The awards aim to honour effective and creative campaigns in social and digital media since its inception in 2018. 

inBroadcasting, the agency revolutionising broadcasting in Africa, won Gold in the Best Use of Technical Innovation by an Agency category for its work for Sportscene.

This campaign included developing a retail radio for the brand, which has had amazing results in terms of audience growth and listener affinity, says the agency.

The creative sponsorship agency from the HaveYouHeard Group, Brand Inc. was awarded Silver in the Most Viral Campaign category for its 'Thumbderdome' campaign for 'The Toyota Gaming Engine's FIFA 22 tournament'.

"It's always fantastic to see your work recognised by industry peers," says HaveYouHeard Group executive creative director Dan Berkowitz.

Berkowitz adds, "We're particularly proud of these wins because they are a great demonstration of the breadth of our offering as a group and also representative of our approach to creating innovative solutions steeped in insights that stand apart from what's out there in the category."

The campaign for The Toyota Gaming Engine featured a spat between Jason Goliath and Kwesta that culminated in a feud-settling exhibition match hosted at the TTGE 'Thumbderdome' in front of a stadium crowd of cheering thumbs.

This, in turn, featured a live half-time performance from Kwesta's own thumb and backing band The Cuticles, with 'thumbentary' done by local shoutcaster Sam 'Tech Girl' Wright and comedian Glen Biederman-Pam's thumb.

According to the agency, due to the unusual and highly engaging approach, Thumbderdome quickly gained traction on social.

The agency says that Sportscene wants to attract a very savvy and digital youth audience. Being ahead of the trend is very important to this audience, so playing a generic FM station in-store just wouldn't resonate with this it.

In addition to pinpointing who the audience was — what they liked, where they hung out, what they were trying to be seen as — tempo mapping helped the strategists to understand:
  • when they came into the store
  • what they were looking for, and
  • how they behaved at different times of day and on different days of the week.

Two of the decisions taken because of the tempo maps were to 'up the tempo' on Friday afternoons and included DJ mixes on the playlists over the weekends, according to the agency.

This initiative won Sportscene an SA Hip-Hop Award for the coolest brand contribution to hip-hop, and the overall approach has been so successful that Sportscene now has its own recording studio to deliver on its audio identity.

"A big thank you goes out to our brave clients and, of course, to everyone at HaveYouHeard who make it happen," concludes Berkowitz.

For more information, visit www.haveyouheard.co.za. You can also follow HaveYouHeard on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.