The Bookmarks panel awarded DYDX Digital’s client Smollan with a Silver Craft Award for Excellence in Research and a Gold pixel in the Emerging Digital Technology: The Internet of Things (IoT) category.
David Smollan, CEO of Smollan said, ’We believe the best way to fight poverty and environmental issues is to build inclusive, profitable businesses. This changes the mindset from dependent to independent, from despondent to engaged.’
Expressing his delight at the awards, he said, ‘The two Bookmarks showcase our commitment to being a business with a purpose that serves our clients and the communities we work in. It is also indicative of our commitment and the quality of work achieved as a team with DYDX.’
Excellence in Research Bookmark
This Bookmark was awarded to DYDX for the development of the innovative, iterative research process that enabled the rapid discovery and testing of insights into the South African informal market.
‘Despite the size of the informal market (35% of all retail sales) there is very little data available and most of the data and estimates are enormously contradictory. Therefore, we needed an innovative research plan that supported the company’s ideation and experimentation flexibly and quickly,’ explained Smollan.
Templar Wales, Partner at DYDX, explained that a hackathon was hosted as part of the research process before the final ideation session. ‘After weeks of ideation and further research, a prototype, ‘Gcwalisa’, was created. Gcwalisa, meaning ‘Fill up!’ in Zulu, is an IoT product dispenser that allows customers to buy everyday products in whatever amounts they can afford, using their own containers, thereby eliminating the need for single-use packaging.’
‘The solution was a sustainable, scalable business with a positive social and environmental impact while gathering valuable, granular purchase data for the brands,’ he said.
Excellence in Emerging Technologies Bookmark
Smollan and DYDX also received a Bookmark for Gcwalisa in the Excellence in Emerging Technologies: The Internet of Things (IoT) category in which atypical internet devices (not phones or computers) are used to achieve marketing and communication goals.
