The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media industry.
New Media and Swipe iX win gold in London
Run by the UK-based Content Marketing Association (CMA), the International Content Marketing Awards ceremony is the biggest night on our industry’s calendar. This year, the CMA received a record number of entries, from more organisations and countries across the world than ever before. New Media was the most successful South African agency, winning gold in two categories, silver in one and bronze in three.
Gold
- Best Use of Innovative Technology: Food24 Family Cookbook made with McCain (with Swipe iX)
- Designer of the Year: Mark Serra
Silver
- Best Content Team: Woolworths TASTE team
Bronze
- Best Content Team: Internal Communications division
- Best Use of Social Media: Woolworths TASTE
- Best Use of Influencer Marketing: Woolworths TASTE Made at Home
“We are extremely proud of our category wins, which highlight New Media’s digital and design skills. Smart use of technology and beautiful user-friendly design are at the heart of what we do, and the marriage of tech, design and storytelling is where the true magic happens,” said New Media CEO Aileen Lamb.
“The Food24 Family Cookbook made with McCain is an example of the deep collaboration between our skilled and passionate Food24 team, our visionary Swipers (Swipe iX is New Media’s wholly owned tech solutions agency) and a brave client who allowed us the space to be different. The result illustrates the power of open collaboration and exemplifies how content campaigns should spark the imagination, delight customers and drive measurable return.”
New Media’s second gold was for creative director Mark Serra, who has played a pivotal role in building New Media’s reputation for exceptional design for well over a decade. In addition, three of their teams were shortlisted in the Best Content Team category, where we took silver and bronze. “This is amazing validation for our Woolworths TASTE, Internal Comms and Mediclinic teams,” said Lamb.
This excellent performance in London follows New Media and Woolworth TASTE’s four golds at the 2021 Eddie & Ozzie Awards in New York, where the TASTE team also received two special recognition awards – for Editorial Team of the Year and Overall Editorial Excellence in Content Marketing.
2021 Financial Mail AdFocus award winners announced
The winners of the 2021 Financial Mail AdFocus Awards were announced on 24 November 2021, during an event in Johannesburg that streamed online – celebrating advertising’s game changers. Joe Public United Johannesburg was awarded as the Overall Agency of the Year. Fifteen other awards were presented.
Since their inception in 1990, the Financial Mail AdFocus Awards have established themselves as the leading platform for individuals and agencies to be recognised – not only for their creative marketing skills – but for their overall business acumen. The Awards have grown to become a landmark on the South African marketing and communications landscape, where business effectiveness is the primary measurement tool.
Financial Mail AdFocus Jury Chairperson Tumi Rabanye says: “This year’s winners are testament to the hard work and dedication that the marketing and communications industry continues to display towards clients and brands, at a time when businesses need people with dynamic, can-do attitudes amidst what has been a challenging period for everyone. The innovation that has been displayed by agencies and marketers, and the collaborations they have forged, show us how resilient and determined the industry is – an industry of game-changers.”
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Joe Public named Agency of the Year at the AdFocus Awards
To celebrate the industry’s triumph over circumstance, the theme for this year’s Financial Mail (FM) AdFocus Awards shone the spotlight on how advertising’s game-changers take on change.
Recognising the purpose-led leadership of the agency as well as its ability to capture and transcend the mood of the country, to build brands that can inspire and move people, the FM AdFocus Awards named Joe Public United as the Overall Agency of the Year 2021.
Joe Public United earned five awards, including Overall Agency of the Year 2021, Large Agency of the Year 2021 (for the second year in a row), the Transformation Award and Partnership of the Year for its work with Chicken Licken. Tshepo Tumahole, Integrated Creative Group Head at Joe Public United Johannesburg, was honoured with the Shapeshifter Award.
