With this in mind, the Loeries followed the global trend set by the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity and introduced a category for effective creativity into award mix for the first time.

And the winner is...

The inaugural finalists were an eclectic blend, ranging from 140 BBDO's sophisticated rendering of "To the Masters" for Distell to the whimsy of Clover's rebranding campaign. But it was Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town for their campaign "Be the Coach" for South Africa Breweries' brand Carling Black Label that took the first prize.

This campaign gave fans of South Africa's two greatest soccer sides - Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs - the opportunity to pick their dream team to play in the Carling Black Label Cup using a number found inside a beer bottle cap, cell phone technology and the social media space.

"We put the power in the hands of the people, and we did it in a very simple way. To win for Carling Black Label makes us especially proud, it was a huge success creatively, but it was a campaign that had massive scale and reach, with over 30 million entries. So it's big for us, huge," says Chris Gotz, Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town. He is also the current chairperson of the Creative Circle and on the Board of the Loerie Awards.

"At Ogilvy we have a philosophy called Twin Peaks - it refers to the two peaks of creativity and effectiveness we need to scale for our work to be truly successful. We are always simultaneously chasing effectiveness and creative excellence."

He explained that it would be difficult to quantify the value of the campaign in terms of pure sales for the client, however the profile and value it created in brand terms was immense. "Obviously the Carling Black Label Cup was a huge investment for SAB. It touched millions of people and brought millions more back to the brand, so it was definitely worth it. It is the most successful consumer campaign, in terms of response and engagement, in the history of SA advertising."

Who finally won the match in the end seems irrelevant compared to the R83m of PR that was generated by the campaign.

The rationale

"The flighting deadline for Loerie submissions is the same as the entry deadline. A campaign can go live on the same day as the entries close so there is no way to judge whether the innovation employed has yielded results for the brand," says Andrew Human, Loeries CEO. Therefore a sixth dimension of measurable financial returns for the brand has been added to the conventional judging criteria of innovation, quality of execution, relevance to the, target market and chosen medium. This award gives agencies and brands the opportunity to show the results of their award-winning work for up to two years after their received the original Loerie award.

The sponsor

In addition, Woolworths, a brand known for its slick campaigns ranging from green issues to sponsoring an amateur chef cooking show on telly, sponsors the award.

Kate Fordyce, Head: Agency, Woolworths Marketing, says: "Woolworths has partnered with the Loeries in sponsoring this award to highlight the commercial role of creativity. The Loerie Awards celebrate outstanding creativity, the effectiveness of which is widely accepted, but not formally acknowledged within this festival.

"Creativity and innovation are in our DNA at Woolworths, and key contributors to our brand and commercial success."

"This award presents a great vehicle to highlight the potentially potent role of creativity in delivering business results. It represents the commercial effectiveness of insight-driven, innovative, well-executed creative communication. If there are still those who remain unclear about this correlation, this award will hopefully make the point. It should also encourage brand owners to demand exceptional creativity, in the knowledge it will deliver exceptional return," she concluded.