The Marketing Achievement Awards are South Africa’s peer-reviewed marketing awards: independent, council-governed and now in their sixth season. This year’s awards, presented by Primedia Broadcasting and endorsed by the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA), announced its qualifiers across 12 categories.
Each achieved an average of 70% or more on the judges’ collective scorecards, a standard set by the strategy and commercial results behind the work rather than by creative or communications effectiveness alone.
The MAA sets the gold standard for strategic marketing in South Africa by asking the questions a CEO would ask of any marketing investment: what the business set out to achieve, whether the plan was built on real insight and SMART objectives, and whether the results can be proven to have moved the business. Every entry is judged across the entire marketing value chain, from insight and strategy through to execution and commercial results, with strategy carrying the greatest weight.
The judging panel, made up of senior marketing practitioners, chartered marketers and agency leaders, put those questions to every entry and scored each one independently, relying on their own experience rather than AI tools.
‘A qualifier at the MAA has shown its working. The judges wanted to see the challenge or opportunity the business faced, the objectives set against it and the evidence that the work moved the numbers that mattered, and these entries delivered on all three. I want to congratulate every team on this list,’ said Ivan Moroke, Chairperson of the MAA Council.
This season’s theme, Code, Culture & Commerce, explores how South African marketers balance technology, human insight and commercial outcomes to drive growth. While the theme was not part of the scoring, judges saw that balance come through in many of the qualifying entries, which span financial services, FMCG, retail, telecommunications, property, agriculture and the public-interest sector, from large national brands to smaller and specialist businesses.
‘A peer-reviewed programme like this only works when the industry stands behind it,’ said Moroke. ‘Our thanks go to Primedia Broadcasting, to MASA for its endorsement, and to our patron partners Old Mutual, Kantar, Capitec, FNB, Telkom, Reveel and Fresh Advertising and Marketing, whose commitment helps raise the standard of South African marketing season after season.’
South Africa’s marketing community is invited to join the MAA Council, judges, partner organisations and this season’s qualifiers at the Marketing Professional’s Ball on Wednesday, 24 February 2027, where the MAA finalists and winners will be revealed. For booking enquiries, please contact event@marketingawards.co.za.
Finalists for the Leadership Awards, including Marketer of the Year, Marketing Organisation of the Year and Rising Star of the Year, will be announced in January 2027.
The full list of qualifiers can be downloaded here.
MARKETING ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
www.marketingawards.co.za/
