Winners in first evening of 40th Annual Loerie Awards announced

On the 40th anniversary of the Loeries, the first of two awards evenings was held on Friday evening at the Durban International Convention Centre, and was hosted by Donovan Goliath. Across six categories, 150 Loeries were awarded, including 3 Grands Prix, 16 Golds, 39 Silvers, 64 Bronzes, 9 Craft Golds and 19 Craft Certificates.

The Grand Prix Loerie, the award given for the best work across the show, were awarded to: In Communication Design- Fear and Fantasy Festival’s “Fear and Fantasy Festival” by TBWA Reklam Hizmetleri A.S., Turkey.

In Digital & Interactive Communication- Sanlam’s “2 Minute Shower Songs” by King James Group, South Africa.

In Print Communication, Nando’s “#rightmyname” by M&C Saatchi Abel, South Africa.

Loeries Creative Week Durban is one of the biggest annual gathering of the advertising and brand communications industry across Africa and the Middle East and is the most sought-after award for the industry.

Suhana Gordhan, Creative Director at FCB Africa, ended her period as Loeries Chair, and Tseliso Rangaka, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy Cape Town, was announced as the new Chairman of the Loeries for the next two years. “I think Africa and the Middle East are among the most brand conscious places in the world right now and I’m thrilled that I’m going to have a bird’s eye view of the region. I think we have an opportunity to be really brave and take advantage of the fact that we’re not as constrained by tradition as markets like Europe and the US,” said Rangaka.

The Marketing Leadership & Innovation Award was presented to Doug Place, Chief Marketing Officer of Nando’s. “This award is designed to honour an achiever like Doug who brings sustained dedication and performance as a marketing professional,” said Loeries CEO, Andrew Human.

Kirstin Uken, designer at Sunshinegun, and David Franciscus, founder and producer/director of Protagonist Films, received the Brand South Africa Young Creatives Award, which recognises the creative performance of individuals aged 27 or younger. Each winner receives a Gold Loerie and US$5,000.

On these young winners, Sithembile Ntombela, General Manager of marketing at Brand South Africa commented: “If you want to see the possibilities of a nation, check its youth creativity and innovation ability.”

In the Student category, 5 Gold Loeries were awarded, with students from AAA School Of Advertising in Cape Town winning 2 Golds, North-West University 1 Gold, University of Johannesburg 1 Gold and The Open Window 1 Craft Gold. In the Student Facebook Challenge where entrants created mobile-first ad campaigns for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a Silver Loerie went to ‘Helpin’ Hands’ by Vega School in Johannesburg. Also in the Facebook Challenge, 2 Bronze Loeries were awarded to AAA School of Advertising, Cape Town and 02 Academy, Lagos for ‘The things Gogo says’ and ‘Give a Soap’ respectively.

“The Facebook Challenge encourages our next generation of creatives to build world class mobile campaigns addressing life changing challenges. The innovative ideas from this year’s winners goes to prove that there is no problem too big that creativity can’t solve. We look forward to working with them and the Red Cross to bring this campaign to life on Facebook and Instagram,” said Elizma Nolte who heads up Business Marketing for Sub-Saharan Africa at Facebook.

The awards were judged by over 170 regional and international industry leaders, including international jury presidents Fabian Frese, Ian Mackenzie, Nicolas Courant and Sebastian Padilla.

The final awards evening takes place on Saturday 18 August.