AdColony was named as Media Owner of the Year for a third time, while The MediaShop (Johannesburg) claimed its eighth Media Agency of the Year Award.
The Most Awards celebrate excellence in the media industry – from media owners across print, digital, cinema, broadcast and out of home (OOH) platforms, through to specialist and full-service media agencies – encouraging exceptional service delivery and healthy professional competition.
Category winners were determined by their peers, with 2021 being marked by record industry voting. Freshly Ground Insights (FGI) conducted the industry-wide Most survey, with results reviewed by BDO.
Nominations for the individual awards were made via an online survey, where respondents put forward their favourites. An adjudication panel of 13 industry professionals judged the nominations against specific criteria, for the prestigious individual Bell, Shepherd, Legend and Rising Star awards.
The Bell Award honours an individual who, though not working for a media owner or agency, has made an exceptional contribution to the betterment of the media sector. This year, the recipient of the Bell Award is researcher Beatrice Kubheka.
The Shepherd Award is awarded to someone who not only has a significant presence in the media industry but also selflessly gives back to it. The recipient of this year’s Shepherd Award is Fahmeeda Cassim-Surtee, CEO of DStv Media Sales.
CEO of Mediamark and AMASA board director, Wayne Bischoff, received the Media Owner Legend Award. The Media Agency Legend Award went to Merissa Himraj, MD of Wavemaker South Africa.
The Media Owner Rising Star Award was awarded to Skhumbuzo Mokoena of DStv Media Sales, while Jamie Norgarb of PHD received the Media Agency Rising Star Award.
Brad Aigner, managing director of FGI said, “The quality of nominations for the Legend and Rising Star awards was phenomenal. It was very encouraging to see so many new names of up-and-coming young people in our industry being put forward.”
The Marketing Services Award recognises trade marketing excellence from media owners who also received record industry support in 2021. The winner of this year’s award is DStv Media Sales.
DStv Media Sales also received the special Virtually Perfect Service Award in recognition of the changing media sales environment as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown. The award looks to recognise a sales team that took a firm grip on ‘business unusual’ by making clients feel like it was ‘business as usual’ through the innovative and effective use of virtual practices.
Media Agencies
Sponsors of the 2021 Most Awards are Jacaranda FM, Primedia Broadcasting, Carat, DStv Media Sales, Mercurial Media, Mediamark, The MediaShop, ViacomCBS Africa, Black Media Outdoor, YFM, Nalesa Media, Torque Media, Arena Holdings, Ebony+Ivory, Mediology, 702, 947, Cape Talk, Kfm, Malfy Gin and Thirst.
The Media Most Awards special edition, featuring all the winners, will be available here.
