Mscsports wins gold at MMA Smarties for pioneering AI-powered audience engagement with Telkom

Recognised globally as one of the marketing industry’s leading benchmarks for innovation, effectiveness and modern brand building, the MMA Smarties celebrates work that pushes the boundaries of how brands connect with audiences through technology, creativity and measurable impact.

For Mscsports, the win represents more than campaign success. It marks an important milestone in the agency’s continued evolution and growing ambition to help shape the future of sponsorship marketing in South Africa.

Long recognised as one of the country’s leading sports and entertainment agencies, Mscsports has recently expanded its offering and operating model to bring together strategy, creative, communications, digital, PR, production and cultural storytelling in a more connected way, enabling brands to create sponsorship ecosystems designed not just for visibility, but for participation, emotion and cultural relevance.

“Possibility in Play”, developed for Telkom’s Classics on Turf property, embodied this philosophy.

At a time when artificial intelligence is often framed as technology that distances people from one another, the campaign explored a different idea: that technology can also deepen human connection.

The experience invited audiences to actively co-create a live musical performance in real time through AI-powered audience participation, transforming guest emotion, interaction and engagement into an original orchestral composition performed live on the night.

The result was a sponsorship experience that blended technology, entertainment, data and human emotion in a way that resonated deeply with audiences while reinforcing Telkom’s broader brand positioning around possibility and connection.

Rob Garden, Creative Lead at Mscsports, said the award reflects both the strength of the Telkom partnership and the agency’s broader vision.

“This recognition is incredibly meaningful for us because it reflects the direction Mscsports is moving in as a business. We believe the future of sponsorship lies in connected thinking, where strategy, creativity, technology, culture and communications work together to create experiences people genuinely feel part of.

‘Possibility in Play’ was built around a very human idea: using technology not to replace in person connection, but to create it. That only happens with brave clients willing to push boundaries, so a huge thank you must go to Telkom for believing in the vision and backing ambitious work.”

For brands looking to build culturally relevant sponsorship platforms that drive deeper audience engagement, Mscsports believes the opportunity has never been greater.

For more information visit mscsports.co.za.