Sunday Times Generation Next winners

On Wednesday night, 21 May 2008, at the fourth annual Awards ceremony, the who's who in the industry (including a few costume-clad characters from Cartoon Network and Chicky KFC) gathered at Montecasino, Johannesburg, to find out which of them are considered über cool by South African Youth.

“It is clear from the 2008 Generation Next Study that the youth expect more from brands... The shift from brands telling the story to consumers wanting to tell their story gives the youth a new status symbol,” said Jason Levin, MD of HDI Youth Marketeers.

Three years in a row

Commented Aisha Mohamed, marketing manager of 5FM, which received the Coolest Radio Station award for the third year in a row, “It is truly an honour to again receive this prestigious award, which reflects research and opinion sourced directly from SA's youth! This accolade effectively rewards our strategy to amplify the world of our listeners, indeed making this an Award (to the Power of 5!)”

Absa also took the Coolest Bank award for three years running. “Absa has a huge focus in the South African youth market, and the choices we give them extend beyond traditional banking,” said Kaibe Mollo, head: marketing: retail bank. “Our priority is to package banking for the South African youth in a manner that caters for their lifestyle needs, thus keeping banking relevant and unconventional. This can be seen via our continuous product enhancements, presence in youth relevant areas, and associations with other cool brands, such as Facebook, MXiT, MTV, Dell and Puma.

“We also align ourselves to relevant sports sponsorships, such as the Absa Premiership and the Absa Currie Cup, as well as other initiatives, such as Young Community Shapers, World Knowledge Olympiad & key CSI initiatives which include our support for orphans and vulnerable children. These are just some of the ways Absa is investing in the growth and development of SA's youth”, says Mollo.

List of winners

An opening performance by the 2007 winners of SABC's ‘Famous' talent search, Atom, set the mood for the much anticipated event on the local youth calendar. In keeping with the spirit of urban cool, MTV Base presenters, Sizwe and Fix, took to the stage to announce this year's coolest of the cool.

Adding more excitement to this year's event line-up was Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya, who dished out the prizes of the lucky draw which included: three R1000 Billabong gift vouchers, an Apple iPod and a Samsung J750 cellphone with stylish slider, 3G and Google search function.

Enver Groenewald, GM, advertising revenue and strategic communications at Avusa Media, gave those in the audience the low-down on the importance of Sunday Times Generation Next Study and its value to marketers.

Also making an appearance on stage was two of the members from HDI Youth Marketeers Junior Board of Directors (JBoD), Nicky Rawhani and Alma Dlamini. These two lively and opinionated brand-savvy individuals represent a group of hand-selected individuals (tweens, teens and young adults) that were also present at the event. These key influencers in their peer groups keep HDI informed of the latest trends unfolding and erupting in the forever-changing youth space. At last night's event, marketers and industry professionals had the opportunity to meet these youngsters - the youths who critique and rate them - face-to-face.

For more:

• Sunday Times Generation Next video on The Times