Sponsorship support for Assegais

MTN South Africa, like the DMA, believes in the promotion and expansion of direct marketing within diverse South African communities. “The geographical challenges posed by the South African landscape in terms of remote communities resulted in MTN examining new ways of communicating with its consumers. Direct Marketing is one of the many effective avenues utilised by MTN,” says Jacques Hattingh, MTN marketing.

“As one of the founder members of the DMA, MTN is proud to sponsor the Mobile Marketing and the E-marketing categories of the Assegai Awards. There is an increasing demand to find innovative electronic marketing campaigns and it is one of MTN's goals to be at the forefront of innovative communication strategies,” explains Jacques.

Marketer of the Year

Absa and GreyMatter are joint sponsoring the Marketer of the Year award, the highest accolade awarded by the Assegai awards to an individual that has presented awe-inspiring work to the industry. “It is rather fitting that Absa as the largest retail bank in South Africa, along with GreyMatter, ABSA's specialised direct marketing agency, sponsor this prestigious category,” says Craig Townsend of GreyMatter.

“Just as building the Absa brand is critical to the bank's success, so is building client relationships through direct marketing which we feel is at the essence of these awards.”

Effective Intelligence is another company that has a long-standing relationship with the Assegai Awards since its inception in 1999. “We wish to continue our support of the DMA and its principles that we hold in very high regard. Based on this philosophy, Effective Intelligence has appointed an independent ombudsperson to oversee its compliance with data and privacy legislation,” explains Julian Ardagh of Effective Intelligence.

‘Data quality and content'

“There are many companies that are neither advertising agencies or direct marketing agencies but who fundamentally support excellence in direct marketing. As a leading specialist data solutions developer for all SADC countries including South Africa, Effective Intelligence has seen a desperate need for focus on the quality and content of data in databases to drive marketing and revenue growth,” continues Ardagh.

“Based on this viewpoint we have decided to sponsor the Database category as it is one of the fundamental foundations from where the target audience is identified and targeted which is essentially at the core of the Assegai Awards. Effective Intelligence is dedicated to promote the recognition of comprehensive software database solutions that are so desperately needed within a South African context. The maintenance of true data quality and effective data enrichment solutions are absolutely vital in the journey to reaching a receptive marketing audience.”

• Agencies, corporates, educational institutions and SMEs who wish to have their work considered for an Assegai Award are now able to submit their entries, with all the required entry forms and information available on www.dmasa.org. The closing date for entries is Friday 12 October 2007 – late entries will not be considered. Entry forms and extensive category descriptions and explanations are now available on the website and open to prospective entrants. The Gala awards luncheon is scheduled for 5 November 2007 at the Kyalami Theatre on the Track, Johannesburg. For more information, email or call Teresa Settas on +27 (0)11 894 2767.