Media agencies Mindshare and The MediaShop were ranked first and second respectively in the Mobile Marketing Association’s annual Business Impact Index’s ‘Africa’ Index, while Digitas Liquorice was ranked second and Gorilla fourth in the ‘Global’ digital agency category. The winners were announced in New York on Tuesday night.
“Local campaigns performed extremely well across categories this year. This goes to show the high calibre of mobile-first work that we produce as a country,” said Sarah Utermark, country director of the Mobile Marketing Association South Africa, in a statement.
To be eligible for inclusion in the BII, brands, agencies, media agencies and tech enablers’ campaigns need to have won, or have been a finalist in, the previous years’ SMARTIES Awards, the only awards that honour work for its business impact. These campaigns are then analysed by a proprietary methodology developed in collaboration with WARC – the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness – to determine business impact.
Luisa Mazinter, MMA SA’s chairperson, said the Business Impact Index presented an opportunity for a country’s top mobile marketers to compete with peers at an international level. “Being recognised as a leader in these global indexes is a significant achievement for South African brands and agencies, as it means that their work has delivered exceptional value for the businesses they represent and is considered among the best in the world”.
Digitas Liquorice Founder and CEO, Miles Murphy, was delighted with the news. “We’re super thrilled to be announced the #1 Digital Agency in the EMEA region and #2 Globally for the second year running. This achievement stands by the real impact and ground-breaking work we deliver to our clients every day,” he said.
Sheryl Daija, chief strategy officer of the MMA, said those with top ranked positions are “thought leaders who have shown the marketing and business community what it takes to drive business growth in mobile, inspiring the next big idea through award-winning work that effectively blends strategy, creativity, and execution for maximum business impact”.
‘Africa’ Index: Enabling Technology No.1: adVRtas No.2: Future Tech Media ‘ Africa’ Index: Brands No.1 Shield No.2 KFC ‘EMEA’ Index: Digital Agencies Regional No. 1: Digitas Liquorice No. 2: Gorilla No 3: Yonder Media No 4: Just Palm
Utermark said with the 2019 SMARTIES Awards now open for submissions, entrants should be encouraged to spend sufficient time on highlighting the financial impact their campaigns had on the businesses they represent. “In doing so, they might win a SMARTIES and then also be entered into the 2019 BII to stand a chance of being recognised among the best mobile marketing work in the world.”
[Story updated 12.41 pm with Digitas Liquorice comment.]
