Times Media Group won the Overall Media Owners Award and The MediaShop, Johannesburg, took home the Overall Media Agency Award at the seventh annual MOST Awards held in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.
More than 600 people from South Africa’s media industry flocked to the ceremony hosted by CEO of Wag the Dog Publishers and founder of the awards, Sandra Gordon, and MC’d by funnyman Jason Goliath.
The MOST Awards is an independent web-based survey commissioned by Wag the Dog Publishers and conducted by Freshly Ground Insights (FGI) to inspire media agencies and media owners to improve their knowledge and service delivery to their clients. Media owners and media agencies vote for each other against criteria that have been set by the industry.
Gordon said she was delighted at the participation in the awards which saw a healthy number of participants, and that the results had thrown up a “couple of surprises”. She said the number of sponsors on board showed how the “little” awards show had grown in stature over the seven years period.
This year saw a record number of entries, numbering close on 600, said Brad Aigner, CEO of FGI who has handled the research since the awards began. Aigner said the data analytics were reviewed in consultation with statistical experts at Consulta. “The methodology used managed any instances where small statistically insignificant variances in overall scores occurred between companies,” he said.
“Specifically, voters were asked to nominate the best performer in each category in which they voted. This metric was used to ‘break the tie’. To ensure the integrity of the MOST Awards, the survey method and data analytics were reviewed by the analytics department at the University of Pretoria and given a clean audit,” Aigner said.
Trevor Ormerod, general manager of sales and marketing at TMG, said the key to his team’s success was people, negotiating well and building relationships. “Our clients come first,” he said.
The MediaShop’s Chris Botha said it was “tough” staying on top but that he believed the way in which the company treated everyone, from media owners to staff and clients, was a factor in its ongoing success. “We don’t have a master and servant mentality,” he said. “Everyone is treated equally and with respect.”
The MOST Legend and Rising Star Awards are presented to individuals in recognition of their commitment and integrity. Nominations for these awards are submitted by respondents to the survey and the winner was selected by a panel of previous winners using specially selected criteria. These awards cannot be won more than once by any nominee.
Winners of the highly prized awards for 2015 are:
- Media Owner Legend – Chris Hitchings, CEO of DStv Media Sales;
- Media Agency Legend – Rob Smuts of RMS Media
- The Media Owner Rising Star – Brett Tucker, MD of Grass Roots Media
- Media Agency Rising Star – Ilan Lazarus of PHD, Cape Town
Leading media commentator and mentor, Gordon Patterson, received the MOST Shepherd Award, in recognition of his selfless contribution to the industry.
Gordon says that the MOST Awards, “enhance the relationship between media owners’ sales and marketing teams and media agency personnel”.
The MOST Lamb Award, for companies that do not receive the minimum number of 30 votes, but who excel in terms of great service, went to media owner Mark1 (digital) and media agency Posterscope, Johannesburg. Winner of the Best Specialist Agency award went to PHD Johannesburg while The MediaShop in Johannesburg scored honours with the award for Best Full-Service Agency.
Media Owner Category Awards
The media owner category winners were varied and some were first-time winners. In the radio category, Mediamark Radio took the honours while Cinemark won in the Television/Cinema category. MMAP won in the Out of Home (OOH) category, the SpaceStation pipped other digital media owners to the post while Times Media Newspapers garnered the honours in the newspapers category and Caxton Magazines won the magazines category.
The full list of winners is listed at the bottom of this release.
The MOST Africa Awards
Due to a growing interest in Africa as an economic growth area, a new category was introduced this year for media owners Africa sales teams and for South African based agencies that strategically plan and book media in the rest of Africa.
The MOST Africa Media Owner category was won by Primedia Outdoor, Johannesburg while The MOST Africa Media Agency Award was won by Initiative Media, Johannesburg.
Full List of MOST Awards winners 2015
Overall Media Owner Award 2015 Times Media Group
2nd Caxton Magazines
3rd MMAP
Overall Media Agency Award 2015 The MediaShop Johannesburg
2nd PHD Johannesburg
3rd OMG Digital
Media Agency Legend Award Rob Smuts, RMS Media
Media Owner Legend Award Chris Hitchings, DStv Media Sales
Media Owner Rising Star Award Brett Tucker, Grass Roots Media
Media Agency Rising Star Award Ilan Lazarus, PHD
MOST 2015 Shepherd Award Gordon Patterson
Media Agency Lamb Posterscope, Johannesburg
2nd Universal McCann
3rd Carat Cape Town
Media Owner Lamb Mark1 – Digital Category
2nd Ramsay Media (Magazines)
3rd Graffiti (OOH)
Radio Category 2015 Winner Mediamark Radio
2nd Primedia Broadcasting
3rd United Stations
Television/Cinema Category Winner Cinemark
2nd DStv Media Sales
3rd e.tv
Out of Home Category Winner MMAP
2nd Continental Outdoor Media
3rd ProVantage
Digital Category 2015 Winner The SpaceStation
2nd Mediamark Digital
3rd Google Inc.
Newspapers Category Winner Times Media Group
2nd Independent Newspapers
3rd NAB Caxton (now Spark Media)
Magazines Category Winner Caxton Magazines
2nd Media24 Lifestyle
3rd Ndalo Media
Best Specialist Agency Winner PHD Johannesburg
2nd OMG Digital
3rd PHD Cape Town
Best Full Service Agency The MediaShop Johannesburg
2nd OMG Media Direction, Johannesburg
3rd Vizeum South Africa Cape Town
Media in Africa – Media Owners Primedia Outdoor
2nd Continental Outdoor Media
3rd DStv Media Sales
Media in Africa – Media Agencies Initiative Media Johannesburg
2nd The MediaShop Johannesburg
3rd Mindshare
