Best in industry honoured at AMASA Awards (With Videos)

Last night the Advertising Media Association of South Africa held its annual awards. The gathering is to recognise great media strategy and planning. Michael Bratt attended the event and spoke to some of the winners.

Held at a glittering ceremony at Room Five in Rivonia, this year’s AMASA Awards were attended by approximately 330 guests. The theme of the evening was ‘Let me entertain you’, something that the media has to do in order to retain the interest of its audience. The gathering was to celebrate media campaigns via sounds and sights which are all underpinned by great innovation.

This year saw 100 entries, with more than half of them being shortlisted. AMASA chairperson Wayne Bischoff says this shows the ever-increasing quality of the entrants.

The big winner on the night was The MediaShop who walked away with not only the Best Use of Technology award but also the coveted Roger Garlick Grand Prix award, for the second year in a row. Both of them were for the agency’s Hungry Lion Lucky Bucket campaign.

Fiona Potgieter, mobile strategist at The MediaShop, described the characteristics that keep leading the agency on the road to continued success as, “Passion, an understanding of the South African landscape, determination, an insatiable appetite and a high level of attention to detail”. She also explained that the campaign came about as a result of Hungry Lion wanting to grow its brand and the agency leveraged off the fact that not many people pay attention to the lower technologies. The MediaShop was able to tap into its understanding of access to technology in the South African market and created a campaign that was accessible to consumers even off the most basic of mobile phones.

Liquorice also put in an impressive showing scooping a hat-trick of awards: Best Cause Related Integrated Campaign, Best Financial Integrated Campaign, and Best Social Media Strategy. The last award was for the agency’s Battle of the Spreads campaign, an online war between Bovril and Marmite.

Speaking about the importance of social media Miles Murphy, CEO of Liquorice, said, “Every consumer is on social media. There’s been huge growth in it in lower LSMs so it’s very inclusive. It’s a great way for brands to engage with consumers and be part of conversations and not be in people’s ways.” He also touched on the success of the Bovril vs Marmite campaign saying that a real movement got going on social media with some people going so far as to get tattoos which pledged their support for their favourite spread.

“The campaign gave content to conversations on social media without forcing brands into people’s faces. The campaign was so successful that sales went through the roof for the client,” Murphy said. The campaign also played on the fact that no competitive advertising is allowed to happen in SA. Since the client Famous Brands owns both Marmite and Bovril they could have a go at each other, and create a massive rivalry.

But not all campaigns have massive budgets that agencies can work with. That is why there is also an AMASA Award for the Best Use of a Small Budget. This year it went to Mobitainment for their Redbull Kas’Lami Festival Tembisa campaign.

Carmen Murray, general manager of sales and marketing at Mobitainment, shared the agency’s tips for success when working with very little funds, “When trying to capture many people in the market you have got to make the entry mechanism free to consumers. Bringing in celebrities also helps, as they play a vital role.” The agency used a system called Mobile Radio on Demand, the first of its type in SA. While it was inspired by a Cannes Lion winner from India, the technology was adapted for the SA market. The unique selling point of the campaign was that there was a different call to action on every single platform which gave clients ways to measure return on investment when comparing the different platforms.

On Point PR was named the winner of the Best Experiential/Event campaign award for its very innovative Football Fan Fashion project. Fatima Ouanssaidi, chief operating officer of On Point PR explained that the campaign came about from the idea that South African football super fans are very involved in fashion as they dress up in breathtaking outfits when they attend matches.

On Point PR aimed to bring together cultures, lifestyle, soccer and fashion to create a beautiful fusion. “Soccer fans were paired with student designers, to create outfits for every PSL team. Some of the designers had never been to a soccer match before so it was a very special campaign,” Ouanssaidi said. She also touched on the importance of experiential/event campaigns, “The way we are moving people want to experience the authenticity of a brand. Events help bring the brand’s message to life and people go away and become champions of that brand as they have experienced it. Experiential and events are very important.”

A full list of winners

Best FMCG Integrated Campaign – Carat (Made of Black)

Best Transport Integrated Campaign – Gloo @ Ogilvy (PoloTag)

Best B2B Integrated Campaign – OMG FUSE (Standard Bank, Business Banking, Bizconnect)

Best Other Goods Integrated Campaign – No winner named (none of the entrants fully met the criteria)

Best Retail Integrated Campaign – The MediaShop (Hungry Lion Lucky Bucket)

Best Cause Related Integrated Campaign – Liquorice (OMO Fast Kids)

Best Financial Integrated Campaign – Joint winners: Liquorice (#tweetdreams) and NATIVE VML/MediaShop (Nedbank Ke Yona Team Search)

Best Branded Content Campaign – NATIVE VML (Nedbank Ke Yona Team Search)

Best Experiential/Event Campaign – On Point PR (Football Fan Fashion)

Best Online Campaign – PHD South Africa (Inflation Bulldog)

Best Social Media Strategy – Liquorice (Battle of the Spreads)