Coconut Kelz

Employing over-the-top antics and farce, the cast pushed the limits of South African humour while celebrating what Pendoring stands for: promote, unify and celebrate the richness of South Africa’s creative content in all its indigenous languages.

2021 was a bumper year that saw a 24% increase in entries, 42% more finalists in the Digital Communications category, 22% more finalists in the student awards and 35% more finalists in the Radio & Audio category.

Pendoring GM Eben Keun is understandably thrilled, “Thank you to all the agencies, publishing houses and schools that entered the Pendoring Awards this year. We saw pronounced growth not just in total entries, but in specific languages: isiZulu entries increased by 138.89%; Sepedi entries doubled; Setswana entries are up by 222%; Xitsonga entries increased by 142.85%; and we received our first entry in N|uu this year. This indicates true change beginning to take shape within our industry, and brands continuing to tell authentic stories in indigenous languages.

“We are also proud to announce our top-ranked agencies for 2021. Congratulations and thank you for pursuing excellence with SA’s indigenous language creative content.”

Prestigious Umpetha Award

This year’s Prestigious Umpetha Award is shared by TBWA \ Hunt Lascaris and Toasted Samish, who worked together on the integrated campaign: Shwii by Nissan. The campaign, which also won in Digital and Radio & Audio categories, hacked and disrupted the popular navigation app Waze, to create their own set of isiZulu commands that are suited to local drivers.

Boniswa Pezisa, the Pendoring jury president for 2021 commented, “Most distinctive of all the entries is this year’s Prestigious Umpetha Award winner, which stands heads and shoulders above the rest of its competitors, as it pushed the boundaries by digging deeper into the depths of the rich melodic sounds and gestures of the language. Leveraging nuance and culture of everyday speak, blending it into a rich poetic tapestry of sound. The sound that can only emerge from Mzansi. Halala Umpetha!!!”

Overall student winner

The 2021 Overall Student Winner goes to Red & Yellow Creative School of Business, Cape Town, for Ichebetyu Goes A Long Way, an integrated campaign that plays off the insight that South Africans can make that last bit of Sunlight Laundry Soap last a very long time.

click to enlarge

Heidi Brauer, chief marketing officer for headline sponsors Hollard, said “As we enter this special decade, we just know that the world-class entries delivered by all our finalists will inspire more South Africans to produce work in our beautiful and diverse mother tongues. In this sense, the Pendorings really do act as a catalyst for positive and enduring change in Mzansi, which aligns so nicely with Hollard’s organisational purpose.”

Rankings

Pendoring has also announced the rankings for 2021. The top agency this year, Joe Public United, won several Gold Pendorings for their Castle Milk Stout ClanBeat campaign and for their Chicken Licken Humble Achaar radio campaign.

Pendoring 2021 top 12 Agencies

1. Joe Public United
   
2. TBWA \ Hunt Lascaris
   
3. FCB
   
4. Toasted Samish
   
5. Boomtown
   
6. Abnormal
   
7. Dit&Dat Ontwerp
   
8. King James Group
   
9. Sauce Advertising
   
10. Ogilvy South Africa
    
11. 8909
    
12. Afropulse Media
    

Pendoring 2021 top 5 Content Publishers

1. Pan MacMillan
   
2. New Africa Books
   
3. Naledi
   
4. Klyntji.com
   
5. ATKV
   

Pendoring 2021 Top 8 Schools/Universities

1. Red & Yellow Creative School of Business
   
2. IIE-Vega
   
3. AAA School of Advertising
   
4. North-West University
   
5. The Open Window
   
6. Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography
   
7. The Creative Academy, Cape Town
   
8. Boston Media House
   

Says Pezisa: “Come back, inspire and push the frontiers further in 2022 and usher in the Unesco Decade of Indigenous Languages with your dignified quirky presence.”

All the winners