media update's Adam Wakefield was at the awards, hosted at Katy's Palace in Sandton on Thursday, 15 March, to see the advertising industry come together and to assess the Creative Circle's progress over the last 12 months.
Changes to the Creative Circle over the past 12 months
Outgoing Creative Circle chairperson and chief creative officer at Joe Public United, Xolisa Dyeshana, opened the evening with his review of the past 12 months, with the organisation making big changes internally and forging new partnerships externally.
A new direction was found for the Creative Circle after what Dyeshana called a "rigorous purpose finding process", which is "to inspire the transformation of product, people and perception through the power of creativity. What followed were broad and significant steps to show that we truly began to live this new purpose".
"We decided to create a partnership with The Loeries to handle our administration and our marketing. The Loeries is the gold standard when it comes to running awards both locally and in the region. Our partnership allowed us to retain our autonomy in regards to running our programmes, while at the same time leaning on The Loeries infrastructure to help us do that more efficiently. But most importantly, it gave us the opportunity to focus on transformation," Dyeshana said.
"New transformation codes were implemented in both our internal programmes as well as in all the programmes the Creative Circle has a direct influence on, including international awards. There was a renewed focus on our partnership with the Umuzi Academy, which recruits grass-root black talent into the creative industry. This partnership has already more than 260 young black people since it began in 2014."
Ties were also strengthened with the One Club Creative Bootcamp, who held their annual camps in South Africa, giving over 250 students the opportunity to interact with "some of the best creatives locally and from across the globe while finding real solutions to some of the country’s biggest brands".
The Creative Circle also reviewed and adjusted its membership criteria to accommodate new trends in the industry, including freelancers and start-up agencies. It also refreshed its website, and its corporate identity will also soon undergo a makeover.
Dyeshana explained that after being nearly bankrupt two years ago, the Creative Circle is now in a "financially sound position", which means it can continue to make an impact where it matters most.
Two of South Africa’s biggest brands, AB InBev and Liberty, had also signed on as sponsors, and much of what the Creative Circle had achieved, according to Dyeshana, would not have been possible without the men and the women who gave their time and talents, for no financial gain, to the organisation and industry as a whole.
A new chairperson, Loeries details and Ogilvy Johannesburg's big win
Before the awards were given out, Loeries chairperson Suhana Gordhan encouraged attendees to submit entries before
The Loeries early bird deadline of Monday, 16 April, with the final entry deadline being Tuesday, 15 May. Durban will again play host to
The Loeries and Creative Week, with the awards celebrating its 40
th anniversary.
Important changes being made to Creative Week are the two award nights, which will be taking place on the Friday and Saturday, and not Saturday and Sunday as in previous years.
Once Gordhan left the stage, Dyeshana named Peter Khoury, chief creative officer at TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, as the new Creative Circle chairperson.
The awards were then announced. The category winners are as follows:
- Digital and Interactive: King James Group, for Sanlam’s 'Uk’shona Kwelanga' campaign
- Experiential: TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, for Flight Centre's 'Babyboy' campaign
- Integrated: King James Group, for Sanlam’s 'Uk’shona Kwelanga' campaign
- Outdoor and Out-of-Home: Grey, for Sattellife’s 'Grey Design' campaign
- Print: DDB SA, for the Commission of Gender Equality’s 'He She – Eric, Ethan, Fraiser, Steve' campaign
- Radio: Ogilvy Johannesburg, for KFC’s 'Sad Man Meal' campaign, and
- TV, Video and Cinema: Y&R for Surfshack’s 'Salt' campaign.
For the first time, the
Overall Group Agency of the Year and
Individual Agency of the Year awards were introduced, with Ogilvy Johannesburg and the Ogilvy Group winning respectively.
The last award of the evening saw Alistair King, co-founder and chief creative officer of King James Group, inducted into the Creative Circle Hall of Fame.
For more information, visit
www.creativecircle.co.za.
Before Dyeshana's term as Creative Circle chairperson came to an end, he spoke to media update about why transformation is top of mind for the organisation. Read more in our article, Why transformation is key to advertising industry success.