2012 Student Village Makoya Award winners

Its Music Mentorship initiative, headed by Hip-hop star and two times SAMA award winner - AKA - secured the honours. The winning BlackBerry mentorship finalist will get to perform live with AKA as part of the lineup at the next BlackBerry Secret Gig, which will headline a surprise international artist.

Student Village CEO Ronen Aires says: "This brand is dynamite in the youth market. It has demonstrated what it means to be part of the conversation with young people, developing richer and deeper brand experiences year-on-year, with this winning campaign reaching half a million students on campuses already."

These awards - based on research conducted among students nationwide - recognise the best youth marketing and career development campaigns through various mediums including media, activations, social media and graduate recruitments. They aim to credit brands that are not just youth conscious, but activate campaigns that are visible, vibrant and relevant. "The Makoya Awards are gaining momentum with the youth. They don't just appreciate brands that invest in them as viable consumers, but also appreciate a platform to voice their opinions about such brands - and the awards have become this platform."

Winners

• Best Graduate Recruitment Ad went to Rio Tinto for making a career in mining more 'mainstream'
  
• Most Impactful Graduate Recruitment campaign went to Pick n Pay for its on campus giant box draw card
  
• Most Aspirational Graduate programme went to Anglo American
  
• The Oh My Gosh (OMG!) award went to Paco Rabanne for its Rock 'n Roll campus wide tour search
  
• The Eye Catcher award was scooped by BlackBerry for its "Say NO to FOMO" campaign
  
• The Out of the Box award goes to the most innovative campaign, voted to be Red Bull drop box campaign
  
• The ''What the Fudge'' (WTF?) award, or as its name suggests, the most provocative award went to KFC for its Milkybar flavour KFC Krusher campaign
  
• The Coolest campaign, with a social conscience goes to the brand that made the biggest impact in mobilising students to actually sign up to a social cause - I-Pledge won this category for its road safety campaign, with over 100 000 pledges received to date.
  
• The Social media superstar award went to Nike - a brand that really stood out this year, and managed to captivate massive youth attention through its Jozi Run initiative.

On campus activations grab attention

Aires says that the execution and creativity in each of these winning campaigns is astonishing and seem to get more and more innovative each year - especially on campus - as students' expectations only get higher and higher. "Aptly the Out of the Box award, saw Red Bull strategically placing a giant crate, set up to look 'broken' from an airdrop, with 52 cases of the product inside, on campuses! Students could not believe their luck when they arrived in the early morning. In addition, the company was on standby, secretly of course, filming the whole thing. This campaign was described by students as one of the most innovative sampling for the year.

"This year's winners showed some key trends in youth marketing and career development, including the need to keep campaigns bold, simple and relevant. It's a real privilege to be part of such a vibrant sector and I look forward to many more successful Awards in years to come," Aires concludes.