VML South Africa took home 17 awards at the 2019 IAB Bookmarks, including a gold award, three craft golds, seven silvers, two craft silvers and four bronze awards across multiple categories.
The IAB Bookmarks is considered the benchmark for tech, digital and leading-edge innovation in digital marketing in South Africa. VML South Africa CCO, Ryan McManus said, ‘It’s always gratifying to be recognised by the industry, especially when there are so many excellent contenders for the prize. But of course, without the foresight, trust and bravery of our clients who entrust their brands to us, the work would never have seen the light of day. Now more than ever we are seeing the important role digital is playing across the industry, but there still needs to be an authentic connected experience. And that is the space in which we excel.’
The agency’s Drop the Hint campaign for American Swiss Jewellers walked away with six Bookmarks, including a gold for content strategy. Based on the ‘in a relationship’ Facebook status of South African women, the target market saw ads in their feed that encouraged them to ‘Bring their boyfriend to his knee’ and drop the hint with American Swiss.
Clicking the ad took them to a microsite where they could choose the ring they wanted and send their boyfriend a funny video. Using the power of digital remarketing, said boyfriend has dropped hints everywhere he went online, from Facebook to YouTube, and his favourite sports page. Once he finally gave in and took the hint, he was directed him to a microsite with the ring she’d chosen and a 50% off discount on the diamond to sweeten the deal. Over 3000 ladies dropped the hint in the first few days, and a video open rate of 89.5% proved that their guys took notice. 1% of guys clicked the ‘buy’ button, which means that dozens have popped the question.
VML also won a craft gold for Software, Coding & Tech Innovation for its Nando’s food delivery app. The app brings the full Nando’s experience to customers online. Orders can be placed via voice or text. Search is easy with the system recognising menu options by name, localised synonyms and/or nicknames. It has an auto-configuration capability based on previous behaviour.
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