2012 Apex Awards highlights industry's professionalism

28 May 2012

The 2012 APEX Awards gala event, held late last week, highlighted creative work that made a measurable contribution to winners' clients' business. The ACA hosted the awards, which was sponsored by DSTV Media Sales.

2012 Apex Awards highlights industry's professionalism

Chairperson, Andy Rice, commented, "The results show that 2012 was better than last year and what was once again encouraging, was the number of first time entrants. A difference in the entries between agencies that attended the workshops and those did not was visible. It is imperative that agencies and their clients attend the free workshops that take place before compiling their submissions. At the workshops, the judges shared on how to compile a submission and what they would be looking for when adjudicating submissions."

Keynote address from Waleed Rashed

A highlight of the evening was the keynote address by 28-year-old Waleed Rashed, Nobel Prize nominee and member of the April 6th Youth Movement that toppled Egypt's long-standing Hosni Mubarak dictatorship.

Rashed spoke about how political protests around the world shook the foundations of governments and overthrew long entrenched regimes. He explained that key to this movement was the youth who used new technologies and social media to organise and out manoeuvre their governments, not to mention change the global political landscape and open up new possibilities for their generation.

He shared how change in Egypt started on 25 January 2011 - Police Day as it is known, when he called on the youth in Egypt to demonstrate in a massive non-violent protest against their government. What followed was 18 days of peaceful uprising that culminated in the departure of president Hosni Mubarak. Using social media: a Facebook page with over 70 000 followers, blogs, text messaging and platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, as well as leaflets and tagged graffiti messages on public buildings, the word about the movement was spread.

His address was said to be both authentic and courageous - echoing what many of us in South Africa have lived through. It was particularly pertinent, as 24 May 2012 marked the day that Egypt went to the polls to vote in their very first democratic election in history.

Winners

Category	Entry	Agency	Advertiser	Award
Launch Category - for products and/or services that are new or have no significant history of advertising:	Frank.net	FoxP2	Frank.net	Gold
Change Category - for new communications campaigns from previously advertised brands, which resulted in significant short-term effects on sales and/or behaviour, i.e. no more than 18 months:	Drive Dry - They'd love to meet you	FoxP2	Brandhouse Beverages	Bronze
	Carling Black Label Cup	Ogilvy Cape Town	SAB Miller	Bronze
	FNB Swith - "Steve" campaign	DDB South Africa	First National Bank	Bronze
	Man 1 Rest of the World 0	Ogilvy Johannesburg	KFC	Silver
Sustain Category - for communications campaigns that benefited a business by maintaining or strengthening a brand over a long period, i.e. 36 months:	Tropika - Taking a stagnated brand to the next level	Joe Public	Clover SA	Bronze
	Add Hope	Ogilvy Johannesburg	KFC	Silver
	Hunter's Refreshed	140 BBDO	Distell	Gold
Special Award - awarded to the entry that demonstrated the most ingenious response to limited budget:	Drive Dry - They'd love to meet you	FoxP2	Brandhouse Beverages	Bronze
Grand Prix - awarded to the entry that stood a head and shoulders above the gold winners:	Hunter's Refreshed	140 BBDO	Distell	Gold

Drive Dry - They'd love to meet you advert

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Frank.net advert

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FNB Swith - "Steve" campaign

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Hunter's Refreshed advert

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Says Eric D'Oliveira, MD of the Grand Prix winning agency, 140 BBDO, "This award is significant for us, as it shows that with great creativity comes accountability for the returns generated from the campaigns we develop."

The Grand Prix is awarded for entries demonstrating performance excellence by contributing a measurable return on investment.

"The challenge was to steal from beer, a formidable competitor, and maintain resonance with a demanding market. We kicked off the campaign in 2008 and have built up considerable momentum behind the 'Global Cooling Campaign', which saw Hunter's grow its sales volumes by over 90% over a three-year period. Brand equity scores also ramped up and the brand now occupies second biggest cider brand globally. It dominates the South African cider market and, with innovation lined-up, we are confident that we'll continue the success story," adds Matt Riley, 140 BBDO head of planning.

Odette van der Haar, CEO of the ACA, said, "Those who submitted entries this year must remember that no-one who enters Apex loses. The process of compiling a case study is an incredible learning curve and does much to enhance and build client and agency relationships. Agencies and their clients must keep entering and most importantly, attend the free workshops."