Ogilvy maintains no 1 position as Most Effective Agency for 2023

At this year's Effies, Ogilvy shone brightly as the Most Effective Agency for 2023, reflecting our continued commitment to creating positive impact for our clients’ brands. Retaining the title in 2023, makes this the second year in a row that Ogilvy has won this prestigious accolade.

Ogilvy won The Grand Effie, 3 Golds, 4 Silvers and 11 Shortlists at the event, across 4 of its biggest clients: KFC, Volkswagen, Mondelez and Carling Black Label.

Ogilvy believes that the power of creativity lies in its ability to deliver meaningful brand impact and to consistently deliver high standards of effectiveness. In a landscape marked by economic volatility and uncertainty, the agency remains dedicated to providing solutions that successfully help brands navigate complexity, change and ambiguity.

KFC South Africa emerged as the most awarded brand at the event, winning this year’s Grand Prix (The Grand Effie) and two Golds for the ‘Anything for the Taste’ campaign, which rapidly gained nationwide popularity overnight – alongside producing strong market sales. Additionally, KFC garnered two Silver awards for their Easter campaign, ‘Where there's a Bucket, there's a Family’, aimed at further entrenching and modernising the brands ‘Taste’ offering to resonate with South Africa’s youth market.

"We are exceptionally proud of these coveted awards that remind us that great marketing and creativity have the power to deliver stellar business results,” says Grant Macpherson, chief marketing officer KFC Africa. “In partnership with Ogilvy, we will continue to champion creative innovation that resonates with our consumers to deliver both interest and action. A massive congratulations to the entire KFC team, as well as our agency partners Ogilvy and Mindshare."

Ogilvy has been deliberately helping brands shift from focusing solely on image to emphasising impact. This shift has played a crucial role in modernising brand communications to achieve tangible performance results.

"To truly enhance brand equity, we recognised the need to go beyond the one-size-fits-all approach, across diverse platforms. Our strategy entailed embracing the distinct consumption patterns of each platform, delivering content with relevance and purpose, to drive a more significant impact," says Neo Makhele, chief strategy officer at Ogilvy. “We remain committed to cultivating ideas that drive business results for South Africa’s biggest brands. In parallel, we‘re constantly in tune with how social media platforms have increasingly emerged as tools to shape and influence culture.”

Volkswagen South Africa also secured one Gold and two Silver awards at the event, for their innovative campaign, 'Game On.' Targeting a digitally savvy audience that does not typically watch TV. This multi-faceted content campaign integrated an NFT gaming promotion. The campaign not only generated a surge in leads but also resulted in the rapid sell-out of the Polo, accompanied by category-breaking performance statistics.

“Despite the increase of imported brands and models entering the market at competitive prices, Ogilvy continues to be a critical partner in ensuring Volkswagen remains one of South Africa’s most loved and well known automotive brands. We are very proud of these Effie accolades, which reaffirms the incredible results that the Game On campaign achieved for us,” says Bridget Harpur, head of marketing Volkswagen South Africa.

“Our teams and clients have been exceptionally proud of our No. 1 position for creativity at Cannes earlier this year. Ultimately, however, we seek creativity that powers effectiveness, so the Effie wins confirm our ambition to achieve both of these results. Rewarding great work that works,” says Pete Case, Ogilvy CEO and creative chairman. “Congratulations to all our teams for reaching our ambition to continue creating extraordinary levels of business impact for our clients.”