Entries open for New Generation Awards

The G&G Digital team, when they won the 2016 Agency of the Year Award.

New categories

• Best use of Social Media using Gather Online Award – this category is designed to introduce agencies to Gather Online and highlight its potential as a marketing tool. 
• Best Virtual Reality Marketing Campaign Award – this award recognises a campaign that has championed the use of virtual reality through desktop and mobile VR.
• New Generation Outstanding Students Award – this category is open to all registered first, second, third-year and honours students at African universities.

Gather Online
Gather Online's fresh approach to connecting like-minded people around topical discussions, lends itself to fun and innovative marketing campaigns. We would like to challenge marketing teams to think out of the box to develop creative marketing initiatives, competitions or online promotions using the Gather Online platform.

Our first new category came about because of our ongoing partnership with Gather Online and is set to challenge all marketing teams and agencies to engage and market their campaigns through this new and exciting social platform.

Gather Online is a fast-growing social media platform to gather and share what is on your mind with people on your wavelength. Designed for those who wish to expand their horizons and form meaningful connections, it offers a fun new approach to online networking.

Virtual Reality Marketing

The winner of this category will present a VR campaign/event that is immersive, impactful, memorable and novel. It should have made a meaningful connection with the audience and put them at the heart of the action.

Stephen Paxton, MD of the awards, says, “Our second new category is perfect for today’s marketers, as more brands venture into VR marketing to engage their audiences with a true-to-life experience. Some consumers are starting to care more about the experience than the actual brand itself.”

Outstanding Students

This award recognises individuals or group excellence in conceptualisation and innovative use of communication curriculum content to develop a digital campaign that promotes community stakeholder engagement, with excellent use of resources to drive positive community impact through active citizenship.

Professor Sonja Verwey, who is head of the Department of Strategic Communication and head of school for the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg, adds, “The introduction of a student category is an exciting prospect for the department. We are privileged to participate in initiating such a valuable and innovative award category, which will provide our students with exciting new opportunities to display their digital communication skills and knowledge.

“This award will provide a unique opportunity for students from multiple disciplines across the continent to compete with their peers. As the only Department of Strategic Communication on the African continent, we have always tried to lead the way in this discipline and this partnership is particularly important because it will also provide our students with exciting new challenges and opportunities to use digital resources for the betterment of their communities, while also enriching their learning experience.”

Paxton adds that the inclusion of the Outstanding Students Award, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg, which is open to registered students from across the continent, allows academics a platform to shine, to be acknowledged on a national level and compete alongside their peers. “Academics play a massive role within the industry and are developing some truly amazing campaigns through the innovative use of technology, social and digital media.”

“We thank the University of Johannesburg for showing the initiative to help kick-start this new award and encourage all other universities to enter its students from within their strategic communications and marketing departments. Student discounts on entries apply.

New judges added

This year three new judges will join the panel. They are:

• Brett StClair – Head: Digital Product Office, ABSA Retail and Business Banking
• Lana Strydom – Executive Head: Digital Marketing, Vodacom SA
• Templar Wales – Digital Marketing and Brand Development (Independent)

Click here for more information.