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Pep, Yonder and Flow Communications take top spots at MMA SA Smarties Awards

The MMA SA Smarties Awards' Brand of the Year is Pep with Agency of the Year going to Yonder, and Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner) clinching the prestigious Best in Show Award, amassing three Gold awards across three distinct categories.

12 Apr 2024

Image supplied. Yonder claimed the coveted title of Agency of the Year at the MMA Sa Smarties Awards last night

The Smarties Awards' winners were announced last night, 11 April at an event in Johannesburg, hosted by the MMA SA and sponsored by MTN, MultiChoice, Standard Bank, and the Takealot Group Advertising.

The MMA SA Smarties Awards emphasise results over creativity, strategy, and execution, with a focus on business outcomes.

The awards were judged by a panel of senior marketers led by Luisa Mazinter, the jury chair, alongside international luminaries Charl Bassil, Suhayl Limbada, and Ben Schoderer.

Commenting on the winners, the jury praised the ingenuity and heart behind the campaigns, emphasising how they showcased how groundbreaking ideas can emanate from any corner of the industry.

Tangible results sets winning brands apart

Pep, chosen from a field of 87 entries and Yonder impressed the jury with their marketing prowess and impactful campaigns that yielded remarkable business results.

“These two recipients demonstrated exceptional prowess in Purpose Driven Marketing, Marketing Impact, and Experience Technology. While their creative executions were stellar, it's their tangible business outcomes that truly set them apart,” says Sarah Utermark, country director of the MMA SA.

She also reflected on the exceptional calibre of entries.

“This year’s submissions showcased the industry’s relentless pursuit of leveraging the latest marketing technologies to drive tangible business results. We applaud the creativity, innovation, and dedication demonstrated by all participants.”

The evolving landscape of marketing innovation

The diversity of categories, spanning from Marketing Impact to Purpose Driven Marketing and Experience Technology, underscored the evolving landscape of marketing innovation.

Celebrating its 11th year, the Smarties Awards have evolved to embrace the latest trends in marketing, shifting its focus from mobile innovation to cutting-edge technologies like AI, CX, and Purpose-driven Marketing.

See all the winners here.

