Millions of free advertising up for grabs at Pendoring 2010

• A whopping R2,5 million worth of free advertising space/air time for the company/client of the Pendoring Prestige Prize Winner.
• The reintroduction of the popular "Mense se Doring" SMS competition, in which consumers can vote for their favourite Afrikaans advertisement of the past decade and stand to win big prizes.
• A new TV category for advertisements with a production budget of less than R350 000.
• An internship at the advertising agency Draftfcb for student winner(s).
• The introduction of professional auditing of the judging process by an external auditing firm.
• Pendoring is proudly inclusive and "Truly South African" remains one of the main categories.
• A rap competition for advertising agencies and students to show their creative mettle in Afrikaans, about Afrikaans.

• A new Afrikaans cult figure set to take the annual Pendoring advertising campaign to a new level.

With these exciting new developments, Pendoring 2010 is ready to move the goalposts and take Afrikaans advertising to a whole new level where it can justifiably and proudly strut its stuff, says Pendoring GM Franette Klerck.

On top of that, and despite the economic slump, the sought-after Afrikaans advertising awards, which will reward excellent Afrikaans advertising for the sixteenth consecutive year, already boast strong sponsorship support of no fewer than eight gold, a silver and six bronze sponsors, as well as 11 partners.

According to Klerck, Caxton community newspapers, DEKAT, kykNET, Media24 newspapers and magazines, OFM, Oracle Airtime Sales, SABC Radio Airtime and Wiel, have committed themselves, as participating partners, to free advertising space/air time worth a whopping R2,5m for the company/client of the Prestige Award winner.

This year, consumers also stand in line to win attractive prizes, thanks to the reintroduction of the popular SMS competition "Mense se Doring" which gives them the opportunity to vote for their favourite Afrikaans advertising over the past decade, in any medium.

Pendoring GM Franette Klerck... "With these exciting new developments Pendoring 2010 is ready to move the goalposts and take Afrikaans advertising to a whole new level.”

Up for grabs for the winner is R2 000 cash, two free tickets to the prestigious Pendoring gala event at Vodaworld, Midrand on 29 October 2010, a year's subscription to any Media24 magazine or newspaper of his/her choice and a weekend for six at an ATKV resort of his/her choice.

At the same event, an award will also be handed over to the company whose product/service came out tops in the SMS competition.

Another exciting prospect for agencies and students is a rap competiton, which will land the winner a cruise for two on a luxury ocean liner.

The competition will give entrants the opportunity to write their own, unique rap song, act it out, film it and load it onto a CD/DVD. The song must, however, be in Afrikaans and about Afrikaans.

Jack Parow, the king of Afrikaans rap, will judge the entries and select three finalists, whose entries will be posted on the Pendoring-website. Consumers will then have the opportunity to vote for the winning rap song and the winner will be announced at the gala event on 29 October 2010.

The 2010 Pendoring campaign which is being launched this Friday, (4 June) is "one of the best ever", Klerck points out. As the 2010 Pendoring advertising agency, Draftfcb's creative team led by executive creative director Brett Morris, devised a delectable advertising campaign brimming with colour and sound, Klerck adds.

Entries also open on Friday, 4 June on the brand-new Pendoring website (www.pendoring.co.za) boasting the same theme and tone as the Pendoring advertising campaign. The closing date for entries is 23 August, and judging will take place in September.

Another feather in Pendoring's cap is the fact that the authoritative industry annual, Tony Koenderman's AdReview, has included Pendoring in its new points structure for evaluating creative awards.

"Paramount to Pendoring's success is to effectively communicate and convey the message of the impact and importance of Afrikaans advertising, so that advertising agencies as well as students can barely wait to enter. It's for their own good that marketers realise that Afrikaans advertising still makes huge business sense and that it can significantly bolster the bottom line," stresses Klerck.