Nominations open for MAA Leadership Awards

The MAA celebrates those who have risen to the challenge and exhibited true excellence in the science and art of strategic marketing. Each award presented contributes to the MAA’s overall vision of setting a benchmark for marketing standards, driving constant improvements within the marketing discipline, and inspiring marketers to make a case for leading their organisations with insightful strategy. These are the only awards for marketers, by marketers, celebrating marketing.

Enter the race and show your excellence

The three newly introduced Leadership Awards showcase both the value and impact that marketing proffers to the bottom line in business, particularly when marketers stay the course and steer their brands and organisations towards success.

The Rising Star of the Year Award is sponsored by branding giant, Unilever, and is open to the best and brightest who fall below the age of 35 years old at the date of entry and have performed in a marketing role for four years. This Award focuses on recognising the best young marketer who has demonstrated the potential to become an outstanding leader in the profession. The kind of leader who has brought bold ideas to the table and carved a new path in their role.

Says Elizabeth Mokwena, HomeCare Marketing Director, Unilever South Africa, “Unilever has long been known to produce many exceptional marketers over the years. It is a place where new, young marketers cut their teeth on the ins and outs of brand management and learn to strategically ensure businesses provide solutions to consumers across various communities.”

This year, Dr Doug Mattheus, CEO at Doug M Consulting, will chair the judging panel for the Rising Star of the Year Award. Joining him in deliberations will be:

1. Audrey Naidoo – Head of Digital Marketing, ABSA Group
   
2. Napsta Masinga – Founder & Creative Director, Napsta Collective
   
3. Nontokozo Madonsela – Group Chief Marketing Officer, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings
   
4. Professor Madéle Tait – Director: School of Management Sciences, Nelson Mandela University
   
5. Tumelo Molope – Human Resources Director, Unilever Africa
   

The entry process is simple and explained in more detail on the Marketing Achievement Awards website, so if you have what it takes to enter, or would like to nominate a Rising Star in your organisation, please visit www.marketingawards.co.za to enter before the 31 January 2021.

Recognising our industry’s inspirational leaders

The MAA is also looking to celebrate the marketing game-changers; the individuals and organisations with big ideas that have been excellently executed on a large scale. To this end, the MAA presents the Marketer of the Year Award and the Marketing Organisation of the Year Award.

The Marketer of the Year Award aims to honour the individual who understands the art and science of marketing, has the business, brand, and category interest at heart, and leverages their skills to grow all three. As a modern marketer, the successful candidate will be someone who has demonstrated their ability to intersect data, strategy, creativity, and technology to deliver positive business results over the past 24 months.

Due to the nature of the environment within which we operate, consideration will also be given to individuals who have started an innovative business that is marketing-led but does not necessarily conform to the traditional organisational structure. This opens the playing field to include entrepreneurs, marketing mavericks, tech start-ups, and other mad marketing scientists.

The adjudication committee is also chaired by Dr Mattheus, and joining the panel of seasoned marketing professionals will be:

1. Alistair Mokoena – Country Director, Google
   
2. Andrea Quaye – Founder, AQ Consulting
   
3. Enzo Scarcella – Chief Consumer Officer, MTN Group
   
4. Jacques du Preez – CEO, Provantage Media Group
   
5. Koo Govender – CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network
   

To submit your nomination for a Marketer of the Year candidate to the Marketing Achievement Council and the MASA Board, please follow the link here.

Marketing Organisation of the Year Award

This Award shines a spotlight on the organisation who has clearly demonstrated how their business, brand, and marketing strategies are closely aligned and executed to drive sustained returns. The organisation who stands out as a great example of how to anticipate, innovate and adapt to change, with the results of having consistently delivered an exceptional customer experience and brand and company growth over the last three years to prove it.

The Marketing Organisation of the Year Award is sponsored by Accenture Interactive. Says Haydn Townsend, CMO, Accenture Interactive, “Accenture Interactive’s involvement in the MAA programme builds on its reputation as an organisation that can seamlessly integrate creativity, business insights and technology to create customer experiences that connect. Partnering with the MAA for this prestigious Award is the embodiment of what we as a company aim to achieve by contributing to and influencing the development of the South African Marketing landscape as we build enduring brands and businesses.”

This year, the Award is adjudicated by a judging panel chaired by Mr David Wingfield, Managing Executive Marketing at the ABSA Group. Joining Mr Wingfield on the judging committee will be:

1. Gil Oved – Chief Executive Officer, LLH Capital
   
2. Haydn Townsend – Managing Director, Accenture Interactive
   
3. Kheepe Moremi – Managing Partner, Mark to Market
   
4. Mariska Oosthuizen – Head of Brand, Sanlam
   
5. Rob Collins – Trustee, South African Hall of Fame
   

Entries for this prestigious award close on the 31 January 2021. Register to enter your organisation by visiting www.marketingawards.co.za.

To date, the Marketing Achievement Awards is the only platform for marketers and organisations that boasts a focus on strategic intent. Says Mr Mohale Ralebitso, Chairperson of Marketing Awards Council (MAC), “We are so pleased to create the opportunity to honour marketers and organisations for their work, raise the marketing industry’s profile, and build the MAA into the continent’s most prestigious and sought-after awards programme, even in the face of the effects of the global health crisis.”