Experience Technology
Real Time Marketing
Gold	Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner)	CarSpa TriggerMessage AI Loyalty Campaign
Bronze	Vicinity Media and KFC	KFC HACK THE STREETS WITH VICINITY'S INTERACTIVE MAP (BURGER FINDER EDITION)
Bronze	Machine_ and Prime Video South Africa	The Classified Drop
Blockchain & NFT ( Non Fungible Token )
Silver	Grey Advertising Africa and Savanna Premium Dry Cider	Dry Goods
Silver	YONDER / VML and Vodacom World	Vodacom World of Collectibles
Bronze	YONDER and Fanta (Coca-Cola)	What the Fanta 2.0 – The Fabulous Flavour NFT Hunt
Experimental, Innovative Technology and Devices
Gold	YONDER / VML and Vodacom World	Vodacom World of Collectibles
Silver	Yonder Media and Checkers Sixty60	Checkers Sixty60 RUGBY WORLD CUP SCRATCH & WIN COMPETITION
Silver	Simunye Media and LUX	LUX Botanicals: LUX's Geodesic Dome Revolution at Hey Neighbour Festival
Bronze	Hearts & Science FZ LLC and KFC PTY Ltd	KFC Uncle Waffles Burger
Artificial Intelligence
Gold	SilverstoneCIS and SPAR	SPAR Shopper Panel, Consumer Choice Index and Brand Power Score
Bronze	Moonsport and MTN	1 Team, 60 Million Voices
Contextual Targeting
Gold	Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner)	CarSpa TriggerMessage AI Loyalty Campaign
Bronze	Vicinity Media and KFC	KFC HACK THE STREETS WITH VICINITY'S INTERACTIVE MAP (BURGER FINDER EDITION)
Bronze	Digitas Liquorice and Santam	Santam Most Loved Local
Spatial Technology, Metaverse & AR/VR
Gold	YONDER / VML and Vodacom World	Vodacom World of Collectibles
Silver	YONDER and Fanta (Coca-Cola)	What the Fanta 2.0 – The Fabulous Flavour NFT Hunt
Silver	YONDER / GREY ADVERTISING AFRICA / SONNIX STUDIOS and Anglo American in partnership with Sasol and BMW South Africa	PlatAfrica Metaverse Experience by Anglo American
Programmatic
Gold	Rookdigital and FORD	A NEW APPROACH TO LEAD GENERATION
Silver	Dentsu and Dentsu	NightVision AdTech
Bronze	Massmart and Massmart - Makro & Builders	Massmart Programmatic
Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH)
Silver	Hivestack and RE/MAX	RE/MAX SA - The World & Industry's First Programmatic 3D Anamorphic Video Campaign on DOOH
Bronze	The Digital Plug (PTY) Ltd and The Digital Plug x Spotify	Spotify Wrapped — Kenya
Impact Media
Cross Platform Digital Only
Gold	Grey Advertising Africa and Savanna Premium Dry Cider	Dry Goods
Bronze	iProspect South Africa and Grid WorldWide and DStv Stream	From R19.95 With Love
Bronze	Hellosquare and Tinkies	Tinkies Made With You
Social Messaging / Chat Apps / Text Messaging
Gold	Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner)	CarSpa TriggerMessage AI Loyalty Campaign
Gold	Yonder Media and Checkers Sixty60	Checkers Sixty60 RUGBY WORLD CUP SCRATCH & WIN COMPETITION
Silver	Helm and Capitec	Slam the Scam (MoneyUp Chat by Capitec)
Omnichannel Integration
Gold	Mindshare South Africa and KFC	KFC Chicken for Breakfast
Bronze	Freshive Digital and Tiger Brands Fatti's & Moni's	Omnichannel Fatti's & Moni's Always Eat'alian
Bronze	Unilever and Shield, Unilever	Shield and Banyana Are Not Done Yet
Social Media Marketing
Gold	PEP and PEP	#PEPFinds
Bronze	Hellosquare and Tinkies	Tinkies Made With You
Creator / Influencer Marketing
Gold	VML South Africa and Nestlé KitKat	How Do You Eat a KitKat?
Silver	Shoprite Group and Checkers South Africa	Checkers brings you: PRIME Hydration
Silver	VMLY&R and Nando's South Africa	Nando's X Voice of the Creator: What Saucery, Hot Plots, Oversharing & Pull the stick out
Creator Economy
Gold	PEP and PEP	#PEPFinds
Silver	VMLY&R and Nando's South Africa	Nando's X Voice of the Creator: What Saucery, Hot Plots, Oversharing & Pull the stick out
Bronze	Hellosquare and Tinkies	Tinkies Made With You
Gaming, Gamification & E-Sports
Bronze	Oliver Marketing (Ustudio) and Lifebuoy	H FOR HANDWASHING: Reimagine Hygiene through the Power of Play
Purpose Driven Marketing
Social Impact Marketing
Gold	iProspect - Dentsu and ABInBev – Castle Lager	Turning Waste into Nourishment - Brewing hope, unity, and sustenance for a nation in need
Silver	PEP and PEP	PEP Changing Stations
