Awarded Best Native Advertising Campaign, the ambitious project highlighted 12 brave pharmacists, doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals – all doing exceptional work in their communities.
“I am incredibly proud and honoured for the recognition of the work Brand Studio put into creating Sponsors of Brave,” said Andrea Firth, editor for 24.com’s native content studio.
“The Sponsors of Brave campaign was imagined in August 2019 and its life began well ahead of the Covid-19 scourge. Its ambition was always to recognise and reward healthcare professionals for their untiring and unselfish service to our beloved South Africa. This became more meaningful upon the emergence of the coronavirus as News24 readers rushed to the virtual voting stations to make their mark in celebrating South Africa’s brave healthcare workers,” said Yudveer Singh, spokesperson for Adcock Ingram OTC.
Nearly 3,800 nominations were received for the project, with close to 17,500 votes cast. The campaign garnered 1.2 million unique page views, with an average time on page of 4:25 min.
The campaign culminated in a virtual ceremony in June where two winners each received R25,000 towards their nominated charity, and a trip to an international conference of their choice.
Tuesday’s win coincided with the launch of the project’s second phase. Calls for nominations are open for Sponsors of Brave: The Next Generation – where two healthcare students stand a chance of winning an impactful mentorship and a R25,000 scholarship each.
News24 also won in the Best Use of Online Video category with its touching documentary and special site #AmINext – a project dedicated to the life and memory of murdered UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana.