“Being recognised as Overall Agency of the Year is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff and the support from our clients. All 5 awards showcase the performance of the group, but they also highlight our consistent drive towards achieving our purpose of serving the growth of our clients, people and country. Our ongoing efforts to change the game, also saw the group expanding in 2020 and 2021 with the opening of offices in both Cape Town and Durban,” said Gareth Leck, Group CEO at Joe Public United.
“The FM AdFocus Awards are an extraordinary full stop to a challenging year of growth. Our Nedbank client, Khensani Nobanda, was awarded Industry Leader of the Year. One of our rising creative stars, Tshepo Tumahole, was awarded Shapeshifter of the Year. Our partnership with Chantal Sombonos-Van Tonder from Chicken Licken was awarded Partnership of the Year. Our endeavours towards serving the growth of our country were recognised through the Transformation Award, all culminating in JPU being awarded overall Agency of the Year,” says Pepe Marais, Group Chief Creative Officer, Joe Public United.
The group also recently earned the titles of Agency of the Year for the fourth year in a row and Regional Agency Group of the Year for the second year in a row at the 2021 Loerie Awards, as well as being ranked number one at the Pendoring Awards.
M&C SAATCHI GROUP SOUTH AFRICA shines at Financial Mail’s AdFocus Awards
M&C SAATCHI ABEL was a Top 3 Finalist in the Large Agency of the Year category for a second year running, after having won it in 2019. It also took home the Partnership of the Year Awards alongside long-standing client Nando’s in 2019, and Takealot in 2020. M&C SAATCHI Connect was shortlisted in the Media Agency of the Year Award.
“This speaks volumes about the fact that we keep showing up among the best of the best across the industry – particularly during a time when we’ve had to push harder to maintain the same level of striving for excellence that is ingrained in the fibre of our entire group,” said Mike Abel, Chief Executive Partner at M&C SAATCHI ABEL and M&C SAATCHI GROUP SOUTH AFRICA.
“These award nominations and wins help us to measure not only our outputs, but also our inputs, which we define through embracing a brave approach, being audacious about going against the grain, and the obsession that drives our creativity and strategic thinking,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Levergy was a finalist in the Specialised Agency of the Year and the Transformation award categories. The Sports Sponsorship Agency took home the Adaptability Award for pivoting their business offerings in the face of the global pandemic and rising above the challenges the agency – and its clients – were faced with along the way.
“The true test of a successful agency in these times, is one that is willing to roll with the punches, stand up, dust itself off and say ‘Okay, that didn’t work, but what can we do differently when we try again?’ and then seeing this not as a failure, but rather as a step towards a solution in the never-ending process of shapeshifting in the face of change,” said Ray Langa, Managing Director at Levergy.
Congratulations also go to Faheem Chaudhry, partner and managing director at M&C SAATCHI ABEL Johannesburg, who was asked to chair the AdFocus Jury for 2022 as recognition to his contribution to the industry.
Razor PR named South Africa’s Financial Mail AdFocus’ Public Relations Agency of the Year
Razor Public Relations, the reputation management and strategic communications agency in the M&C Saatchi Group South Africa has been named South Africa’s best PR agency by the Financial Mail.
“Public relations as a discipline continues to demonstrate significant strategic value to clients, often as a result of the authenticity it brings to the conversations that brands, companies and their leaders need to show up in,” said partner and managing director Dustin Chick.
“A crisis the magnitude of the global pandemic is an inflection point in this. We all know a crisis can catalyse any industry in the long-term, but for PR it has absolutely demonstrated the value of communications that directly connects to people and that does this creatively and with heart,” he says.
This approach has seen Razor PR continue to grow year-on-year, while representing some of the country’s and continent’s largest names, including Audi, Anglo American, BevCo, Takealot and Virgin Active.
The 2021 GQ Men of the Year Awards winners announced
The third annual GQ Men of the Year Awards in association with Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège, has taken place. Affectionately known as ‘MOTY’, the prestigious awards ceremony recognises pioneers within the country who shape the cultural landscape and continue to push the boundaries of innovation, inspiration, and insight. From artists to humanitarians, visionaries to designers, comedians and entrepreneurs, GQ South Africa and Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège, celebrates the best talent from South Africa and Africa.
