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THEWEEKINTEN 01

By Webmaster · AdVantage archive
From the AdVantage archive. This report was published on this domain when AdVantage covered the South African media, marketing and advertising industry as a monthly title. It is kept online for reference and has not been updated; people, prices and companies named in it have moved on.
THEWEEKINTEN 01
2018 02 26 Advertising hoarding for cross country event, Estrada de Ferreiras, Albufeira. Photo: Kolforn ( Kolforn ) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Ogilvy Cape’s hot streak

Cape agency can’t be beaten for 2012’s top creative spot

O

gilvy Cape Town is on the hottest of hot streaks right now. It heads the creative leaderboard  and has amassed enough points from the awards events so far that it can’t be overtaken in the two remaining events  (see table).  And it actually increased its lead in taking top spot at the Bookmarks, the awards platform for digital/online advertising.

Nine awards platforms are considered for the rankings, five local and four international. So far we’ve had the internationals (Clios, D&AD, Cannes and The One Show) and three locals (Pendoring, Loeries and Bookmarks). Only the Ad of the Year and the Eagles (for print advertising) remain.

The Cape agency has always been a force, but usually not more than that, and often overshadowed by its bigger sister agency, Ogilvy Johannesburg. If you’re selecting an agency, you couldn’t go wrong with Ogilvy Cape, but it’s as well to remember that no agency stays hot for ever.

Others enjoying hotter-than-usual fires in the boiler room are Joe Public up from 12 last year to 5 in the rankings; Black River F.C. nowhere to 9; MetropolitanbRepublic 24 to 7.

After the Bookmarks, Ogilvy Johannesburg moving up from fourth to third, overtaking Net#work BBDO. It now lies only 23 points behind Hunt Lascaris, with areal possibility of overtaking it in the remaining competitions. This would put Ogilvy Cape Town and Johannesburg in the top two spots.There’s a furious skirmish taking place at positions 9-11, where three points separate  Black River F.C., 140 BBDO and Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town.

The really big falls have been Draftfcb (falling from 5 to  and Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg.

The rankings are based on AdReview points, which attempt to put all the awards events on a level playing field. The harder it is to win an award, the more points it is worth. So a Gold Loerie is worth 37 points, but a Cannes Gold Lion takes 88.aFor the first time we have included the Bookmarks, the awards platform for digital/online advertising, as a qualifying competition for the rankings.

The full scoring system is given in the “AdReview Points System” table, with accompanying explanation, so you can check that we haven’t left anything out. If you do find an error in our tabulation, please let us know.

The scores have been adjusted to take account of ads entered by production houses but not credited to the agency in the official Loerie Awards. Several changes in the agency positions have resulted from this. The biggest is 140 BBDO of Cape Town, which is now credited with a Craft Gold award and a Craft Certificate, together worth 36 points. This has pushed the agency to sixth in the Loeries standings, and 10th overall.

Black River F.C., which has been the agency that has attracted the most international attention this year, with controversial ads for Nando’s pulling huge YouTube attention, has taken a deserved place among the industry leaders.  It is now lying ninth, leading a pack of four agencies with only seven points separating them.

Creative standings after Bookmarks 2012

AGENCY Clio D&AD One Show Cannes Pendoring Loerie Book marks Total points 2011 rank
1 Ogilvy Cape Town 53 43 123 199 608 179 1 205 4
2 TBWA Hunt Lascaris 78 82 179 119 24 125 607 2
3 Ogilvy Johannesburg 103 195 27 33 73 153 20 584 5
4 Net#work BBDO 3 91 220 16 236 566 1
5 Joe Public 3 3 60 280 60 406 12
6 DDB South Africa 3 13 6 187 4 141 354 8
7 MetropolitanRepublic 75 13 3 117 4 71 272 24
8 KingJames 28 18 175 3 224 18
9 Black River F.C. 3 12 16 134 10 175
10 140 BBDO 3 158 13 174 9
11 Jupiter Cape Town 14 13 28 3 12 89 13 172 6
12 Ireland/Davenport 3 30 125 6 164 12
13 Y&R 6 13 - 52 77 148 15
14 Machine 11 3 115 13 142
15 Grey 104 31 135 22
16 Gloo 76 55 131 11
17 FoxP2 3 13 3 103 122 3
18 Jupiter Johannesburg 13 12 72 97
19 Grid 74 74 26
19 HelloComputer 40 34 74 7
21 Native 73
22 Lowe Bull 36 30 3 69 19
23 Saatchi & Saatchi 62 62 27
23 Trigger 12 50 62
25 Draftfcb Jhb 40 40 10
26 Quirk 35 35
27 Both Worlds 33 33
27 Synergize 33 33
29 Liquorice 30 30
30 iLogic 29 29
31 Etiket 24 24
33 JWT CT 13 10 23
33 Touchlab 23 23
35 Home of the Brave 20 20
35 Cerebra 20 20
35 In Jozi 20 20

