The 2013 awards were celebrated at the Vodacom World of Events in Midrand on 21 November. This prestigious event recognises the best of the best in direct and interactive marketing. It also celebrates creative and strategic execution of award winning direct and integrated marketing campaigns of the highest calibre in South Africa.
The industry response has been phenomenal. It's indicative of a growing and vibrant industry. "The industry response has been exceptional despite a significantly shorter period allowed for entries compared with previous years. This year saw 242 campaigns go through to final judging, says Warren Moss, Deputy Chairman of the DMASA.
Despite the high number of entries, winning an Assegai Award remains tough and only campaigns that show breakthrough results across strategy, creative and return on investment qualify for an award.
"The Assegai Awards are first and foremost ROI driven, and while we applaud and acknowledge exceptional creative work which was in very good supply, this has to be backed up by exceptional results. Of the total entries that went through for judging, only 26% received an Assegai Award, with 7% winning Gold, 10% winning Silver and 9% winning bronze. However, what we are very pleased to see is that with its fundamentals of databases and measurable ROI, direct marketing through traditional and new digital channels is a rapidly growing art and science. The quality of the work continues to improve and we're steadily seeing a blurring of above and below the line to create response-driven advertising," concludes Warren.
Janras Kotsi, Group Executive: Mail Business of the South African Post Office comments: "As lead sponsor, this is a perfect research platform to understand the needs of the industry. The Post Office is geared to take advantage of the convergence and integration of new media into advertisers' campaigns, add new value with solutions that facilitate the use of their channel offerings, and use technology wisely and efficiently to that end. We are proud to be associated with the Assegai awards and want to congratulate each and every nominee for their nomination in the Assegai Awards," he says.
The awards were individually scored by an expert panel of judges and the final scores were audited by an independent auditor. The Leader awards, which were introduced in 2011, are those entries that could qualify in terms of their final audited scores for an Assegai award. From the Leader awards, the top scoring campaigns are then awarded gold, silver, and bronze awards. The Inkosi award - given to an entry that has excelled above all others across strategy, creativity, and return on investment - went to Ogilvy & Mather CT for their #AudiA3Exchange entry in the social media category.
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For more information visit www.assegaiawards.co.za or alternatively contact the Assegai Awards office on 011 894 2767 or e-mail az.oc.sdrawaiagessa@ofni.
