5FM tops Media Innovation awards

The overall winner was 5FM radio for “Screw the Playlist” for Smirnoff Twist in which the popular youth station aligned all the music it played on a particular day with the launch of Smirnoff Twist. 5FM listeners got to choose the songs to be played on air for a day – as if they were running the station.

The winner of the TV category was Supersport for the “Captain's Call” for Captain Morgan Black Label Rum which is a TVC Squeeze Back that takes place during all Super14 home games. This is executed in the post match TV interviews with each of the captains.

The print media category was won by Soccer Laduma for “Raga Bolo” for Smirnoff 1818 and the outdoor category was won by Ku-Hambana Presentation Solutions for Smirnoff Twist.

Challenge media owners

The awards are presented annually by SA's premium liquor brands company, brandhouse, to encourage creativity and innovation in advertising and to challenge media owners to use new ideas.

Sergeant said this year's entries for the Media Innovation awards were particularly impressive.

“Media-owners' have shown great willingness to participate and they have been very open to new ideas. Of course, the aim is not to reward the idea generation (there are many awards for these) but to reward the effective way in which media-owners implement them.”

He said channel planning has changed the playing field for advertising.

“Advertisers can no longer resort to the safe option of old-world generic spot placement. They need to find more compelling reasons to implement engaging communications with consumers through channels seldom used. And there is no way that rate-cards can easily encapsulate these.

“Brandhouse is committed to ensuring that media-owners in South Africa participate fully with us and to acknowledge the pivotal role they play; we want to recognise them for implementing great work.”

Still room for improvement

Despite this year's great progress in the innovation stakes, Sergeant feels there is room for still more improvement, and has again thrown down the gauntlet.

“One see flashes of great innovation in the South African media, but these aren't widespread and aren't as common as some other markets where our brands are sold,” he observed.

“Often the local media are locked into past practices or constrained by financial guidelines, and dismiss new approaches. But as an innovative company ourselves, we are obliged to engage with consumers in an innovative way.

“We are extremely proud of what all of our media partners have accomplished, not only the award winners. Given the results of the past year, we can't wait to see what they will come up with next year,” concluded Sergeant.