The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media industry.
An industry first: The Nedbank IMC now with the Effie Awards
The Effie Awards South Africa – the world’s preeminent marketing effectiveness award, and the Nedbank IMC Conference – Africa’s leading marketing conference, will partner in 2023 for the benefit of the marketing industry at large. The merging of the two industry events means that on Friday 15 September 2023, the Nedbank IMC Conference will serve as the Effie South Africa summit with the awards ceremony held in the evening following the conclusion of the conference.
Attendees will experience one hard-hitting day of 15-minute relevant insights into marketing and advertising, followed by the showcasing and recognition of the most effective campaigns of 2023.
The theme for both events this year is Marketing. UpClose&Personal, allowing for delegates and attendees to get up-close insight of industry trends without the waffle and sales pitches. The theme enables the seamless incorporation of a diverse range of relevant topics.
With the collaboration of two heavyweight industry summits, the combined focus is to significantly extend reach into Africa, with a longer-term vision for the event to be bigger and more inclusive, possibly incorporating other industry awards and activities.
Entry deadline looms for Sanlam Group Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism
The Sanlam Group Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism have been recognising and rewarding exceptional business journalism in Africa since 1974.
The competition is open to African journalists in print, online, radio and TV media who are based in Africa, working in an African news organisation, and publish or broadcast their journalistic work on the continent. In December, Sanlam announced that entries are open for these awards which are co-sponsored for the first time by Sanlam and Santam.
There are now just over two weeks to the deadline. Closing date for entries is 28 February 2023. The process for submitting an entry is straightforward. Your starting point is the landing page for the awards on the Sanlam website at this link.
This 48th edition of the awards includes the introduction of the new ESG category which has two sub-categories: Business and the environment; and Business in the community. Information on the criteria for the ESG category is available here and here. Entries should be submitted using the online entry form at this link. For further enquiries, please contact sumayah.booysen@sanlam.co.za.
BritBox to livestream 76th EE BAFTA Film Awards in South Africa
BritBox will once again bring the 76th EE BAFTA Film Awards live to audiences in South Africa, hosted this year by Richard E. Grant and Alison Hammond.
BritBox International is expanding its long-running relationship with BAFTA to become the exclusive home of the EE BAFTA Film Awards in eight countries, streaming the awards live from London on Sunday, 19 February across the US, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as South Africa.
The EE BAFTA Film Awards, the biggest night in British film, celebrates the very best of British and international film talent and will take place at London’s iconic Royal Festival Hall. Richard E. Grant will host the ceremony and Alison Hammond will host a new BAFTA Studio from the Royal Festival Hall as part of an expanded show format for 2023. This year the red carpet will be hosted by Ali Plumb and Vick Hope.
South Africa is strongly represented at this year’s awards with Living, directed by Cape Town’s Oliver Hermanus (The Endless River, Moffie), nominated in four categories, including Outstanding British Film, Leading Actor for Bill Nighy, Best Adapted Screenplay for novelist Kazuo Ishiguro and EE Rising Star Award for Aimee Lou Wood.
“At BritBox International, we showcase and celebrate incredible talent, creativity, and storytelling from the UK, every single day, for our viewers,” said Reemah Sakaan, CEO of BritBox International. “BritBox and BAFTA share a common vision to celebrate British excellence on screen, and take it to the world. We are thrilled to be extending our relationship, bringing live awards coverage of the EE BAFTAs ceremony, plus red carpet entertainment, to millions of BritBox subscribers in eight countries globally.”
Radio Workshop Podcast Nominated for International Ambie Award
Radio Workshop’s I Will Not Grow Old Here series is the first African podcast to be shortlisted at the Podcast Academy’s Ambie Awards, an annual event aimed at celebrating excellence in podcasting. Episodes have been nominated for Best Documentary, a category that honours non-fiction shows, presenting a truthful account of an event, person or topic. The awards ceremony will be held live at the International Theater in Las Vegas, US on 7 March 2023.
I Will Not Grow Old Here, comprising three parts, chronicles the daily life of Mary-Ann Nobele, a 23-year-old resident of Alexandria (Alex), a township (informal settlement) located in Johannesburg. It provides listeners with a unique glimpse into her current reality. In-depth interviews with Mary-Ann’s family and friends poses difficult questions around how youth are expected to succeed in “a place like Alex”, especially against the backdrop of a staggering unemployment rate. Content also places a spotlight on the ‘invisible line’ between wealth and poverty, aptly illustrated by the main road that separates Alex and the affluent suburb of Sandton.
“We are proud to not only be recognised on an international stage but to also represent South Africa and the continent as a whole,” says Lesedi Mogoatlhe, editorial director at Radio Workshop. “The podcast was born out of our youth radio project at Alex FM (a community radio station in South Africa), which for over ten years, has asked tough questions about the most pressing issues young people face. Our ongoing aim is to create content about, and for, marginalised and underrepresented groups, bringing to light difficult topics and conversations in order to drive sustainable change.”
Joe Public Retains Top Spot as SA’s Number One Agency for the 5th Consecutive Year at the 2022 Loeries
Joe Public is the top-ranked agency in South Africa for the fifth consecutive year as well as the second Overall Agency of the Year in Africa and the Middle East (AME) in the 2022 Loeries Official Rankings.
The Loeries Official Rankings offer a comprehensive overview of the annual performance across the brand communications industry throughout Africa and the Middle East. They are also the only awards programme in the AME region that inform the WARC Creative 100 rankings – Joe Public was ranked as the 36th most creative agency in the world by WARC in 2022.
