Loeries® Creative Week™ Durban came to and end this weekend with the awards for work across Africa & the Middle East Awards taking place on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 August at the Durban International Convention Centre. The dazzling awards were attended by the who’s-who from across the region, including industry legends and influential international creative minds. Nominees were on the edge of their seats as winners were announced in the tightly contested categories.
One of the highlights of Sunday night’s ceremony was the surprise appearance by South African hip-hop kingpin AKA, performing the first official Loeries® song, “NO”.
The annual Loeries® celebrate creativity from across the African continent and the Middle East, recognising excellence in the brand communication industry across the region.
The awards were judged by around 140 local and international experts in their fields, including international jury judges from London, New York City, Boulder-Colorado, Dubai, Lagos, Nairobi, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur.
For the first time in 2015 winners from across the Africa and the Middle East region were announced together in each category.
This year also saw the addition of two new categories – music videos and service design. “The Service Design category is a new one, but a very relevant one given the increasing demand for brands to create meaningful engagement with their customers. I see this category growing from strength to strength. I was very impressed with a few pieces from the Middle East, and a number of the entries displayed super fresh thinking, a big wow factor and tight alignment and relevance to the brand. It was also pleasing to see a strong contingent of work from Africa that showcased creativity and demonstrated significant business results. From a South African perspective there were a few stand-out pieces that really captured the essence of what great service design is about, in that the brand was seamlessly merged into the customer experience and demonstrated the value the brand plays in the consumers life in highly innovative ways,” said Gareth Leck, Loeries® Jury Chairman for the service design category.
Another exiting new category that was added this year was the Music Videos category sponsored by Songstruct. Music video production in the region has seen tremendous growth in both quality and creativity over the last number of years, and this category recognises exceptional work and talent in this sphere.
Only 2 Grand Prix were awarded this year
– From South Africa, a Grand Prix was awarded to KFC and Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg, for ‘SoundBite’ in the Applications, Games & Interactive tools category.
– From United Arab Emirates, another Grand Prix was awarded to Loto Libanais and IMPACT BBDO Dubai for ‘Black Cats On Holiday’ in the Branded Content Video category.
SPECIAL AWARDS
Effective Creativity Award
Introduced in 2013, the Effective Creativity category, sponsored by Woolworths, allows previous Loerie winning entries to be measured for effective business results. 2 Gold Loeries® were awarded:
From South Africa, Gold was awarded to Coca-Cola and FCB South Africa for Coke ‘Bobby’ and from the United Arab Emirates, another Gold was awarded to Sawamninjah and Geometry Global for Dubai Rescue Radio ‘The Rescue Continues’
Loeries Hall of Fame – Tony Koenderman
Tony Koenderman, editor of AdReview, and associate editor of Finweek, was inducted into the Loeries Hall of Fame, for his outstanding contribution to the industry.
“Tony may not fit the profile of the creative practitioners previously inducted into the Loeries Hall of Fame. But during a long and illustrious career he has done every bit as much as any previous recipient to promote for the cause of creativity in our industry and in our country,” said 2013 Hall of Fame inductee and founder and chairman of The Jupiter Drawing Room, Graham Warsop in a fitting tribute to Koenderman.
Marketing Leadership & Innovation Award – Gavin Krenski
Gavin Krenski of Brandhouse was honoured with the Marketing Leadership & Innovation Award in recognition for his astute marketing acumen, his belief in creativity as an investment crucial for a brand’s growth, and his instrumental role in taking Brandhouse to new heights.
Adams & Adams Young Creatives Award
The award, for exceptional achievement at the age of 27 or younger, went to Melusi Mhlungu and Saf Sindhi. They each received a Gold Loerie plus R50,000, courtesy of Adams & Adams.
Unilever Ubuntu Award for Sustainable Marketing
The Unilever Ubuntu Award for Sustainable Marketing honours brand campaigns that do good while doing good business. 2 golds were awarded to the following campaign:
– The Safety Lab and Y&R SA for ‘Hope Soap’
– UBCI GROUPE BNP PARIBAS and Havas Worldwide for ‘Recycle to learn’
Loeries Creative Future Scholarship
For the first time, the Loeries® has awarded an incredible five bursaries & scholarships to talented learners from KwaZulu-Natal, with a total value of over R1 million. Durban Girls’ High School students Yolisa Motha and Nomfundo Mcoyi were named recipients of the Loeries® Creative Future Scholarship, with a three-year bursary at Design School South Africa in Durban awarded to another Durban Girls’ High School student, Melissa Paterson.
STUDENT AWARDS
The Gold Loeries were awarded to the following students:
– Maxine Flandorp and Wilmie Klop from AAA School of Advertising Cape Town for National Geo-graphic ‘African Quilt’
– Tarien Bruwer, Roxanne Simpson and Greg Kentgens from AAA School of Advertising Cape Town for National Geographic ‘Disaster Diary’
– Gregory Booysen and Sam Newdigate from AAA School of Advertising Cape Town for Oreo ‘Give A Hand’
– Gregory Booysen from AAA School of Advertising Cape Town for Bose ‘Drown The Noise – Excava-tor, Train, Plane’
And 1 Craft Gold was awarded for Illustration to Simone van der Spuy from Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography for ‘The Extraordinary Mind of Petula Primrose’.