Joe Public takes top honours at the 2023 FM AdFocus Awards

[PRESS OFFICE] Joe Public is the 2023 FM AdFocus Agency of the Year, winning the hotly contested Large Agency of the Year Award and the Transformation Award at an awards ceremony held in Johannesburg last night.

Joe Public, said the judges, stood out for its continued creative success, its growth on the back of the Nedbank digital account win and for its strong transformation story which continues to set the benchmark in the industry.

Hot on Joe Public’s heels is TBWA\South Africa which won both the Group of the Year Award and the African Impact Award.

This year’s FM AdFocus Awards winners are:

Overall Agency of the Year: Joe Public
Small Advertising Agency of the Year: Retroviral
Medium Advertising Agency of the Year: Grid Worldwide
Large Advertising Agency of the Year: Joe Public
Group Agency of the Year: TBWA\South Africa
Public Relations Agency of the Year: Weber Shandwick
Specialised Agency of the Year: Levergy
Media Agency of the Year: The MediaShop
Partnership of the Year (sponsored by IAS & Scopen): Ogilvy and Carling Black Label
African Impact Award: TBWA\South Africa
Adaptability: Two Tone Global
Transformation Award: Joe Public
- Student of the Year (sponsored by Park Advertising): Jané Louw, Cape Town Creative Academy
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Ann Nurock, Africa partner of Relationship Audits & Management
Industry Leader of the Year: Pete Case, CEO and creative chair, Ogilvy South Africa
Shapeshifter: Yatish Narsi, chief marketing officer at MultiChoice
FM Creative Challenge: Demographica

Congratulating the winners, AdFocus jury chair and TBWA\South Africa CEO Luca Gallarelli, said that across categories, this year’s winners all demonstrated a strong fundamental belief in what they do while reimagining how they do business. “Without exception, they have set the standard for an industry in desperate need of confidence and examples of excellence.”

AdFocus Project Director Jadi Tillim said, “The FM Adfocus Awards evening is a big event for the brand. We get to celebrate with the best ad agencies in the country and mark the end of another year of successful partnerships with our advertisers and readers. Plus, the FM Adfocus magazine goes out on the night too. It’s the go-to publication for the entire industry – featuring a collection of opinion pieces, interviews, surveys and rankings. It’s also probably the best-looking issue we’ve ever produced….”

Landmark awards

The FM AdFocus Awards have become a landmark on the South African marketing and communications landscape. But just as that landscape has changed, so too has the AdFocus judging criteria changed to reflect the priorities of the industry. The awards recognise agencies and individuals not just for their creative and marketing skills, but for their all-round business acumen. Industry peers make up this year’s awards jury while the judging process and results were audited by PFK.

The AdFocus Awards were presented at a ceremony hosted by Arena Events at The Empire with Msizi James acting as master of ceremonies for the evening with Breadbin Productions, the pioneers of virtual production content in SA, responsible for creative production. Heineken Silver was the pouring partner for the event. Guests and winners partied to music supplied by DJ Scara.

The big take-out

Joe Public stood out for its continued creative success, its growth on the back of the Nedbank digital account win and for its strong transformation story which continues to set the benchmark in the industry.