Ogilvy Cape takes digital honours

The Bookmarks has record entry, also tightens standards

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gilvy Cape Town put in a commanding performance to take top spot at the Bookmarks, the awards platform for digital/online advertising. Its three Golds, five Silvers and three Bronzes clearly put it on top, however you measure it, though, somewhat obscurely, the Digital Media and Marketing Association named Gloo as “best agency”, followed by Quirk and Liquorice.

Based on our AdReview points system, Gloo was fourth, Quirk was sixth and Liquorice 10th.

Quirk was also awarded for the “greatest company contribution to digital”, followed by DigiVox and Everlytic.

Among other awards, Branko Brkic of Daily Maverick and iMaverick was cited for best digital editorial.

The Bookmarks had a record entry of 590, making it the second biggest awards event in the country, after the Loeries. This year, for the first time, the Bookmarks has been included as a qualifying competition for the AdReview Creative League Table.

In awarding only six Golds, it also made the Bookmark Gold Award the hardest to win, even tougher than the Loeries, and as a result its point allocation under our AdReview Points System) was substantially revised. However, its total award count was high, making Silver sand Bronzes less valuable than other competitions.

Interestingly, Gloo was named Ad Agency of the Year by Tony Koenderman’s AdReview in May, although it is a specialist digital agency. Now a non-specialist, Ogilvy, is top digital agency.

See table.

Bookmarks 2012

BEST OF SHOW G
40
S
10
B
3
Spec*
20
Points
AGENCIES
1 Ogilvy CT 3 5 3 179
2 Native 3 1 2 73
3 Joe Public 1 2 60
4 Gloo 4 5 55
5 Trigger/Isobar 1 1 50
6 Quirk 2 5 50
7 Hellocomputer 1 8 34
8 Both Worlds 1 1 1 33
8 Synergize 1 1 1 33
10 Liquorice 3 30
11 iLogic 2 3 29
12 Touchlab 2 1 23
13 Cerebra 2 1 20
13 In Jozi 2 20
13 Ogilvy Johannesburg 2 20
16 Prezence 6 18
17 World Wide Creative 1 2 16
18 140 BBDO 1 1 13
18 Jupiter Cape Town 1 1 13
18 Machine 1 1 13
21 Thingking 4 12
MEDIA OWNERS
2 Daily Maverick 3 3 2 139
3 DStv Online 3 11 63
4 FNB 1 40
5 24.com 10 30
6 Demographica 1 1 30
7 Acceleration Media 1 20
8 Sarie 2 20
9 ZANEWS NETWORK 1 20
10 New Media Pubg 1 3 19
11 Yuppiechef 1 1 13
*Special awards.

This sporting life

M&C Saatchi Sports  & Entertainment has opened in SA, with Justin Sampson as CEO.  It specialises in leveraging the value of sports  sponsorships and promotions, and will work hand in glove with its parent ad agency, M&C Saatchi.

Newsweak!

After 80 years as a printed magazine, Newsweek will convert to digital-only on January 1. The writing’s on the wall, clear as daylight. In SA, circulation of all printed titles declined 6% last year.

For fast talkers

Telkom is piloting a high-speed broadband trial in Benmore Gardens, Fourways, Waterkloof, Durban North and Durbanville. About five years late.

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