“It is an honour to be ranked amongst some of the best agencies in the AME region. The calibre of work portrayed by agencies in the Middle East inspires us to ensure our work is of excellent standard and to continually lift our game and improve Africa’s product across the continent, as Africa should be a force to be reckoned with within the global context. Ultimately, it is creativity that sells, and as an agency we view awards like money as a by-product of excellence in marketing communication, towards growth of clients,” says Pepe Marais, co-founder and integrated group chief creative officer at Joe Public.
In addition, the agency’s growth partner, Chicken Licken has been recognised as the top-ranked brand for the fourth consecutive year while Chantal Sombonos-Van Tonder, Chicken Licken’s CEO, retained her spot as the number one CMO / Marketing Director.
Joe Public rated the 15th best independent agency in The One Club Global Creative Rankings
The One Club for Creativity closed the book on the 2022 awards season, announcing The One Club Global Creative Rankings for 2022. Joe Public was ranked the 15th best independent agency globally and was the only agency in Africa to be featured on the list. Joe Public took home four Pencils at The One Show Awards in New York last year.
“Being awarded on a global stage pays tribute to our purpose of growth and our journey of transformation in the industry. Not only was our recognition at The One Show a huge achievement for us, but being well ranked globally is a great honour for us as an independent agency,” said Xolisa Dyeshana, integrated chief creative officer at Joe Public.
The One Club’s award shows are among the most coveted in the world. The Global Creative Rankings provide a cumulative list of companies and individuals based on points earned from their winning entries in The One Show, ADC, TDC, and ONE Asia.
“As we move into 2023, we look forward to continue adding value to our clients. We at Joe Public pride ourselves on delivering on our purpose of growth, and we believe the most effective way of achieving this is by creating best-in-class work that not only resonates with our local market but internationally too,” added Dyeshana.
FCB Africa climbs the ranks at the Loeries Official Rankings
FCB Africa has announced its impressive performance in the 2022 Loeries Official Rankings. The Loeries Official Rankings measure the most innovative brands, agencies and practitioners in the brand communication space, providing a clear picture of those that deliver creative innovation over a sustained period.
“We are thrilled to see our hard work and dedication being acknowledged by one of our industry’s leading rankings,” said Joey Khuvutlu, managing director of FCB Africa. “Our team strives to deliver timeless and timely brand communication solutions that people love, and these rankings are a testament to our commitment to creative and strategic excellence.”
After and absence in the top 10 in the last two years, FCB Africa is back where it belongs, in the premier tier of creativity, placing an overall 3rd in the SA Agency Category, third in the Sub-Saharan Agency Category and fourth in the Africa and Middle East category. The agency also ranked 3rd in the Design category and seventh in the Digital Agency Production Company category for their in-house content production unit Fuelcontent.
The Loeries official rankings continued to recognise the agency’s leadership team, with Managing Director, Joey Khuvutlu ranking 4th in the MD category Tseliso Rangaka, ranked fifth in the Chief Creative Officer category and Jonathan Wolberg, came in sixth in the Creative Director category.
2023 MMA SA SMARTIES enter the metaverse
The first marketing awards programme to offer marketers a metaverse experience, while giving each visitor an NFT token, has kicked off. The road to The SMARTIES 2023 introduces a plethora of new tech, shining the light on what is possible. While Web 3.0 in all its wonders will only become a widespread reality in the next five or so years, it’s important that marketers understand how it works now.
There are of course those brands and agencies that have already started experimenting with elements of Web 3.0 and that is why there are many new categories in the SMARTIES Awards this year.
- Data Insights
- The Internet of Innovation/Intelligent Devices
- Spatial Technology
- Real Time Marketing
- Metaverse
- Blockchain & NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens)
These Web 3.0 categories enhance the classic opportunities for marketers to showcase their attainment of business outcomes, based on their marketing prowess. Legacy categories such as Brand experience, Cross Platform Media, Gamification and Social Impact Marketing remain core SMARTIES categories, that showcase innovation in demonstrating real impact and creativity and how client objectives are met and ROI achieved.
The MMA SA’s SMARTIES is renowned for this approach and is committed to showcasing work that is innovative AND effective.
Entries close on 19 February. A SMARTIES Playbook is available to all marketers and can be found here. It explains how to enter, what Web 3.0 means, the various new and existing categories and case studies from past winners.
Series Mania announces Lisa Joy as Jury President for its Festival
At a cocktail event this evening in Los Angeles and held at the Consulat Général de France at Los Angeles, Laurence Herszberg, Founder and General Director, and Frederic Lavigne, Artistic Director, ofSeries Mania (17-24 March 2023), had the honour to announce that acclaimed Emmy-nominated writer, director and producer Lisa Joy has been selected as Jury President for this year’s Series Mania Festival and its International Competition.
Joy will be present in Lille, along with other jury members who will be announced shortly, and will award the Grand prize for best series, as well as the prizes for best actress, best actor, and best writing. Additional awards will also be presented during the Closing Night Ceremony on March 24. As part of Series Mania, the Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of the Festival, will be held 21-23 March 2023 with the Lille Dialogues set for 23 March.
Joy is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series Westworld (2016–2022), which has amassed 54 Emmy nominations for its first three seasons, along with SAG, DGA, WGA and PGA nominations. Joy recently produced The Peripheral, the series adaptation of William Gibson’s 2014 sci-fi thriller novel, starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Gary Carr for Amazon and she’s currently in production on Fallout, a television series based on the worldwide best-selling video game franchise, starring Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, and Walton Goggins, also for Amazon.
