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Ogilvy and Joe Public big winners of Lories Africa and Middle East 2023
The 45th annual Loerie Awards, The Loeries, wrapped up Creative Week with a flourish, as it awarded the best of the best in Africa and the Middle East region.
The Awards ceremony was held at the Cape Town City Hall with agencies and clients in attendance.
Creative Week, which started on Monday 2 October with the jury panels judging the over 2,100 entries this year, included a range of activities across the city from the Mayor’s brunch to Masterclasses and an International Seminar of Creativity.
This year 18% of entries from outside South Africa. Overall, 619 brands were represented by 219 agencies from 18 countries across Africa and the Middle East.
Chicken Licken a campaign by Joe Public took home the Brand of the Year Award with Ogilvy SA being awarded the Agency of the Year Award as well as being named the coveted Regional Agency Group of the Year.
The Loeries award creative excellence in the advertising and brand communication industry. As the highest accolade in the industry, the Loeries not only celebrates deserving work across the Africa and Middle East region, but also promotes and supports creativity by helping marketers, agencies, and consumers appreciate the value of ideas and fresh thinking.
The awards were judged by over 170 judges and regional industry leaders including Brad Reilly, CCO, McCann Enterprise, UK, Geet Rathi, Creative Director VP, Area 23, Atlanta, USA, Marco Venturelli, CEO and CCO Publicis Conseil and CCO Publicis, France, Paul Chan, CCO, Cheil, Hong Kong and Shannon Washington, US CCO, R/GA, NY, USA.
There were many noteworthy awards that were given out to truly remarkable individuals and organisations this year: Chicken Licken took home the Brand of the Year Award with Ogilvy SA being awarded the Agency of the Year Award as well as being named the coveted Regional Agency Group of the Year.
Pepe Marais, founder Joe Public: "Last week, our agency had a magnificent run at the annual Loeries Awards, in Cape Town.
We were awarded multiple bronze, silver and gold Loeries across most categories - from digital to radio to film - for Amnesty International, Chicken Licken, Engen, Nedbank, POWA, SAB and Uber.
What makes this achievement so special for me, is that 80% of our wins were for creative campaigns with mass media spend behind it.
Yes, I do support proactive small scale creative ideas - how else will we be able to grow our craft and innovation when so few clients are truly in support of the power of creativity.
But nothing beats the feeling when real brands are rewarded for having faith in creativity, and trusting their agencies to do what they are paid to do.
And yes, Ogilvy finally toppled us off position number one, after standing fast in our belief that nothing grows people and clients more than powerful creativity. So, hats off to Ogilvy South Africa for your magnificent performance!
That said, the most significant bird remained in the hands of our Chicken Licken client, who won brand of the year for the seventh year running.
Yes, we do love winning as an agency. But no win is more significant than when our clients win.
May our Chicken Licken client continue to inspire other CMOs to increasingly believe in the power of creativity. After all, this is the only way to achieve real growth at the till."
