The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media.
Pep and Yonder Clinch Top Accolades at Prestigious SMARTIES Awards 2024
The highly anticipated SMARTIES Awards, hosted by the MMA SA and sponsored by industry giants MTN, MultiChoice, Standard Bank, and Takealot Group Advertising, impressed attendees in Johannesburg on 11 April A it unveiled this year’s outstanding winners. Among a field of 87 exceptional entries, Pep emerged victorious, securing The Brand of the Year award, while Yonder claimed the coveted title of Agency of the Year.
Judged by a distinguished panel of senior marketers led by Luisa Mazinter, the Jury Chair, alongside international luminaries Charl Bassil, Suhayl Limbada, and Ben Schoderer, Pep and Yonder impressed with their marketing prowess and impactful campaigns that yielded remarkable business results.
Sarah Utermark, Country Director of the MMA SA, lauded the winners, stating, “These two recipients demonstrated exceptional prowess in Purpose Driven Marketing, Marketing Impact, and Experience Technology. While their creative executions were stellar, it’s their tangible business outcomes that truly set them apart.”
With a focus on business outcomes, the MMA SA SMARTIES Awards emphasize results over creativity, strategy, and execution. This year, Carspa’s Triggermessage AI Loyalty campaign and Clifford Regenbaum by Flow Communications clinched the prestigious Best in Show award, amassing three Gold awards across three distinct categories.
As the industry continues to push the boundaries of marketing innovation, the SMARTIES Awards serve as a beacon of excellence, recognizing those who dare to innovate and excel in an ever-evolving landscape.
Here is the full list of SMARTIES winners across all categories: Smarties South Africa | MMA Global
Mobile Marketing Association recognises collaboration between Helm and two of Africa’s biggest names
The Mobile Marketing Association announced the winners of the 2024 Smarties Awards at a gala event on Thursday, rewarding customer experience company Helm for its collaborative work with DStv and Capitec, which collectively took home a total of four Smarties.
These are the first awards won by Capitec and Helm as a partnership, with the accolades honouring the transformative impact of MoneyUp Chat by Capitec, a financial education platform designed to benefit not only Capitec clients but also the wider South African community. Spearheaded by the innovative MoneyUp Chat Intelligent Assistant, the solution included the highly successful Slam the Scam campaign, which was launched during Fraud Awareness Week and also took home a silver award in the Social Messaging category.
Daniela Thom, head of client success at Helm, expressed her enthusiasm, saying, “We’re thrilled to finally see our ongoing collaboration with Capitec recognised for its creative excellence and impact. This project is particularly meaningful to us, and we’re so glad that MoneyUp Chat is now a part of our proud history at the Smarties.”
This year’s awards have acknowledged the business impact of Helm-built intelligent assistants, and the role they’ve played in helping some of Africa’s biggest brands reach their audiences through the power of AI. Helm accolades at this year’s Smarties:
- Social Messaging/Chat Apps/Text Messaging – Slam the Scam (MoneyUp Chat by Capitec) – Silver
- Customer Journey Marketing – MoneyUp Chat by Capitec – Bronze
- Personalisation – DStv Intelligent Sales Assistant – Bronze
- Lead Generation – DStv Intelligent Sales Assistant – Bronze
South African brands and agencies called on to showcase creative excellence at TikTok Awards
In an exciting opportunity for South African creatives, TikTok has announced the launch of the first-ever TikTok Ad Awards in the METAP region. The awards programme is designed to celebrate the brands and agencies leading the way on TikTok with their creative and high-performing campaigns, as well as embracing the unique nature of TikTok and delivering exceptional advertising experiences.
The Awards will showcase some of the most inspiring advertising campaigns that have brought authenticity, creativity and joy to the platform while achieving groundbreaking results. The initiative aims to acknowledge exceptional talent and innovation within the region.
The TikTok Ad Awards is now open for submissions from brands and agencies based in the METAP region, encompassing Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa and Pakistan. The programme features six main categories that encompass various aspects of successful TikTok campaigns.
- It’s the creative for me: Focuses on the idea and its strategy, and celebrates the brands and agencies that dared to push the boundaries of creativity with campaigns that were built TikTok-first, and showcased impactful results.
- Community core: Celebrates the best use of creators and the community. Shows how creators can use their unique voices and content styles seamlessly within your campaign idea.
- Bougie on a budget: This category is for campaigns with the most creative use of modest production budgets and resources through both paid and organic content with community management to create maximum impact.
- Sound on please! Celebrates campaigns that use sound as an entry-point to their creative idea. There are so many different types of sound, different uses of sound, and likewise different creative approaches to the use of sound on TikTok.
- The trendsetter: Reimagine advertising through TikTok, showcasing your innovation and ability to captivate audiences and drive bold, effective ideas through the unique utilisation of ad products with a measurable impact on the platform.
