The benefit of bringing a bursary component into effectiveness awards

Van der Haar

Nurock: Odette, sincere congratulations on yet another fabulous APEX awards.

Van der Haar: Thank you.

Nurock: What for you was the highlight?

Van der Haar: The highlight was the fact that it's been 20 years, and that of those 20 years, this is my eighth APEX awards, I've staged for APEXes more than anyone in the history of APEX, but apart from the fact that I have staged this many APEXes, the vision that I had, to make a real difference through the bursary scheme, really came to life.

Nurock: Tell me about the bursary scheme, you have really created so many bursary opportunities.

Van der Haar: In 2010, when I announced that we'd be including a bursary programme, everybody was quite sceptical because we changed APEX so much. To now bring a bursary component into what was purely an effectiveness awards, no-one was sure it would work because we'd already made it an annual event from being held once every two years, we restructured it to make it more robust, and I was determined to make sure that we raised funds from APEX, which has a zero budget for bursaries. To have been able to award 51 bursaries...

Nurock: That is absolutely remarkable.

Van der Haar: It is. It's the highlight, my pride, my joy and the reason why we do this every year.

Nurock: As everybody talks about the awards, and the awards tonight were really so well deserved, particularly 'Get me to 21', but everything now is about improving people's lives and how advertising can change the world.

Van der Haar: Absolutely. APEX for me would simply not be APEX if it wasn't a brand with a purpose. There had to be something more than just a trophy, as there are so many award programmes in the country. We've got every other advertising award, but what makes APEX unique is the fact that we don't simply award awards for the sake of awarding awards, so we maintain a standard - we never know how many awards we'll award or if there'll be a Grand Prix, so the fact that there was a Grand Prix this year, and that the Grand Prix went to something that really made a difference, that 'Get me to 21 campaign' is so deserving. Not because it's a soppy campaign, but the results that it actually generated are astounding.

So that, and to have also been able to really make a difference in the lives of the bursary recipients too - means I couldn't be more happy right now!

Click here for more of what went into this year's APEX awards, with the gala evening held at the Sandton Convention Centre last night.