The industry's finest dressed to 'dine under the Stars' on Thursday, 13 August, with a total of 21 Smarties Awards and three special industry awards handed out to the minds behind this year's brightest mobile campaigns in the Sky Bar on the 31st floor of the Maharani Hotel. "A beautiful venue to celebrate mobile in South Africa," said MC Warren Harding. Click here for a recap of the winners.

© Jon Meinking | @ishotimagesza

Nicolle Harding on what was different this year...

The outgoing Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) chair Nicolle Harding confirmed that this year, the second that the Smarties Awards have been run locally and once again sponsored by Standard Bank, was bigger and better than last year's iteration, particularly in having partnered with the Loeries this year to build awareness of both the MMA SA and Smarties Awards brand. She said this year saw more support from sponsor Standard Bank, building on last year's first run, with MMA SA members also hugely supportive of the awards programme and growing awareness of recognising mobile as a stand-alone from digital in the industry.

The Hardings © Jon Meinking | @ishotimagesza

Harding confirmed that the overall intention is to grow year-on-year and give the awards as much status locally as elsewhere you'll find the Smarties. That's important as this is the only global awards programme created specifically to recognise best-in-class mobile work from around the world, which is judged equally on creativity, strategy, execution and results. This in turn provides a benchmark for the industry and continues to raise the bar for marketers and their agencies alike.

With her run as MMA SA Chair now over, Harding hands the mobile baton on to new MMA SA Chair Yaron Assabi, Founder of Digital Solutions Group.

MMA Chair Emeritus for August 2014 to July 2015, Candice Goodman elaborated on Harding's accomplishments in putting together this year's Loeries alliance, resulting in what she called "this spectacular night", but more so emphasised Harding's work in launching the local Smarties Awards last year under tight deadlines and with Standard Bank's support.

Better understanding of mobile as a channel will lead to better mobile work

Standard Bank's Head - Digital and Direct Marketing Sagren Pather also spoke briefly during the evening of the importance of recognising mobile excellence locally. He congratulated all of the day's winners and spoke of the importance of 'moving mobile forward' as a reason the Standard Bank brand had aligned with the MMA on these awards.

Click here for a recap of the 2015 winners and here for my previous interview with Harding, on why an award does not necessarily need to be given in every single category of the Smarties Awards.