GQ editor-in-chief Molife Kumona said: “I can safely say that in the 22 years we’ve been around as GQ, the 2021 Men of the Year awards shows how diverse we are, not only as a brand and who we showcase and celebrate but, also how distinct the people who shape our culture are. Everyone we acknowledged in this year’s awards, epitomise excellence and inspiration. We’re truly honoured to have been able to do this for the third year in a row and in association, with a brand like Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège.”
GQ’s Men of the Year Awards 2021 winners, in no specific order, are:
● Entertainer of the Year – Makhadzi
● Musician of the Year – Focalistic
● Humanitarian of the Year – Kolisi Foundation
● Editor’s Special Tribute – the late Shona Ferguson (accepted by Connie Ferguson)
● The Game Changers of the Year – Kgothatso Montjane and Tatjana Schoenmaker sponsored by Skin Renewal
● Designer of the Year – Laduma Ngxokolo
● The Industry Icon of the Year – Nick Boulton
● Woman of the Year – Thuso Mbedu
● Sportsperson of the Year – Ntando Mahlangu
● The Standard Bank Business Leader of the Year – Theo Baloyi
● The Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège Lifetime Achievement Award – Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse.
The show was hosted by GQ Editor-in-Chief, Molife Kumona and Claire Mawisa and included performances by the likes of Siki Jo-An, Sauti Sol and the third recipient of the Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège Lifetime Achievement award, Sipho ‘Hotstix” Mabuse himself.
Hollard Sport Industry Awards honour the most innovative and creative in the business of sport
The teams behind the teams within the business of sport were recognised and awarded this afternoon at the 2021 Hollard Sport Industry Awards.
Campaigns showing true grit, resilience, and exceptional creativity spanning marketing, PR, virtual events, sponsorship, advertising, community investment, social media, production and branding were recognised at the event held virtually again this year.
“This year we celebrate the brand owners, the agencies and the media owners who have inspired us, entertained us and keep us healthy at a time when we needed it more than ever. We’ve seen so much wonderful inventiveness in entries this year – somehow we’ve managed to hear crowds cheering, even though there weren’t any in the stadiums,” said Heidi Brauer, Hollard’s chief marketing officer. “Heartfelt congratulations to the deserving winners, and to each and every person who has played a part in keeping sports, brands, and campaigns alive and entertaining during this really strange and difficult time,”
This year the Agency of the Year Award, sponsored by Gallo Images, went to Mscsports. Founded as a sports memorabilia company in 2000, Mscsports has grown and evolved into one of South Africa’s most-reputable sports and entertainment agencies.
Two campaigns featured prominently within numerous categories this year. These included Mscsports for Castle Lager #InOurBlood and Levergy for the Nedbank Breaking Barriers Race.
#InOurBlood took home the much sought-after Campaign of the Year Award, sponsored by Ab InBev, as well as the Worldwide Sport Event or Competition Sponsorship Award, and came third in the category of Social and Environmental Impact.
Winning agency Mscsports used our collective passion for rugby and Castle’s sponsorship of the British & Irish Lions Series as a unique opportunity to build a campaign for South Africans to come together and unite behind the Springboks. Taking this campaign one step further was its partnership with the SANBS, to drive desperately needed blood donations
Last year’s Agency of the Year, Levergy, continued their winning streak with the Nedbank Breaking Barriers Race, winning both the Communications Award and the Virtual Event of the Year Award.
Two new categories were included this year, with the Active and Wellbeing Award, sponsored by C2, going to Spar for the Spar Virtual Women’s Challenge, which also won the Fan Engagement Award.
For the first time this year, submissions were opened to the rest of Africa. The Cross Border Award, sponsored by SuperSport, went to Basketball Africa League, the NBA’s first collaboration outside of North America.
