2010 AdReview winners announced

TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris was the dominant agency of the first six years of the decade, heading the creative league table in five years, and placing second in another, twice winning Agency of the Year, and making the running as the country's most successful agency business. It then went into a slump, falling to a low point of 11th in the creative league, and would have blown its chances of winning the Decade accolade - were it not for last year's stunning comeback with the Zimbabwe Trillion Dollar Billboard.

TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris makes a come-back

Though the Zimbabwean campaign was made up of a single idea (that it is cheaper to make a billboard out of depreciated Zimbabwean currency than out of paper or normal billboard facings), it was an idea so big that it turned the campaign into one of the biggest in the world last year. The campaign was run for an exile newspaper, The Zimbabwean.

“Whether or not Hunt Lascaris builds on this come-back is a relevant issue for the agency, but it is irrelevant to this decade's award,” says AdReview jury chairman, Tony Koenderman.

Jupiter - reputation for creativity

Jupiter, for its part, has had a decade of spectacular growth which took it from a national size ranking of 10th (in 2000) to fourth by the end of the period, and also a two-time winner of Agency of the Year. It was at the centre of some of the most talked-about events of the period, including the ”perfect storm” when it won more than a billion rand's worth of new billings from three accounts in two weeks of frenzied pitching in 2007, and the widely acclaimed deal of the decade, when it sold 49% of its equity to WPP Group last year. Though Jupiter has won for itself an admirable reputation for its creativity, its greatest successes have been more about the business.

Ad Agency of the Year

The other major award, the Ad Agency of the Year, was presented to Ogilvy Johannesburg, which was considered to have the best combination of business and professional performance. The criteria taken into account included creative awards, new-business acquisition, growth of the business, ability to produce likeable advertising, advertising effectiveness and black economic empowerment.

Three other agencies were shortlisted for Agency of the Decade: Ogilvy South Africa, Net#work BBDO and Draftfcb.

The full list of winners:

• Ad Agencies of the Decade: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, The Jupiter Drawing Room.
  
• Agency of the Year: Ogilvy Johannesburg;
  
• Ad Group of the Year: Ogilvy South Africa.
  Gauteng Agency of the Year: Ogilvy Johannesburg;
  
• Cape Agency: Jupiter Drawing Room;
  
• Media Agency of the Year: Carat;
  
• Small Media Agency: Mediology;
  
• Specialist agency: Matchworld;
  
• The Big Idea: Draftfcb Johannesburg;
  
• Advertising Achiever of the Year: Gordon Patterson;
  
• Design Shop of the Year: Interbrand Sampson;
  
• Radmark Radio Campaign Award: Ogilvy Johannesburg;
  
• Magazine Campaign of the Year sponsored by Media24 Magazines: FoxP2 for National Geographic Kids;
  
• Magazine Campaign of the Decade: Lowe Bull for Dulux;
  
• Digital Agency of the Year: Gloo Digital Design;
  
• PR Consultancy of the Year: Marcus Brewster Publicity;
  
• Newcomer of the Year: ninety9cents;
  
• The Baobab Award: Ogilvy South Africa

Comments MBP chairman Marcus Brewster after winning PR Consultancy of the Year: "Despite the economic recession, despite the cutting of marketing budgets and despite the prevailing reining in of confidence, MBP was able to grow its business by continuing to deliver what it always has - hard-working, results-driven full service public relations that move the needle on client's commercial and communication objectives. This is not just a win for Marcus Brewster Publicity, it's a win for PR in general."

Sponsors of awards were:

• M-Net Oracle: Agency of the Year;
  
• The Big Idea: Paarl Web;
  
• Ads24: Media Agency of the Year;
  
• Gauteng Agency of the Year: Jacaranda 94.2 FM;
  
• Radmark Radio Campaign Award;
  
• Magazine Campaign of the Year: Media24 Magazines.