First a big thanks to the Bookmarks committee, FNB who was a major sponsor and to the Artscape for allowing such a beautiful and perfect venue for the evening. Also a thank you to the performers and hosts of the evening. Entertainment was by the likes of Honey B, DJ Invizable, Gazelle, James Copeland and Anthea Scholz. The host for the first half was Riaad Moosa who is a laugh a minute and very vibrant and then Lana Africa took over the second half.
As a first-timer to these awards I didn't know what to expect and to be honest I expected more. Perhaps it was because I don't work with the agencies being awarded or because I am a student that hasn't met all these people yet. But I expected to be blown away....and apparently I wasn't the only one.
It was said by some that it was nice to see good work recognised, but it appeared that the evening promoted a sense of mass mediocrity with the multiple bronze awards. It would have also been amazing to see some new talent emerging and to have seen some really awesome and ground-breaking executions.
I do understand that time doesn't allow for the really good ones to be showcased, but that is something that may be considered in the future. I think there is room to make it more streamlined.
Five gold awards were given. One went to FNB for the FNB banking APP for the application and tools sections. Ogilvy Cape Town won two golds for their Volkswagen Street Quest one in the games section and one in the Integrated/mixed media section; they also won a gold for their YouTube interventions which was in the Online and Audio section. Trigger Isobar also won a gold in the Integrated/mixed media sections for their Run Jozi campaign.
Congratulations to the winners and to the organisers from the whole Biz team.
