And the AdReview Agency of the Decade is....

19 Mar 2010

The announcement of the Agency of the Decade will take place at the annual AdReview Awards on 21 April 2010 at the Helderfontein Estate in Kyalami at 6pm and published in AdReview 2010, which will be in the 29 April issue of Finweek.

According to Tony Koenderman, the past decade has seen one of the longest boom periods for advertising in modern history. "While it was not as spectacular as the advertising frenzy that South Africa experienced in the early ‘80s after the commercial launch of television, the marketing landscape has changed significantly and advertisers are being challenged to make the most of traditional and new communications channels - as well as dealing with increasingly brand-savvy consumers," he says.

Celebrating the past decade of advertising, Koenderman and his panel of judges have created a prestigious award for the 'Agency of the Decade'. "For this award, the judges and I took a longer, broader view in identifying an agency that has consistently made a real difference from 2000 to 2010. We looked for evidence of thought leadership, innovation, consistency in winning awards, high growth rates, levels of staff development, BEE, commitment to the advertising industry and how well agencies kept up with global and local advertising trends," Koenderman adds.

With industry players having come and gone, and an industry that has peaked and troughed its way through the last decade, Koenderman says that this was a particularly difficult award to judge. "Not to mention the addition of another little spanner in the works that we call the Internet and how specific elements such as social media have affected the way consumers interact with brands and each other," he concludes.

'Top Ten' lists

A feature of AdReview is the "Top Ten" lists, which will not be announced on the night but will be included in AdReview, which will be distributed on the evening.