#AmasaAwards2017: Magic of the moment

Halo Advertising - winners of the Roger Garlick Grand Prix Award.

The Awards, which took place last night at The Hilton in Sandton, Gauteng, also saw the agency win two Golds and a highly commended – the most awards of any agencies at the Awards. PhD and Mindshare won two Golds each.

Halo Advertising’s creative director, Charles Foley, says the campaign delivered real value for a number of reasons. “It was an idea developed for a specific medium; radio, but this idea was championed by everyone – from the client, the agency and the production. Everyone gave 110%. For example, the station developed a story around the campaign. They involved the media and public relations. Combined, it created the magic of the moment.”

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The radio station took a big risk with this idea, but Jacaranda marketing manager, Minisha Patel, knew it was a great idea that would deliver the desired result. “We needed to relaunch Jacaranda and this was the perfect way to do it.” She admits it took a bit of convincing, but once coaxed, everyone from management, the board and stakeholders of the business, bought into the idea. “It was a risk, but the idea was great, and one we are very proud of. Halo are wonderful and the recognition this evening is amazing,” she says.

The campaign saw Halo Advertising win Gold in the Best Integrated Media category, as well the Best Event Experiential category. It Highly Commended was in the Best Use of Technology and Data category (Gold was awarded to Techsys Digital for Windhoek Pure Beer Detector).

Back to basics

Both Mindshare’s Gold awards were for their client, KFC and the Soundbite campaign. They won Gold in the Best Integrated Retail and Best Social Media categories. Masholotlo Sibeko, digital planner at Mindshare, says a lot of hard work went into the work from a bigger team. “It is great to be recognised for quality work.”

Wandisile Nkabinde, Mindshare Media Strategist, adds that the challenge was to come up with a seamless and credible way to launch the campaign. “We went back to the basics and understood the journey of this specific consumer, who we knew was difficult to talk to with a push strategy. The Soundbite campaign pulled in the fans and they made the campaign a success.”

PhD also took home two Golds, one for the inaugural category, Best Branded Content for client Cell C – ‘Break the net’ and Best Tactical Use of Media for SANBS – ‘Stock indicators.’ “It is nice to win Gold in multiple categories as it shows a diversity of skills in the agency which is important for a dynamic media world,” says Wayne Bishop, MD of PHD.

Bishop is also the Amasa chairperson. Talking about the Roger Garlick Grand Prix, he says the judges agreed that the winner was found in round one or two already. “So well done to the winner.”

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Ultimately the Awards are about adding value to the industry. “Every year it just gets bigger and bigger – every year we have to add on more and more tables – but by getting bigger, ultimately it is more impactful for industry. The idea is to make clients see value in media work and to move away from pitches on prices. I believe we are achieving that.”

List of winners: