SA's D&AD 2017 winners: Ogilvy SA

Ogilvy SA CCO Pete Case.

International advertising award season is underway, with the One Show taking place in New York next week and the Cannes Lions next month. South Africa is off to a good start, having brought home 13 Pencils from 732 in total at the 55th annual D&AD Awards, which ranked us in 13th country spot.

Here, Case specifically talks us through this year’s wins for the agency, their previous D&AD ‘pencil box’ record and their strategy to keep those international accolades coming….

Congratulations! Talk us through this year’s wins for the agency.

We’re delighted with the recognition at D&AD this year – and especially to be the highest performing agency from South Africa at these prestigious awards with five pencils in all, including one extra shiny Graphite pencil!

Ogilvy sharpens its Pencils

Ogilvy South Africa  3 May 2017

As an agency working in an era of modern marketing, it’s particularly positive to be winning across a multitude of disciplines and categories, from graphic design to digital, to radio and full integrated work. As one would expect, all our work this year showed strong creative ideas at their centre, whilst delivering high levels of return for the brands involved. These brands included VW, KFC, Cadbury and the Isiko Slave Museum.

What was your previous D&AD ‘pencil box’ record?

We’re proud to have a strong history of wins at D&AD, including a prized yellow pencil last year. It’s a very tough benchmark at these awards, so we never expect to win. We certainly applaud everyone that manages to place in the final medals.

Share your strategy to keep those international accolades coming.

Our strategy is to consistently live with a mindset of divine discontent. No matter how well we might perform at any awards show, we’re always looking for new ways to increase the impact of our work. Always striving to craft great stories to tell for our brands, whilst exploring new ways to connect to the consumer in a meaningful way. It’s with this approach that we discover and craft the ‘extraordinary and outstanding’, which ultimately creates value for our brands, and then hopefully cuts through at awards.

Ogilvy is an exciting place to be right now, with many client partnerships pushing a deliberate agenda to push the envelope of the traditional marketing mix. I feel that our work at D&AD and beyond demonstrates that story clearly.

Here’s hoping for much more of that great South African work to come. Click here for a reminder of all of South Africa’s 2017 D&AD Pencil winners.