2020 Smarties Awards announces judges

Image from Mobile Marketing Association South Africa Facebook page.

The annual Smarties Awards is a celebration of talent that honours global innovation, creativity and success, and this year there has been a record number of entries of 370 across 16 categories

“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,” explains Luisa Mazinter, MMA Chair Emeritus and Judge Chair for the Smarties 2020 Awards.

This year’s judging process consisted of a three-part process including a round one preliminary qualifying stage, followed by a round two short-listing phase, which is almost complete. Categories also changed this year; five new Business Unusual categories were added to the primary category list to allow for campaigns that were run over the highly challenging Covid-19 period. They were for Social Responsibility, Brand Purpose, Customer Experience, Tech Innovation and App. The cost of entering this year was fully subsidised by sponsors.

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

14 Sep 2020

“We are so grateful for the contribution of our generous Smarties 2020 partners, Facebook, MTN, Opera and Standard Bank. Because of their generosity we were able to open up the submission process to allow all businesses, regardless of size, to enter their finest work and most successful digital campaigns of 2020, at no cost. Our aim is to create one of South Africa’s largest digital case study hubs, where we can provide credible benchmarking for the South African marketing community to work with when implementing digital at the epicentre of their marketing mix,” comments Mazinter.

On the judging process, Mazinter explains that the aim for round two is for the judges to evaluate and score the 160 short listed campaigns that made it through from round one, so the MMA SA can arrive at the top scoring finalist campaigns in each of the 16 Smarties categories. “The agencies and brands responsible for these finalist campaigns will then be invited to go through into the third and final round, The Smarties pitch,” explains Mazinter.

The pitch is a live judging phase exclusive to MMA SA Smarties Business Unusual 2020. This phase will see finalists invited to pitch their entries to a panel of six senior marketer judges.

“It is the perfect opportunity for entrants to showcase their best work to top-level marketers from Estee Lauder, Standard Bank, Absa, Samsung, Tiger Brands, MTN, Vodacom, Nando's, Massmart, Multichoice, TymeBank, Telkom, KFC, PEP, Gumtree, Autotrader, McDonalds and Pick n Pay,” says Mazinter.

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 40% of all awarded points to Business Results, while Creativity, Strategy and Execution account for 20% each.

“We are delighted to have had over 50 senior industry leaders judging this year’s entries”, says Mazinter. “This is a group of exceptionally talented individuals who are considered thought leaders in their respective sectors. They are all experienced and active contributors to the local marketing industry, which means they are well positioned to help the Smarties SA set the benchmark for digital excellence in South Africa.”

The round one judges, who worked tirelessly to evaluate all 370 preliminary entries were: Audrey Naidoo, Linda Appie, Sadika Fakir CM(SA), Velly Bosega, Joe Steyn-Begley, Russel Smit, Daryl van Arkel, Stef Adonis, Stephan Eyeson, Jared Dallas, Jade Carlisle, Raymond Buckle, Yaron Assabi, Rick Joubert, Lelani Stoman, Craig Miles, Boye Balogun, Sbuyiselwe Mthembu, Russel Smit, Jenny Pheiffer, Catherine Munjoma, Zimkita Makwetu, Sarah Utermark, Luisa Mazinter, Lisa Devi, Winnifred Knight, Kim Gartland, Andre Venter, Shireen Jaftha, Sue Swart, Elaine Wang and David Amos.

The top scoring 160 short listed campaigns in round two are now being evaluated by the following senior marketers:

Marketing: Brought to you in partnership with Opera

• Sarah Utermark – Opera
  
• Dudu Mokholo – Samsung
  
• Kerry Ho-Van Rensburg – Massmart
  
• Linda Appie – TymeBank
  
• Kim Garland – Standard Bank

Media: Brought to you in partnership with Standard Bank

• Sagren Pather – Standard Bank
  
• Zia Namooya – Mindshare
  
• Bruno Bertrand – Estee Lauder
  
• Suhayl Limbada – KFC
  
• Lunga Ngcime – Telkom
  
• Angelique Lynch – Autotrader/OLX
  
• John Bradshaw – Pick n Pay

Technology: Brought to you in Partnership with MTN

• Jason Probert – MTN
  
• Phumzile Van Damme – DA Shadow Minister of Communications and Digital Technology
  
• Francois Botha – Shoprite
  
• Michael Walker – GumTree
  
• Beyers van de Merwe – Pep

Business Unusual: Brought to you in Partnership with Facebook

• Elizma Nolte – Facebook
  
• Phil Cohen – ABSA
  
• Lindy Rudman – Vodacom
  
• Audrey Naidoo – ABSA
  
• Sadika Fakir – Tiger Brands
  
• Jenny Pheiffer – Standard Bank
  
• Darren Hampton – Nando's