Triple Eight wins Assegai Zinthatu Award and campaign awards for Cadbury

Its success is grounded in a profound sense of purpose that has only strengthened over time and was recently recognised at the Assegai Awards when the agency took home the Zinthatu Award. This award recognises more seasoned agencies that demonstrate continued and consistent excellence, as evidenced by the quality of the work seen from them each year.

Passionate about making an impact

In 2012, Sarika Modi founded the agency, where she currently serves as the CEO. As a qualified actuary with extensive experience in the corporate sector, she is passionate about making a positive impact on society.

During her time in the investment industry, she put together many corporate social responsibility programmes for large companies.

“I worked within socially responsible investing, which is how the country can use its investments to get more than just an investment return but to show and capture the positive impact that these investments are making,” she explains.

However, marketing has consistently been her passion, and given that it formed a predominant aspect of her existing responsibilities, transitioning from the investment sector to the creative sector was a seamless move for her.

The Triple bottom line

She founded Triple Eight intending to work with brands to have a positive impact on people, the planet, and profit – the triple bottom line.

As she explains, the triple bottom line does not discount profit. “But what it does is say that it is not good enough to make a huge profit to the detriment of the other two.”

During her corporate tenure, Modi also authored a white paper addressing the intricacies of capturing both the social aspects and traditional return on investment when making financial investments.

She says it is not good enough to say something was a good campaign. “It has to have a value around what it created and give a number, so you know if your investment actually gave you a return.”

She adds: “It has always been our basis to develop as the creative force for good, but as we progressed, the appetite from brands, especially in the FMCG sector, for this type of thinking accelerated and with this, our growth as an agency exploded.”

A partnership of generosity

“Our people are driven by a genuine desire to serve our clients well. We firmly believe that collaboration is the key ingredient for success. Our achievements are a result of great collaboration with clients and agency partners,” she explains.

The agency has been working with Cadbury for just over three years. Modi calls their relationship a partnership.

While different agencies work on the brand, the work is very collaborative and integrated. Campaigns like these are a result of beautiful collaboration. “Our agency partners are integral to our success, and these awards are a collective achievement belonging not only to Triple Eight but to all who collaborated to produce exceptional work,” she elaborates.

Cadbury has defined its brand essence as generosity

“It resonates so strongly with us, and through our partnership, we are creating and fostering this essence of generosity through our target audience using experiential marketing,” says Modi.

It is one of those brands where we are witnessing phenomenal growth in market share, driven by true generosity. People see the brand's authenticity, and so it touches people and does make a difference,” she adds. “The exceptional partnership we share with this client team is a privilege, motivating us to continually push boundaries on their behalf.”

The partnership has been so successful that it has won eight local and international awards including the Anthem Awards and Shorty Awards in New York City, Loeries Awards, and Assegai Awards in South Africa.

At the Assegais, Triple Eight won a gold for social good, a gold for multi-Language, silver for experiential and a bronze for the festive Little Generosity Shop experiential.

The significance of these awards lies in their recognition of outstanding campaigns, programmes, and results. “The Zinthatu Agency Award is a special acknowledgment, and we are grateful to the judges for recognising our dedication. This accolade fuels our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of work, delivering great results consistently,” she concludes.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mondelez and the Cadbury teams, especially Jacques, Lara, Arpan, Thembi, Chaen, Shree, and Tshepo, for entrusting us with these impactful campaigns,” says Modi. She adds: “Our shared sense of belief in our work fuels our accomplishments, in terms of creativity, business results, and the lasting impact we create, and that is why we don’t get tired of 'work', because it is not work when you love what you do this much.”