The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa), the only 100% locally owned Top 10 advertising agency, swept the boards at the Finweek AdReview Agency of the Year Awards held at The Hilton Hotel, Sandton on Thursday night.
The first of Jupiter's awards to be announced on the night was in the Cape Agency of the Year category, The Jupiter Drawing Room (Cape Town) fighting off Ogilvy, King James and Lowe Bull to take the title. A few minutes later, Newcomer Agency of the Year was announced. The prize went to Black River F.C. who triumphed over Ireland-Davenport and Grid. Barely had the applause died down when the Large Agency of the Year was announced. This went to The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa), comprising TJDR (Johannesburg), TJDR (Cape Town) and Black River F.C. The competition included Ogilvy and the TBWA Group.
Then came the coveted Overall Agency of the Year Award. This too went to The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa), completing a record-breaking four Agency of the Year titles in one evening.
The judges were clearly impressed by a number of achievements in making the Overall Agency of the Year Award:
outstanding new business growth (at R420m billings it was nearly double that of its nearest rival),
revenue growth of 36%,
best agency performance in the recent ACA Apex Effective Advertising Awards
an outstanding creative year, which included three ads for Nugget Shoe Polish becoming the most awarded advertising campaign in the history of South African advertising.
On top of the awards above, TJDR (South Africa) also boasted two of the three finalists for Campaign of the Year and TJDR (Cape Town) was one of three finalists in the Mid-Sized Agency category.
Tony Koenderman, Editor of AdReview and Chairman of the Jury said, "The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa's) achievement is noteworthy because it is rare for every company in a group to perform to the same high level."
Graham Warsop, Group Chairman of The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) said, "As an independent, we have had to grow our companies without internationally referred business, support or assistance. This has seen an entrepreneurial spirit thrive within our group. This is evidenced by new business gains in 2005 nearly double that of the next best performing agency group. No home grown independent agency has reached our size before so we have a sense that we're in unchartered waters. It makes the voyage and the challenge particularly exciting."
, the only 100% locally owned Top 10 advertising agency, swept the boards at the Finweek AdReview Agency of the Year Awards held at The Hilton Hotel, Sandton on Thursday night.)