Silver	Triple Eight and Cadbury Dairy Milk	Cadbury Narrates the Next Chapter in Literacy Education
Multilingual Marketing Efficiency Award
Gold	Triple Eight and Cadbury Dairy Milk	Cadbury Narrates the Next Chapter in Literacy Education
Brand Purpose / Activism
Gold	Shoprite Group and Shoprite South Africa	Shoprite: Homegrown — More than a jar of Atchar
Gold	iProspect - Dentsu and ABInBev – Castle Lager	Turning Waste into Nourishment - Brewing hope, unity, and sustenance for a nation in need
Silver	PEP and PEP	PEP Changing Stations
Bronze	Yonder Media and Colgate	Colgate Bright Smiles Bright Future
Diversity & Inclusion
Gold	PEP and PEP	PEP mini Netball
Marketing Impact
Data Insights Marketing
Gold	8909 and 8909	The Monitisation Project
Silver	Dentsu and Dentsu	NightVision AdTech
Bronze	Hearts & Science FZ LLC and KFC PTY Ltd	KFC Uncle Waffles Burger
Promotional Instant Impact
Gold	Yonder Media and Checkers Sixty60	Checkers Sixty60 RUGBY WORLD CUP SCRATCH & WIN COMPETITION
Silver	iProspect - Dentsu and ABInBev – Castle Lager	Turning Waste into Nourishment - Brewing hope, unity, and sustenance for a nation in need
Silver	Mindshare South Africa and KFC	KFC Kentucky Town Pretoria
Bronze	Rainmaker Media and Rainmaker Media / SAB / Castle Lite	Castle Lite Tips for Taps
Product / Service Launch
Gold	Shoprite Group and Shoprite South Africa	Shoprite: Homegrown - More than a jar of Atchar
Silver	Mindshare South Africa and KFC	KFC Chicken for Breakfast
Silver	ShopriteX and Xtra Savings Plus	Unlimited Xtra Savings with SA's 1st grocery monthly subscription!
Bronze	Shoprite Group and Checkers South Africa	Checkers brings you: PRIME Hydration
Bronze	Hellosquare and Tinkies	Tinkies Made With You
Brand Experience
Gold	ShopriteX, Shoprite Group of Companies and Checkers Sixty60	Bring it Home
Silver	Freshive Digital and Tiger Brands Fattis & Monis	Brand Experience F&M Always Eat'alian
Bronze	Triple Eight and Cadbury Dairy Milk	Cadbury Narrates the Next Chapter in Literacy Education
Community Building
Gold	PEP and PEP	PEP mini Netball
Silver	PEP and PEP	PEP Changing Stations
Small Budget / Big Impact
Gold	PEP and PEP	#PEPFinds
Silver	Point Iconic and Ultra Liquors	Black Friday Like Never Before
Silver	Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner)	CarSpa TriggerMessage AI Loyalty Campaign
Lead Generation
Gold	Point Iconic and Ultra Liquors	Black Friday Like Never Before
Silver	Grid Worldwide and DStv Stream	From R19.95 With Love
Silver	YONDER and Absa	Absa Card Quest
Bronze	Helm and DStv	DStv Intelligent Sales Assistant
Customer Journey Marketing
Gold	Point Iconic and Ultra Liquors	Black Friday Like Never Before
Bronze	Helm and Capitec	MoneyUp Chat by Capitec
Co-branded Marketing
Silver	VMLY&R Johannesburg and Vodacom	Vodacom Hearing Challenge
Bronze	Unilever and Unilever/Robertsons/Knorr/Aromat/Rainmaker	Unilever lights up the braai in partnership with Rainmaker
Creative
Personalisation
Gold	ShopriteX and Checkers Xtra Savings	Checkers Hyper Personalisation Engine
Bronze	Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner)	CarSpa TriggerMessage AI Loyalty Campaign
Bronze	Helm and DStv	DStv Intelligent Sales Assistant
Short or Long Form Video
Gold	8909 and 8909	The Monitisation Project
Gold	Hellosquare and Reboost Energy	Wake Up Call
Silver	Multichoice Group and Mzansi Magic	I Blew It' skits
Silver	Multichoice Group and kykNET	KassieKuiers met Renaldo Schwarp
E-commerce marketing
Social / Influencer Commerce
Silver	VMLY&R and Nando's South Africa	Nando's X Voice of the Creator: What Saucery, Hot Plots, Oversharing & Pull the stick out
Bronze	Mindshare South Africa and KFC	KFC Chicken for Breakfast
Integrated Ecommerce Innovation
Gold	ShopriteX and Checkers Xtra Savings + Sixty60	Checkers Xtra Savings Integration with Sixty60
Silver	Futuretech Media and Futuretech / Dentsu / Corona	Corona Sunsets World Tour
Bronze	iProspect - Dentsu and ABInBev – Castle Lite	Turning Workers Day into a day of appreciation
Industry Awards
Brand of the year
PEP	.
Agency of the year
YONDER	.
Best in Show
Flow Communications and Clifford Regenbaum (CarSpa owner)	CarSpa TriggerMessage AI Loyalty Campaign