On 21 May 2026, DKMS Africa celebrated a major achievement at the Marketing + Media Alliance SMARTIES South Africa 2026 awards, where the organisation was recognised for its impactful campaigns focused on blood cancer awareness and stem cell donor recruitment.
DKMS Africa was nominated in all the below categories and received awards for the following campaigns:
– Gold in Diversity and Inclusion: World Blood Cancer Campaign 2025.
– Silver in Social Impact Marketing: World Blood Cancer Campaign 2025.
– Gold in Small Budget, Big Impact: From Patient Appeal to Transplant: Saving Baby Leo.
The SMARTIES Awards are globally recognised as a benchmark for marketing innovation, creativity and measurable impact, celebrating campaigns that drive meaningful engagement and social change.
‘As an organisation, we remain committed to using every platform available to educate, inspire and ultimately help save lives. This recognition is a powerful reminder that purpose-led storytelling can drive meaningful action. Every campaign we create encourages people to register as stem cell donors, giving hope to patients waiting to find a matching donor. We are honoured to see this work recognised on such a respected platform,’ said Palesa Mokomele, Head of Community Engagement and Communications at DKMS Africa.
DKMS Africa’s award-winning campaigns highlight the organisation’s ongoing commitment to increasing awareness around blood cancer and blood disorders, encouraging people from all walks of life to register as stem cell donors and sharing powerful patient stories that inspire action and meaningful public engagement through impactful storytelling.
Each award-winning campaign reflected a different dimension of DKMS Africa’s purpose-driven work. World Blood Cancer Campaign 2025 highlighted the importance of diversity and representation within stem cell donor registries, while encouraging more people to register as potential donors. From Patient Appeal to Transplant: Saving Baby Leo demonstrated how emotionally driven storytelling and digital awareness campaigns can translate into real-world impact by mobilising public support and contributing to a life-saving transplant journey.
‘The jury team consisted of highly experienced and respected CMOs and creative executives in marketing who evaluated top-performing campaigns to determine the most deserving winners. We thank them for the incredible work they put into ensuring that outstanding campaigns receive the recognition they deserve,’ said Mpho Dlamini,
Regional Programme Director SSA of Smarties Awards.
DKMS AFRICA
https://www.dkms-africa.org
