Entries open for 2016 AdFocus Awards

Craig Page-Lee, until recently MD of Posterscope SA and now an independent consultant to the marketing and communications industry, will chair the 2016 AdFocus jury. His deputy is Denford Magora, founder of Jericho Advertising in Harare and now Group CEO of The Jupiter Drawing Room – South East Africa.

Page-Lee says the AdFocus Awards continue to play an important role in the brand communications industry. “There is much at stake, as the awards focus on the all-round performance of agencies. We don’t look only at creative achievement and financial growth, but also at business and leadership effectiveness, the development of meaningful and lasting client relationships, and making a positive impact on clients’ brands while remaining committed to the growth and development of personnel to ensure fair and equitable representation across the industry.”

To succeed at AdFocus, agencies have to work on these qualities continuously. Page-Lee adds that they must also complete questionnaires comprehensively and pay attention to detail.

Categories

In 2016, there are agency-of-the-year awards for small, medium and large advertising agencies; specialist agency; media agency; digital agency; African network; and overall agency of the year, which can come from any category. There is also a new category, for Public Relations Agency of the Year. It replaces Branding & Design, which moves back into the specialist category in which it used to compete.

“The ‘promotion’ of PR to its own category is inevitable. Reputation impacts directly on the financial performance of any brand and, with the ever-increasing power and influence of social media on the success or demise of a brand, plus the expectation of continuous dialogue between consumers and brand owners, public relations and reputation management is an important part of any integrated media strategy.”

The AdFocus Awards also honour lifetime achievement, industry leader of the year, partnership of the year, student of the year, and new talent. Agency entries are scored on new business, business retention, client relationships, awards, industry recognition and transformation. Business consultancy Deloitte will once again act as ‘referee’ and audit the judging process.

Jurors

Besides Page-Lee and Magora, the main 2016 AdFocus jury comprises:

• Dale Tomlinson – CEO, The Hardy Boys
  
• Emmet O’Hanlon – CEO, DDB SA
  
• Gary Leih – founder and CEO, OfYt
  
• Julian Neuburger - CEO, MediaCom
  
• Luisa Mazinter - group chief innovation officer, Mortimer Harvey Group
  
• Makhosazana Zwane-Siguqa - head of content, Africa, WE Chat
  
• Robyn de Villiers - chairman and CEO, Burson-Marsteller Africa
  
• Tara Turkington – CEO, Flow Communication
  
• Vanessa Pearson – executive creative director, House of Brave
  
• Zibusiso Mkhwanazi - CEO, Avatar
  
• Muzi Kuzwayo – co-founder, Ignitive
  
• Neo Mashego – executive creative director, I See A Different You
  
• Gau Narayanan – MD, BBDO Johannesburg

There are separate panels for media agency of the year and student of the year. For more information, click here.