Other notable wins included:
- Audiovisual Content of The Year (Long Form) – Walt Disney for ESPN Africa/Walt Disney Company Africa & 10th Street Media
- Audiovisual Content of The Year (Short Form) – T&W for Luckhanyo Am
- Brand or Sponsor of The Year, sponsored by Hollard – Princess Sports for Brabo Hockey
- Social And Environmental Impact Award – Team Qhubeka
Young Agency of The Year went to Matchstick Creative, a virtual creative agency comprising work-from-home freelancers established during the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Highlights this afternoon were the presenting of four special awards, voted on by peers within the sporting industry within South Africa. The ESPN Leadership in Sport Business Award went to Pitso Mosimane, one of the longest serving and most decorated coaches in all of South African football. As head coach of Al Ahly in Egypt, Pitso has continued his success, being named as Best Manager in Africa earlier this year.
With her emotional win in Tokyo taking the gold medal and setting a new world record in the 200-metres breaststroke, there is little surprise that the Sport Industry Personality of the Year went to Tatjana Schoenmaker.
The Sport Lifetime Community Award was presented to former South African opening batsman, Gary Kirsten, for his work in uplifting cricket and access to cricket in communities around South Africa
World boxing’s remarkable referee and judge, Stan Christodoulou, was presented the Sport Lifetime Achievement Award, for his immense contribution to South African boxing.
Also new to this platform, the Pendoring Indigenous Commentators Award, celebrates the richness of South Africa’s indigenous languages and pays tribute to those sports commentators who bring passion and excitement to the game, those who make the best calls and those whose emotive anecdotes continually inspire and engage. The winner of the first ever Pendoring Indigenous Commentators Award went to Masomelele Jucwa.
Red & Yellow takes top student award at the Pendorings
The Red & Yellow Creative School of Business was a multiple winner at the 2021 Pendoring Awards which embraces country and industry to promote, unify and celebrate the richness of South Africa’s creative content in all its indigenous languages.
Red & Yellow was judged Top School/University of the Year out of all academic institutions in the country that entered. The 2021 Overall Student Winner also went to Red & Yellow for ‘Ichebetyu goes a long way’, an integrated campaign that plays off the insight that South Africans can make that last bit of Sunlight Laundry Soap last a very long time.
This Sunlight campaign won a Gold Award in the Student Integrated Multimedia category for Sebastian Dupper and René Robinson. Their proud lecturers are Henriette Rademan, Nobukho Nqaba and Eckhard Cloete. The campaign also won a Silver Award in the Outdoor Media category.
The ‘Ungavumeli umhlaza wolusu ukuchwechwele’ campaign for BlackandBrownSkin.uk won a silver award in the Outdoor Media category for students Jenna Marx, Joey Gordon and Sam Immelman. Their lecturers were Henriette Rademan, Nobukho Nqaba and Eckhard Cloete.
The ‘Brak en Jan’ campaign for client ATKV won a Silver Award in the Digital Applications, Games & Interactive Tools category for student Janine Louw. Her lecturer was Stephanie Simpson.
To view the winning projects, please see 2021 Pendoring e tjhunwa ke Hollard Awards winners and rankings announced (bizcommunity.com)
Best Loyalty Agency 2021 title scooped by Achievement Awards Group
At the South African Loyalty Awards on 16 November 2021, Achievement Awards Group scooped the title of Best Loyalty Agency (Marketing/Rewards) of the Year, as well as being highly commended for Best Programme of the Year.
The Loyalty Awards is the industry’s most coveted award, benchmarked against international standards and measurable results as judged by local and international Loyalty & CRM professionals. It showcases South Africa’s best programmes, loyalty innovations, data applications and loyalty/CRM campaigns.
After a robust judging process, each entry was measured against stringent criteria, measuring how loyalty and CRM excellence can drive commercial results and greater customer experiences.
