Advertising News South Africa

Ogilvy breaks records at Cannes

Ogilvy Johannesburg is celebrating a record-breaking performance at the 2006 Cannes International Advertising Festival, having achieved the best performance by a South African agency in the history of the ceremony. In addition, it outstripped its international sister companies as the top performing Ogilvy and WPP agency worldwide, and now leads on Creative Circle points.

Ogilvy's winning entries were across a spread of clients including DStv, Exclusive Books, Harley Davidson and Dirol. The agency won a Gold, Silver and Bronze Lion in the Outdoor category, a bronze in the Radio category, a bronze in Press and another bronze in the category Best Use of Media (Cinema).

Creative director Gerry Human says Ogilvy Johannesburg garnered more points than any other SA agency. "Twenty seven Ogilvy Johannesburg entries were shortlisted as finalists at the festival and the points achieved puts Ogilvy Johannesburg at the head of the Creative Circle points table, leading by over 2000 points and establishing it as the number one creative agency in the country," he says.

Ogilvy Johannesburg MD, Julian Ribeiro, says the agency's success has motivated it to do even better next year and in years to come. "With our clients, we hope to raise the bar even further for Ogilvy Johannesburg and for advertising in South Africa."

Ribeiro says it was wonderful to be a South African at Cannes this year. "As a country, we had a strong presence at the awards. South African agencies did really well, placing the country firmly on the world advertising map," he says.

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