"It felt like we did not miss a beat. On the jurors' part that required hours of commitment preparing and being present. As jury chair, it was exciting to facilitate," says Tumi Rabanye, AdFocus Awards chairperson for 2020 / 21. "The mix of skills and experience really showed."

This year included the new Agency Adaptability Award. "This was a pride piece for 2020 that gave us the opportunity to see and highlight those agencies that had made the best of a very difficult climate," adds Rabanye. "We drew major lessons from judging this particular award and it will be to see the lessons that get taken on from the winning agency."

Overall, Rabanye says that the key outtake is definitely what resilience it takes to make it in the marketing communications industry. "Against all odds, the industry continues to show up; that is a commendable feat against the exceptional backdrop of 2020." 

The Adfocus Awards 2020 shortlist includes:

Small Agency Award
  • Hoorah Digital
  • Rogerwilco, and
  • Think Creative Africa.
Medium Agency Award
  • Duke, and
  • The Odd Number (Pty) Ltd.
Large Agency Award
  • Joe Public (Pty) Ltd
  • King James
  • M&C Saatchi Abel, and
  • TBWA Hunt Lascaris JHB.
PR Agency Award
  • Avatar PR
  • Eclipse Communications
  • Edelman, and
  • Razar Public Relations, a member of the M&C Saatchi Group.
Specialised Agency Award 
  • Levergy
  • Retroactive, and
  • Triple Eight.
Partnership Award
  • Joe Public & Chicken Licken, and
  • M&C Saatchi & Takealot.
Transformation Award
  • DUKE
  • Joe Public United, and
  • Triple Eight.
African Impact Award
  • BCW
  • Dentsu Aegis, and
  • Triple Eight.
Adaptability Award
  • FCB Joburg
  • Have You Heard, and
  • Triple Eight.
Network Media Agency Award
  • Carat
  • The Media Shop, and
  • Vizeum.
Student Award
  • Dominic Hobbs: University of Johannesburg
  • Jenna Cawood: Cape Town Creative Centre, and
  • Jessica Graham: Red&Yellow.
The Lifetime Achiever, Industry Leader and Shapeshifter, as well as the Agency of the Year Awards will be announced at the event. There is no Independent Media Agency Award this year.

The FM AdFocus Awards event will take place in late November.

For more information, visit www.adfocus.co.za.