The accolades come at time when the global business climate has been experiencing the need for inspired leadership and recovery geared towards overcoming the international COVID-19 crisis.
Achievement Awards Group Managing Director, Sales & Channel Solutions, Jean-Claude Latter stated: “Acknowledgement such as this award comes with much appreciation and value, demonstrating that now, more than ever, the time to develop and maintain loyalty among companies, customers and the consumers and communities they serve is here. The professional and personal loyalty ecosystems within which we perform are all connected.”
Wunderman Thompson SA Wins at 2021 Acquia Engage Awards
Wunderman Thompson was just named an Acquia Certified Practice Partner. It also won an award at the Global Acquia Engage event for The Scale: together with its client, Bayer.
The Acquia Engage Awards recognise high-impact digital experiences that organisations worldwide are building with the Acquia Open Digital Experience Platform (DXP), including Drupal Cloud and Marketing Cloud. Winners demonstrate an advanced level of functionality, integration, performance and user experience.
“Showcasing the most impressive digital experiences across industries and geographies is a highlight of Acquia Engage,” said Lynne Capozzi, chief marketing officer at Acquia. “Each customer’s story demonstrates the impact that creatively designed and thoroughly executed digital experiences can have on customer engagement and organisational performance.”
Nominations now open for 2021/2 Marketing Achievement Awards’ Rising Star and Marketer of the Year
Between now and 17 December 2021, marketing professionals across the country are invited to nominate young, rising stars from within their organisations or partner companies for the Marketing Achievement Awards’ Rising Star of the Year, and fellow peers from within the broader sector for the Marketer of the Year.
The Rising Star award celebrates up-and-coming marketers who think differently, who disrupt the status quo and who challenge conventional thinking. They are under the age of 35 and demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation and the ability to strategise for maximum business impact and growth.
The Marketer of the Year Award recognises individuals who understand the art and science of marketing; have the business, brand and category interest at heart; and leverage their skills to grow all three. They combine data, strategy, creativity and technology to deliver innovative marketing and to positively impact business results in their organisation, and use their influence to drive the industry forward.
Brian Yuyi, CEO of the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA), says both the Rising Star and Marketer of the Year entries will be assessed against this year’s MAA theme, ‘marketing that means business’.
“This theme speaks to the potential of strategic marketing – as a critical tool anchored in business strategy – to positively contribute to business success. In a world where immediacy is the order of the day, marketing has to deliver on its promises. There are no second chances. You have to get it right the first time, and then evolve to continually deliver against what your customers want. When marketing is done correctly and used as a strategic tool, it closes the loop on the customer experience, ensuring brand loyalty and repeat purchases, which ultimately escalate your bottom line,” Yuyi explains.
The 2021 MAA Rising Star of the Year Award winner, Serisha Pillay, says this year’s theme solidifies the importance of the marketing profession.
The 2021 MAA Marketer of the Year Award winner and MTN Group Executive: Marketing, Bernice Samuels, believes that when marketing is recognised as the lifeblood of a business, it is a powerful tool for generating sustainable value and creating long-term connections with consumers.
Marketers can nominate their rising stars at //marketingawards.co.za/rising-star-of-the-year-award/ and nominate their peers at //marketingawards.co.za/marketer-of-the-year-award/ before 17 December 2021.
2022 INMA Global Media Awards competition is now open for entries
This year’s Global Media Awards feature 20 categories across seven genres (including six new categories)
• News brands
• Media platforms
• Subscriptions
• Data and insights
• Product
• Newsroom
As always, the INMA awards focus on rewarding excellence in building audience, revenue, and brand.
In the weeks ahead, we will introduce you to the categories of most relevance to you. We encourage you to share Global Media Awards communications with people and departments throughout your company.
If you have questions, I am always available to you – along with the entire INMA team.
Good luck with your 2022 Global Media Awards entries!
Click here to view categories and submit entries
