Wednesday 19 August 2015
Loeries: The Bird That Catches the Worms
Sunday, 16 August 2015, Durban ICC: The Advertising Industry waits in baited breath as the winners of the 37th Annual Loerie Awards are announced. From 2 944 entries, 1 020 finalists were selected, and only 2 won the coveted Grand Prix Awards.
This year, for the first time, winners from across Africa and the Middle East region were announced together in each category. This year also meant two new categories were added to the list of winners: Music Video 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," said Gareth Leck, Loeries Jury Chairman for the service design category.
Defined as “The conceptual planning and organising of people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve the quality and interaction between the service provider and the consumer,”service design is shedding light on the truest form of advertising today. Even if you’ve created an award-winning campaign that astounds the world, if your face-to-face communication (such as an out-of-date website, rude cashiers or untrained centre staff) is not up to scratch, your brand is going to pick up a nasty reputation.
Gareth Leck, Joe Public CEO and Andrew Human, Loeries CEO, explained that this first time category is all about the points where you interact with the consumer, where things tend to fall apart fall apart in the real-world despite great campaigns that win awards for effectivity and reach. If your brand's staff don't fulfil that promise those customers are likely gone.
The following agencies walked away with recognition in this area this year:
Prize
|
Brand
|
Product
|
Campaign
|
Agency
|
Gold
|
Unilever
|
Lifebuoy
|
Handle on Hygiene
|
Geometry Global Dubai
|
Silver
|
Volkswagen South Africa
|
Volkswagen Up!
|
The Uber Test Ride
|
Ogilvy & Mather CTN
|
Bronze
|
Unilever
|
Joko
|
Vaya Via Joko
|
Joe Public Ignite
|
Bronze
|
The Safety Lab
|
Giva
|
Digital Giving Platform
|
Y&R South Africa
|
Bronze
|
Unilever
|
Whatsfordinner
|
Instant Inspiration
|
Liquorice
|
The rise of music television channels and online platforms such as YouTube means that music is becoming more interactive than ever before. These days, developing a hit song means having an equally successful music video, and developing a successful brand means having a talented video producer on hand.
Music video production has seen spectacular growth in the last year. Both creativity and quality has skyrocketed, and this new category awards exceptional work and talent in this field of the industry. The Music Video category was sponsored by Songstruct.
“In recognition of this fact, the Loeries - Africa and the Middle East’s premier creative industry awards - have created a dedicated category for music videos. The organisers are calling on music video producers from all over Africa and the Middle East to enter their music videos from the past year before the deadline of 31 May 2015,” notes Music Africa on their website.
The diamond in the crown of creativity, however, was the KFC SoundBite campaign. A concept that introduces the urban youth to unsigned local artists, the SoundBite campaign comprised of in-store “bone technology”allowing KFC customers to listen t local sounds by placing their elbows on the audio tables. Directional sound speakers are distributed through the store to give customers sitting in booths the ability to customise their music experience by choosing from a vast selection of DMX content via their cellphones. USB charging stations are conveniently situated at tables and screens are used as an interactive point of sale to stream daily specials and content.
Following KFC’s brilliance is Loto Libanais “Black Cats”campaign, another Grand Prix winner.The media campaign effectively encourages people in Lebanon to play the local lottery by making them feel luckier. By sending all black cats in Lebanon away; black cats are considered bad luck; people will have increased luck, thus increasing their chances of winning.
With these, and many other winners in mind, Decimal draws inspiration from the most innovative, creative advertising trends to produce effective, impactful campaigns. We not only look at the creativity, but also how it impacts your business and maximises your profits. It’s not always about winning awards, but when it is, we win big.
