2018 MMA SA Smarties winners announced

The winning campaigns were for:

• Unilever’s Top Sellers (Relationship Building/CRM)
• Knorr’s Whatsfordinner Leave No Food Behind (EMEA: Relationship Building/ CRM, EMEA: Mobile Social, Mobile Video and EMEA: Cross Mobile)
• OMO’s Father’s Day (Mobile Video)
• Surf’s School of Shine (Cross Media) 
• OMO’s Stains Don’t Matter (EMEA: VR/AR). The agency shares this award with Mbongiworks. 

How to leverage mobile to successfully drive business results
Yonder Media’s KFC CRM Rewards Campaign scooped the prestigious 'Best In Show'. Their campaign showed brilliant execution through its rich, multi-engagement transaction handling, reward points and walleting gamification platform. As a mobile-first, mobile-only implementation, the effective use of USSD as an entry mechanic was paired with rewards and prizes that were also mobile-driven. "It is a shining example of how to leverage mobile to successfully drive business results," said MMA country director, Sarah Utermark.

“The level of skill and innovation from these agencies this year was exceptional, making Digitas Liquorice, Gorilla and Yonder Media clear winners not only in South Africa but across the EMEA regions too. This is a significant accolade and one that they should both be very proud of.”

Among the brands, KFC was awarded across five categories (Lead Generation, Location Based, Relationship Building/ CRM and Social Impact) which resulted in their “Best in Show” achievement.

“KFC’s social impact for its ‘Add Hope’ work must also be highlighted. In the 7 years of running the “Add Hope” campaign, KFC has thus far raised R387m. KFC started a feeding scheme initiative known as “Add Hope”.

It partnered with over 137 feeding institutions across South Africa, reaching over 120,000 children daily, assisting towards feeding children’s early developmental age groups (newborns to 6-year olds) in crèches, kindergartens, nurseries, primary schools and shelters harbouring orphaned as well as underprivileged kids in extremely impoverished communities. The campaign was executed by Mark1.

“This must be applauded and shows the impact that campaigns like this can have on real global issues,” comments Utermark.

Campaigns that were rooted in consumer insights and truths

Of the award’s 13 judges, Lunga Ngcime agrees with Utermark and said during the judging process, that took place in September, he awarded campaigns that were rooted in consumer insights and truths, were authentic and relevant and most importantly helped to solve important issues. “KFC ticked all the right boxes and is a shining example of how a brand can do good, at scale.”

AdColony was awarded “Publisher of The Year” for its role in addressing critical issues of viewability and brand safety. Both impact the efficacy of campaigns as brands can be promoted on publishers’ sites that are irrelevant, or even alongside content that promotes terror and violence. In the case of viewability, a brand’s efforts may also not be seen at all, despite paying for these impressions.

Gorilla also performed exceptionally – thanks in large part to its socially impactful work as well as consistently delivering at the highest standard for Unilever. It was awarded Agency of the Year.

Driving the importance of creative and effective mobile marketing

“We are an agency that takes a lot of pride in being able to tell big stories on small screens and winning our second MMA Smarties Agency of the Year award is an achievement that we're incredibly proud of. We're also grateful for the partnership we have with Shield and Unilever as they're a business that for years has driven the importance of creative and effective mobile marketing. We're a very happy Jungle this week,” said Michelle McEwan, Gorilla’s managing director.

This year’s standard of work was noted by the judges. They collectively said winning campaigns were forward-thinking, innovative and quality initiatives that support human’s basic needs or delivered notable business impact.

Utermark concluded:

The Smarties looks for work that goes beyond the creative and delivers tangible results for brands and organisations. Mobile plays a critical role in enabling this. The engagement and penetration rates of mobile users demonstrate a need to encourage growth from brands and agencies to ensure mobile is brought into the creative strategy conversation at a much earlier stage of any campaign planning. Nevertheless, we’re excited to see the strides that brands and agencies are taking to affect these important outcomes.

Full list of winners

CATEGORY	ENTRY NAME	ADVERTISER BRAND	LEAD AGENCY	AWARD
EMEA: Promotion	Azishe	Shield	Gorilla/ Mindshare	GOLD
	Shoprite_Checkers Win a Car	Shoprite	Yonder/ Mediashop & 99c	SILVER
	Be the Next Champion	Shield	Gorilla	BRONZE
Product/ Service Launch	#ShieldReady	Shield	Gorilla	SILVER
	Debonairs Pizza Smokin BBQ	Debonairs Pizza	AdColony/ The Mediashop	BRONZE
Lead Generation	KFC CRM Rewards Programe	KFC	Yonder Media	GOLD
	Shoprite_Checkers Win a Car	Shoprite	Yonder Media/ Mediashop and 99c	SILVER
Location Based	KFC Zinger	KFC	Vicinity Media	BRONZE
	Lucozade Boost Your Drive	Suntory	Mindshare South Africa	GOLD
	Dischem – Winter Care Guide	Dischem	Mobiclicks	SILVER
Relationship Building/ CRM	Unilever Top Sellers	Unilever	Digitas Liquorice	GOLD
	KFC CRM Rewards Program	KFC	Yonder Media	SILVER
EMEA: Relationship Building/ CRM	Whatsfordinner Leave No Food Behind	Knorr	Digitas Liquorice	GOLD
Mobile Social	#ShieldReady	Shield	Gorilla	BRONZE
	Miller Genuine Draft Mbali Chatbot	Miller	Just Palm	SILVER
	Pressure Moments	Shield	Gorilla	BRONZE
EMEA: Mobile Social	Whatsfordinner Leave No Food Behind	Knorr	Digitas Liquorice	BRONZE
Mobile Video	OMO Father’s Day	OMO	Digitas Liquorice	SILVER
	Whatsfordinner Leave No Food Behind	Knorr	Digitas Liquorice	GOLD
	Volkswagen SA – How to Adventure 360	Volkswagen	Mobiclicks/ PHD	SILVER
Social Impact	Coding a better future	ABSA	YDigital	BRONZE
	Add Hope in VR	KFC	Mark1	GOLD
Cross Media	Surf School of Shine	Surf	Digitas Liquorice	GOLD
	Be The Next Champion	Shield	Gorilla	SILVER
Cross Mobile	Lucozade Boost Your Drive	Suntory	Mindshare South Africa	GOLD
EMEA: Cross Mobile	Whatsfordinner Leave No Food Behind	Knorr	Digitas Liquorice	GOLD
Innovation	Miller Genuine Draft Mbali Chatbot	Miller	Just Palm	GOLD
	Lucozade Boost Your Drive	Suntory	Mindshare South Africa	BRONZE
	Unilever Top Sellers	Unilever	Digitas Liquorice	SILVER
EMEA: VR/AR	OMO Stains Don’t Matter	OMO	Digitas Liquorice/ Mbongiworks	BRONZE
Brand Awareness	#ShieldReady	Shield	Gorilla	SILVER
	Killer Combination	Domestos	Niche Guys	BRONZE
	Add Hope in VR	KFC	Mark1	SILVER
Industry Awards
Best in Show	KFC CRM Rewards Program	KFC	Yonder Media	GOLD
Marketer of the Year	Unilever			GOLD
Agency of the Year	Gorilla			GOLD
Publisher of the Year	AdColony			GOLD