Ogilvy was the most awarded agency at the 2023 International Clio Awards

These awards are widely recognised as a key benchmark for assessing the standard and quality of modern communications around the world. Ogilvy South Africa is thrilled that its clients' brands were recognised across multiple categories, including; design, film, digital, media, experience, activation, cause-related campaigns and film craft.

“We are truly proud to have produced work that delivers great creative impact,” say Kabelo Moshapalo, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Johannesburg. “Better still, is being recognised for telling compelling stories across multiple modern communications platforms. Receiving these honours from the Clios is truly humbling, a testament to the incredible teams we have working throughout the business.”

The Bride Armour campaign has been hugely successful in inspiring activism. The messaging has inspired both men and women to become advocates for the cause.

“We exist to create work that drives true impact and the Bride Armour campaign for Carling Black Label is one such example,” said Camilla Clerke, executive creative director at Ogilvy Cape Town. “Impact comes when we pivot to connect with an elusive target audience who are uninterested in traditional advertising and we served them NFTs on their social platforms. Impact is derived from deploying modern communications through leveraging technology smartly, like they did on the VW Polo Game On campaign.”

Volkswagen’s Passenger head of marketing, Bridget Harpur, agrees they were delighted by the modernity of the campaign and the power of its impact. “The Polo is one of South Africa’s most loved and aspirational cars, so when launching this new model in January 2022, we knew we needed something special. The campaign was exciting and showcased the new safety features and technologies in the wild and crazy streets of Johannesburg, embedded in a video game. This is a testament to the creative excellence of Ogilvy. This campaign surpassed all metrics, from view-through rates and engagement to customer sentiment. But more importantly, this is a high quality, relevant piece of work for our aspirational customer.”

Pete Case, Ogilvy CEO and creative chairman adds: “Thank you to the Clio's panel of judges for this recognition and congratulations to our clients who have partnered with us on the work, and continued to believe in the true power of creativity.”

Of the 12 Clio Awards given were five silvers, two for CBL Bride Armour, one for Spotify Sound Tour, one KFC Anything for the Taste, and one VW Polo Game On. These campaigns also won one bronze and four shortlists for KFC Anything for the taste, the additional bronze awarded for the production house, Romance Films, as well as two shortlists. Spotify Sound tour also gained an additional bronze and shortlist. Altogether five silvers, two bronze awards and five shortlists.

The four biggest winners for Ogilvy were ‘Game On’ for Volkswagen, ‘Anything for The Taste’ for KFC, the Spotify Sound Tour, as well as Carling Black Label Bride Armour. All receiving accolades in judging and in multiple categories.

Ogilvy’s client partners entrust them to deliver work that breaks through the clutter of any category comments Grant McPherson, chief marketing officer of KFC Africa “This achievement is a testament to the power of partnership and how challenging, provoking, and pushing each other on the creative journey can result in truly impactful work that drives brand love, and sales growth simultaneously.”

Brands play a significant role in society and have a mandate to deliver social impact as well as business impact, Vaughan Croeser, VP Marketing, BU South, for Carling Black Label’s #NOEXCUSE Bride Armour campaign: “The Bride Armour campaign has been hugely successful in inspiring activism. The messaging has inspired both men and women to become advocates for the cause.”

“We believe great creative work can gain exponential attention for any brand in an attention-starved era, and ultimately can change the world we live in,” concludes Case.