canonphotomobs – PHD
Best Contribution by a Media Owner
GOLD: The 15% More Show – eBucks Rewards from FNB – Mediamark
Best Integrated Campaign: Financial
GOLD: Access Banking – Standard Bank – OMD
Best Integrated Campaign: Cause Related
HIGHLY COMMENDED: SANBS Mastering the Masthead – PHD
Best Sponsorship
HIGHLY COMMENDED: #Ownyourday – Wimpy – The MediaShop
Ignition Award for Tertiary Institutions
GOLD: Matla a Bana – Duct Tape – Mbali Cindi from University of Johannesburg
Roger Garlick Grand Prix
Roger Garlick Winner – Coke Rainbow – The MediaShop
