MMA SA Smarties announces 5 new Covid-19 categories and entering is free

The coronavirus pandemic has had an immense effect on consumer behaviour and in turn has forced brands to reconsider their approach to marketing their products today and in the future. Budgets and communication strategies have also been re-adjusted to account for how Covid-19 will further impact the economy, marketers’ businesses and their customers.

To recognise this, the MMA SA Smarties has launched its Business Unusual Categories alongside its core categories for 2020, along with a new submission process that will allow businesses across Africa, regardless of size, to enter their finest and most successful marketing and digital campaigns.

Thanks to its partners, Facebook, MTN, and Opera, and in association with Standard Bank, MMA SA’s strategic partner, it will be free to enter this year’s MMA SA Smarties.

Comments Enver Groenewald, MMA SA chair and Unilever’s Africa director: Consumer Channels, Marketing Transformation and Digital Transformation:

This year’s MMA SA Smarties reflect the seismic shift the world is experiencing at a social, economic and industry level. More than just being a virtual event, the importance of this year’s Awards is underscored by the challenging circumstances that brands and their agencies are working under. And, despite these circumstances, they remain committed to developing, distributing and showcasing world-class work. The MMA SA regards the Smarties as a salute to mobile creativity and innovation, now more than ever.

The five Business Unusual categories join the Smarties Core categories. This brings the total categories for 2020 to 16. They are:

Core Smarties categories:

Marketing:

• Brand Awareness
• Lead Generation/ Direct Response/ Conversions
• Product/ Services Launch

Media:

• Mobile Gaming, Gamification and E-Sports
• Mobile App
• Mobile Social

Technology:

• Innovation
• Location-Based Targeting
• mCommerce
• Mobile Video
• Data/ Insights (New)

Business Unusual 2020 categories:

• Social responsibility
• Brand Purpose
• Customer Experience
• Tech Innovation
• App

“As we continue to honour the mobile marketing community by celebrating the best work of the last 12 months, it is also important to celebrate and acknowledge how brands are creating innovative campaigns to connect with their customers and pivot their businesses.

“As such, the five new awards are centred on campaigns that have successfully communicated brands’ efforts to align their Brand Purpose and Social Responsibility efforts, as well as Tech Innovation initiatives to help improve consumers’ experience of brands, products/ services during the pandemic,” explains Luisa Mazinter, MMA SA chair emeritus.

The entry mechanic has also changed and has been split into 3 phases:

• Phase 1: Preliminary qualifying stage for both Core MMA SA Smarties and the new Business Unusual 2020 categories
• Phase 2: Shortlisting
• Phase 3: My Smarties Pitch: agency and/or brand representatives will virtually present their entry and answer questions from the judging panel. It will consist of members of the MMA SA Smarties jury committee who are all well-known marketers from the SA marketing and advertising community. The best pitches will be awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze Smarties Awards.

Mazinter explains:

To win a Smarties Award is an outward sign of mobile marketing expertise, mastery of the medium and the ability to drive results. Winners demonstrate power over the medium – effectively weaving together a great idea, compelling creative and air-tight execution – to deliver significant business results.

All MMA SA Smarties winners across the 16 categories will automatically be entered into the Global, EMEA and Africa MMA Business Impact Index (BII). Launched three years ago, the BII honours work from around the world that significantly delivers tangible business impact for clients through mobile-first campaigns.

The Smarties’ judging is unique as the focus is on the impact mobile has on business results, which is evident in the way the judging criteria allocates almost half of all awarded points to results: 40% is for Business Results, while Creativity, Strategy and Execution all account for 20%.

Call for entries opened on 1 September, with the closing date of 30 September. To enter, entrants must click here and upload their strategy and creative slides and submit to the online platform, created by Silverstone VentureWRX.

“We’re proud to deliver the mobile-first entry management platform for this unusual edition of the MMA SA Smarties. We believe the peer-rating and sponsored entries facilitated by these partners allows anyone and everyone to participate for the first time without any cost barriers to entry,” comments Raymond Buckle, CEO of Silverstone VentureWRX.

The eligibility period for campaigns is to have run in South Africa between June 2019 – September 2020.

For more information visit the website or email gro.asamm@seitrams.