For over 40 years, the Loeries has been awarding creative excellence in the advertising and brand communication industry. As the highest accolade in the industry, the Loeries not only celebrates deserving work across the Africa and Middle East region, but also promotes and supports creativity by helping marketers, agencies, and consumers appreciate the value of ideas and fresh thinking.
The 44th annual Loerie Awards, The Loeries, drew to a close last week, and saw thousands of attendees from around the world experience a week filled with judging, seminars and awards.
The Loeries Creative Week is the largest gathering of its kind in the region, bringing together the very best in the industry for a festival of networking, celebration, and recognition of great work. The 2022 Loeries was no different, with a week of celebration, creativity and recognition coming to an exciting conclusion.
There were many noteworthy awards that were given out to truly remarkable individuals and organisations this year: Chicken Licken took home the Brand of the Year Award with Impact BBDO being awarded the Agency of the Year Award, which also contributed to BBDO winning the coveted Regional Agency Group of the Year.
‘This was truly a year of breaking boundaries and creating magic,’ said Loeries CEO, Preetesh Sewraj. ‘Not only did we unite the creative community in the biggest gathering of its kind, across Africa and the Middle East, but we also awarded a record number of eight Grand Prix awards that truly embody the spirit of creative excellence.’
The coveted Grand Prix were awarded to:
• For Radio and Audio, branded content a Grand Prix was awarded to Coca-Cola and FCB Africa for ‘Touch DA Sky’.
• For Integrated Campaign: a Grand Prix was awarded to AnNahar Newspaper and Impact BBDO for ‘The Elections Edition’.
• For Print Crafts – Illustration, a Grand Prix was awarded to TECOM Group and Serviceplan Middle East for ‘Not Procrastination’.
• For OOH – Ambient, a Grand Prix was awarded Roto, Ministry of Health and Ogilvy Africa for ‘Lesso Lessons’.
• For Live Events, a Grand Prix was awarded to UAE Government Media Office and Publicis Groupe – Saatchi & Saatchi MEA for ‘Empty Plates’.
• For PR and Media Communication Campaign, a Grand Prix was awarded to AnNahar Newspaper Impact BBDO for the ‘Elections Edition’.
• For Design – Design for Digital, a Grand Prix was awarded to Etisalat and Impact BBDO for the ‘Wider Web’.
This year, over 2500 entries were received, with 16% of entries from outside South Africa. Overall, 607 brands were represented by 262 agencies from 18 countries across Africa and the Middle East. The awards were judged by over 110 judges and regional industry leaders including Natalie Lam, CCO Publicis Groupe, Asia Middle East and Africa, Debbie Vandeven Global CCO, VMLY&R Kansas City, Mariana O’kelly, Global ECD, Ogilvy Chicago, Esra Gülmen, Artist and Designer, Berlin and Karin Onsager-Birch, Vice President Creative of Lyft San Francisco. A total 231 Loeries were awarded across 17 professional categories including 8 Grands Prix, 27 Golds, 48 Silvers, 94 Bronzes, 18 Craft Golds and 36 Craft Certificates.
The 2022 Loeries Film and Film Craft Awards winners
2022 saw the hosting of a dedicated Film and Film Crafts Awards Ceremony which took place on Thursday 7 October. Annually, this category sees entries from across the region, and is awarded to exceptionally well-crafted and executed brand communications work in the film category.
As always, deliberation was tough, as the judges examined each entry closely. ‘As can be expected, the Loeries Film and Film Crafts panels had robust discussions and I am really proud of the results,’ said Sewraj. ‘I know that the winning work will serve as the benchmark for greater Film innovation across Africa and the Middle East.’
Gold winners:
Burger King and M&C Saatchi Abu Dhabi (CMS) for ‘As Good as the Original’ in TV and Cinema Commercial – above 90s.
Chicken Licken and Joe Public United for ‘Feel The Fire’ in TV and Cinema Commercial – above 90s.
Volkswagen South Africa and Ogilvy South Africa for ‘Let’s Go’ in TV and Cinema Commercial – above 30s.
Craft Gold winners:
• Chicken Licken and Romance for ‘Feel The Fire’ in Direction.
• Mami Wata and Giant Films for ‘Luck is Alive’ in Cinematography.
• Volkswagen South Africa and Bioscope Films for ‘Let’s Go’ in Production Design.
• Volkswagen South Africa and Ogilvy for ‘Game On’ in Animation.
• Burger King and M&C Saatchi Abu Dhabi (CMS) for ‘As Good as the Original’ in Performance.
Jury President Debbi Vandeven said that this year saw many incredible and inspiring entries for the awards. ‘The trends that really stood out at the Loeries was the innovative use of humour and storytelling,’ she said, ‘and of course, the exceptional quality in the craft work’.
The 2022 Loeries Student Awards showcases brightest young creative minds
On Friday 7th October, the inaugural Loeries Student Awards in Partnership with Accenture Song took place to celebrate the young creative minds from institutions across Africa and the Middle East. The student entries stood testament to the boundless talent found across the region, and as such deliberation was intense.
Presiding as co-Jury President for the Student Awards, Brian Mtongana, the Executive Creative Director for Woolworths South Africa, said that the whole experience was a great honour. ‘And it was a real privilege to see the amount of talent we have in the region. I also enjoyed working with the incredible panel of judges who are all industry leaders. We were able to have passionate, constructive, diverse and well-informed discussions and debates. The best work was deservedly awarded. The future of creativity in the region is bright.’
Accenture Song joined as a partner to support young talent. ‘Our sponsorship of the Student Awards is an example of how we’d like to catalyse the creative careers of the best young talent in South Africa by exposing them to opportunities inside Accenture Song and on the work we do for our clients,’ said Moagi Bodibe, Associate Director and the Marketing Services and Transformation Leader for Africa at Accenture Song.
Bodibe explained that Accenture Song believes in the growth of talent, businesses and brands and economies so that they are able to sustain more people. ‘Growth would be impossible without creativity and human ingenuity. We want to be there for the most promising young talent so that they may be encouraged to continue growing to even greater heights and fulfil on their early potential,’ he added.
The awards are also a platform to help the brand communications industry identify and hire new talent who have the potential to create positive impact in the industry.
‘The Loeries Student Awards is truly a powerful platform in identifying new entrants who have the ability to be future rock stars in our industry,’ said Sewraj. ‘I look forward to seeing the winners join us once again on the Loeries stage as they create work that makes an impact in the lives of consumers across the region.’
The Gold winners of the 2022 Loeries Student Awards in Partnership with Accenture Song are:
– IIE-Vega and Megan Hills for ‘Pikkld’.
– University of Pretoria and Olivia Fong for ‘Engulfed in Flames’.
– The Animation School and William Mey for ‘The Invisible’.
– Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography and Jia Watts for ‘The Ugly’.
