Effie Awards South Africa replaces the highly respected APEX awards, held annually in South Africa. The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), the official representative body for the Communications and Advertising profession in South Africa, has partnered with Effie Worldwide to launch the annual Effie Awards Programme in South Africa.
Brands and their agency partners will now have the ability to receive global recognition for their most effective marketing and communications campaigns, with the awarding of an Effie viewed by media agencies, marketers and advertisers worldwide as a respected global symbol of achievement.
Mathe Okaba, CEO of the ACA said, ’Effie’s mission is to lead, inspire and champion the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness and we take great pride in hosting the first globally recognised marketing effectiveness awards programme in South Africa in 2020. The ACA has championed effectiveness in marketing and communications and the incredible work executed in our market. It is with great excitement that we officially launch the 2020 season of Effie South Africa, and look forward to catapulting our local profession into the global arena.’
Launched in 1968, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with over 50 global, regional and national programmes across Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Latin America and North America. Effie South Africa joins the Effie network as the 49th national programme celebrating and Awarding Ideas That Work.
‘The opportunity now exists to benchmark against the most effective work from all over the world. We invite all agencies and marketers to enter the programme in order to expose and celebrate their work that worked. There is no strict definition of effectiveness within the Effie programme. Effie recognises all forms of effectiveness —awareness, sales, behaviour, etc. The determining criteria for measuring effectiveness will be considering how challenging the objectives were, and the significance of the results achieved against those objectives,’ concludes Okaba.
‘Effie is proud to partner with the ACA to launch Effie South Africa,’ said Traci Alford, President and CEO, Effie Worldwide. ‘As a global forum, Effie provides a platform for marketers to celebrate the most effective marketing around the world, while establishing benchmarks that will drive our industry forward. We welcome South Africa to the global Effie network, leading the way as our first national programme in Africa, and look forward to showcasing and learning from this year’s winners and finalists.’
Effie South African finalists and winners will receive points towards the Global Effie Index, which ranks the most effective marketers, brands, holding companies, agency networks, agency offices and independent agencies globally. The Effie Index will also determine the local rankings.
The Effie Awards South Africa Call for Entries will be made in the first quarter of 2020. Entry workshops providing guidelines, tips on how to enter the awards, requirements, case study presentations and more will take place as follows:
- Durban – 28 January 2020 at The Hardy Boys
- Johannesburg – 29 January 2020 at Vega School
- Cape Town – 31 January 2020 at 99c
Booking will be essential for the workshops as space is limited. Email melanie@acasa.co.za or contact ACA.