- The people’s choice: Chosen through a vote by the guests of the ceremony.
Brands and agencies can find all the programme details and submit their entries at https://tiktok-ad-awards.evessiocloud.com/ . The deadline for entry submission is 6 September 2024.
Mosa Ntwanpe takes reins as chairperson of 3rd Annual YOBAs jury
The Top 16 Youth-Owned Brands Awards has announced Mosa Ntwampe as the chairperson of the jury for the upcoming third annual YOBAs. With his extensive experience and remarkable achievements in brand and communications strategy, Mosa brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the esteemed panel of judges.
The YOBAs are an initiative dedicated to recognising and celebrating the outstanding achievements of young entrepreneurs in Africa.
Throughout his career, Ntwampe has collaborated with a diverse range of brands, including state-owned entities, regulatory bodies, educational institutions, financial services, and FMCG companies.
Ntwampe’s commitment to excellence and his belief in the transformative power of marketing align perfectly with the mission of the YOBAs. His mantra, “I Change Lives for A Living,” reflects his deep-seated commitment to making a positive impact through his work. As a public speaker known for his captivating presence and flamboyant delivery, Mosa will undoubtedly inspire and motivate the next generation of entrepreneurs.
He expressed his excitement for the opportunity, stating, “I am honoured to chair the jury for this year’s YOBAs. I believe Sadika Fakir did an exceptional job and having the baton passed on from her to me is an absolute honour. This platform represents the future of entrepreneurship in Africa, and I am committed to ensuring that we identify and celebrate the innovative and impactful ventures created by our young entrepreneurs”.
Flow makes it 6 out of 5 for innovative AI app at Smarties Awards
It’s a huge thing to win awards in every category you’ve been nominated, but scooping even more than that takes some doing – and that is exactly what Flow Communications did at the South African edition of the prestigious global Smarties Awards for mobile marketing.
Not only did Flow win a Smarties Award – three of them gold – in each of the five categories it entered, it was also honoured with the award for the best campaign overall. In the process it held its own among such high-profile brands as FNB, Checkers Sixty60, MTN, South African Breweries and PEP.
The awards, recognising excellence in digital marketing, were presented to Flow for its Trigger Message app, which harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify customers and build their loyalty. Trigger Message was developed in partnership with Johannesburg businessman Clifford Regenbaum, and trialled very successfully at his Carspa car wash in Illovo.
At Carspa, Trigger Message automatically detects a vehicle’s number plate using number plate recognition algorithms and triggers messages to people who have signed up for a loyalty programme, offering them rewards for repeat visits.
In the first four months following the launch of Trigger Message, which is available on mobile, tablet and desktop, more than 250 customers registered for the loyalty programme and received more than 600 loyalty messages via WhatsApp. The top Carspa loyalty programme member visited the car wash 39 times, and 32% of the business’s customers were repeat visitors.
“We knew from the start that Trigger Message, which is capable of giving any business a significant boost, was innovative and special,” says Flow’s chief technology officer, Richard Frank.
“This latest recognition, and the five gold Assegai Awards and four New Generation Awards it has already won, validates our faith in our product, which we’re already rolling out to a variety of new customers. We foresee a bright future for Trigger Message.”
At a black-tie function at Johannesburg’s Inanda Club, Flow won awards in the following categories:
- Real-Time Marketing (gold)
- Contextual Targeting (gold)
- Social Messaging/Chat Apps/Text Messaging (gold)
- Small Budget/Big Impact (silver)
- Personalisation (bronze)
- Best in Show (judges’ award)
HOT 102.7FM nominated for three New York Festivals Radio Awards
South African radio station HOT 102.7FM has once again made an impact on the global stage, picking up three nominations for the 2024 New York Festivals Radio Awards in the United States – widely regarded as the ‘Oscars of the radio industry’.
This, less than three years after launching as a new Johannesburg-based commercial radio station in July of 2021. It follows the seven nominations HOT 102.7FM received at last year’s New York Festivals Radio Awards, which resulted in the station being honoured as a finalist in four categories.
This year, HOT 102.7FM is nominated in the following categories:
- Morning Drive/Afternoon Programming: Best Music/Personality Show (HOT 1027 Breakfast)
- Best News Report/Feature: Human Interest Feature – Beginner’s Guide to Online Dating
- Best News Report/Feature: Human Interest Feature – Padkos & Playdough
“This is a pretty big deal and the reason it means so much is the fact that when we launched the HOT 102.7FM brand, our goal was always to ‘think big’ and measure ourselves against the world’s best and not just our competitors in the local market,” said Lloyd Madurai, Managing Director of HOT 102.7FM. “These nominations are just proof that we’re on the right track.”
The entries were judged online by the New York Festivals Radio Awards Grand Jury and the award winners will be announced during the New York Festivals 2024 Storytellers Gala event on the 16th of April.
