The Folio Awards is the most prestigious awards programme in the publishing community. Each year, over 2 000 entries compete to take home the Gold across 240 categories benchmarking excellence in editorial and design.

Woolworths TASTE won the Overall Content Marketing Video category award for its 'How to' content and received an honorary mention in the same category for its documentary content. This comes off the back of the successful rebranding of Woolworths TASTE's YouTube channel as TASTETube in November 2018.

The channel features the food stylists and editors who create the recipes for TASTE, as well as food celebrity guests. With a broad amplification strategy, TASTETube videos intend to not only inspire but also to make customers' lives easier. 

"Woolworths TASTE is a key differentiator for Woolworths' food customers, and it's fantastic to see the TASTETube channel — which has considerably extended the reach of this fantastic brand — being recognised in this way," says Elizka Ferreira, Woolworths' head of food marketing.

"For us, the key indicator of success is the measured increase in clicks to basket that we have seen from this content, which supports our objective to increase our online shopping base," adds Ferreira.

FNB Sync, the internal platform-led content hub for FNB, also walked away with Gold in the Content Marketing category for Best App/Digital Edition. FNB Sync aims to connect employees to one another, to the FNB world and the world beyond through relevant and engaging content available anywhere and at any time.

Eight to 10 pieces of content (including video) are delivered every week within the FNB banking app environment.

Virginia Magapatona, FNB's corporate affairs executive, says, "We are thrilled with this recognition of our journey into a fully digital platform and forward-thinking internal communications space." 

"Delivering exponential helpfulness to our customers starts with our own employees. By providing our people with current, easily digestible content that really adds value to their lives, we empower them to keep us at the cutting edge of what we do as trusted money managers," adds Magapatona.

Proving that innovation can also live in print, VISI magazine walked away with two Gold Awards for its iconic 100th issue. The bumper 352-page issue won Gold in the category Consumer General: Full Issue as well as the Best Design of a Single Issue.

The 100th issue was also accompanied by 100 carefully curated gift boxes, which were made available to loyal readers on the VISI website. These sold out within just two weeks and have led to the upcoming launch of the VISI online shop.

"I am delighted with this international recognition for some of New Media's flagships brands, all of which are absolute leaders in their fields," says New Media MD Aileen Lamb. "It's also so rewarding to receive recognition for video, digital and print publications backing up our ability to deliver powerful content on any channel." 

"An obsessive drive to be the best, to innovate and to always be brave in what we do continues to bring rewards for New Media and our clients — including proven return on investment," adds Lamb.

"Huge congratulations to the New Medians who worked so hard for this recognition, as well as all our clients who support us in creating innovative and award-winning work," Lamb concludes.

For more information, visit www.newmedia.co.za. You can also follow New Media on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.