The fourth MOST Awards revealed interesting results, and while the top media players fared well, emerging companies pipped those established to the post. Over 700 media owners, media planners, strategists and clients gathered at the University of Johannesburg’s Arts Auditorium to applaud Provantage, The MediaShop (JHB) and PHD Media for walking away with the top accolades.W
Provantage Media was named the overall Media Owner beating last year’s DStv Media Sales and, The MediaShop (JHB) took home the accolade for Media Agency of the year in the full service category once again. PHD Media (Page Three Media) won the Media Agency in the specialist category award.
Furthermore, Linda Gibson and Gordon Muller were honoured by their peers for being media owner and media agency legends respectively; while Jacques du Preez was the media owner rising star for the third time in a row and, Tanya Schreuder was voted media agency rising star.
In addition, this year’s MOST Awards had more features than before, with the aim of growing and developing the media owner and agency sectors further. New accolades included the Media Owner Lamb and Media Agency Lamb award, which acknowledge the smaller agencies and media owners that missed the required number of research votes (30 in total) but excel in all the categories, including service delivery and innovation.
The 2012 Lamb Award for media agencies (sponsored by DStv Media Sales) went to Vizeum South Africa (Cape Town) and, the winner of the inaugural Lamb Award for Media Owners (sponsored by Initiative Media) was Michele Munro and Partners (MMAP).
The MOST Awards has continued to gain momentum with another record number of respondents in 2012. Four hundred and forty-five respondents cast their votes for 92 listed media owners and 61 listed media agencies in the survey. In total, 5 518 votes were cast. In addition to the research methodology, the six performance criteria against which media owner sales teams and media agencies were rated against in 2011 were retained in 2012. This consistency of approach and method has facilitated the review and analysis of trended data this year.
Said research partner Brad Aigner of FGI, as quoted in The Media magazine, “The MOST Awards has also shown that our industry operates in a state of dynamic tension that is influenced by things like the state of the media economy, the availability and movement of key people and the changing needs of customers. It is the companies that have been able to adapt most smoothly to these influences that have achieved consistently good MOST Awards ratings.”
Sandra Gordon, CEO of Wag the Dog Publishers and founder of the event, explained that the key purpose of the MOST Awards is to create a culture of service excellence of sales teams in a media industry which is a challenging, yet rewarding space to operate in.
MOST Media Owner Sales & Marketing Legend Award 2012
Respondents were asked to name individuals that epitomise greatness in sales and marketing in the media owner sector. This year’s winner, Linda Gibson, was honoured as a legend in the media owner space for her fierce grit and determination in making each business of hers a great success despite challenging times. Notably, Gibson restructured Ads24, the sales arm of Media24 newspapers, and thanks to her leadership, the organisation is a leader in the print media sector.
MOST Media Owner Sales & Marketing Rising Star Award 2012
Respondents to the online survey were also asked to submit a nomination for an individual who exceeds conventional expectations by displaying attributes such as passion, creativity, entrepreneurship, courage and tenacity. The inaugural winner of this award is Jacques du Preez, managing director of Provantage for his willingness to “challenge the status quo” in a competitive category. Du Preez has won this for three years in a row, a remarkable achievement.
MOST Media Agency Legend Award 2012
The MOST research yielded a clear winner in the MOST Media Agency Legend Award – Gordon Muller, CEO of GSM Quadrant. What sets him apart from many media agency luminaries is his commitment to the sector outside of his day job. He has been acknowledged as the 2012 media agency legend because of his ability to write and present superior media strategies consistently and explain complicated data to clients and media owners and agency staff.
MOST Media Agency Rising Star Award 2011
The MOST Media Agency Innovator is Tanya Schreuder, Joint MD of Vizeum. She has been acknowledged as a hardcore business owner who is growth driven. She wants her business to be the best media agency in the country and her unerring passion and hard work will surely get her there.
MOST Research Reports
Customised research reports, which include an analysis of marketing and sales teams and media agencies against the criteria and their competition, are available for purchase. Please email [email protected] for more information.
Linda Gibson winner of the MOST Media Owner Sales & Marketing Legend Award 2012
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