Celebrating 'real makoya' student campaigns with the SVMakoya14 Awards

Mike Sharman, founder of various social media agencies and campaigns that rely on youth engagement, such as @retroviral, @webfluenti_al, @african_blogger and @shoesonfeet put all you need to know about marketing to the youth in a nutshell with the following statement from MCing at last week's Student Village Makoya Awards:

You tube gets more than 1billion unique views per month #SVMakoya14 never underestimate how bored people are...only clever stuff goes viral

- Student Marketing (@CampusMarketing) November 4, 2014

Wise words. But what exactly are the Student Village Makoya Awards? I spoke to Leanne Margo of Student Village to find out more...

How long have the SVMakoya Awards been running?

Leanne Margo: This is the 5th annual iteration of the awards.

What does 'Makoya' mean?

Leanne Margo: It represents the most 'genuine, real thing'.

Why are student campaigns important?

Leanne Margo: The youth is a very important market, as they require consistent presence for a brand to stay top of mind. They spend R41.1bn per annum and are the next big earners, so brands need to make an effort to capture their attention.

What are the most effective/popular ways of targeting students - campus activations, social media or traditional?

Leanne Margo: Campus and social media were most prominent this year. Students spend on average 42 days a year in the social media space, so it is therefore highly relevant in their lives, and brands can take advantage of this.

How are the campaigns nominated?

Leanne Margo: Through national online and paper surveys, the students were asked open-ended questions, and then focus groups were run in key cities, to get more insight and narrow down the list.

Who judges the campaigns?

Leanne Margo: The students alone.

The award categories have interesting names like OMG, out of the box, social media superstar, social conscience - how were these decided upon?

Leanne Margo: Over the years, the brands have had to be creative and unique in the student space, and from looking at the campaigns, what better way to be creative with the categories in which they seem to get it right. Some were more eye-catching, some were more provocative, like the winner of the WTF Award, so the category names were apt.

What was turn-out and response like at the awards event?

Leanne Margo: Turnout was excellent despite the lack of electricity in the surrounding area, as well as the rain during the event. An excellent time was had by all!

Winners of the 2014SVMakoya Awards

Sharman sums up that there are some great activations happening at campus level but brands need to adhere to the holy trinity of market.