"If your agency entered the 2018 SMARTIES Awards – the world’s only global mobile marketing awards programme that honours innovation, creativity and success – judges of your work have been confirmed," says MMA South Africa country director, Sarah Utermark.
The 12 judges represent a diverse range of talent from brands and agencies, industry thought leaders, platforms and publishers, and include research professional Arthur Goldstuck; Accenture’s head of innovation, Rory Moore; and MTN’s group digital head, Neeraj Ramjathan, whose experience extends across 22 markets in Africa and the Middle East.
Leading the group of brand marketers is Unilever’s Mbali Ndandani, Yum!’s Ben Schoderer and Tiger Brands’s Lunga Ngcime.
"This year, our judging panel represents some of the best minds in mobile from across South Africa," says Utermark. "Winning a SMARTIE means your entry met our strict criteria of showing business results and impressed all 12 judges. While creativity is an important criterion to have met, as it engages consumers to act, proving a return on investment is essential to win."
The judges will critique each piece of work for strategy (20%), creativity (20%), execution (20%) and business impact (40%).
"What these campaigns have in common is their quest to deliver tangible outcomes. Whether that is by using SMS, video or app downloads, the outcomes are clearly worth their financial investment," says Utermark.
All 2018 winners will also automatically be entered into the MMA’s Business Impact Index (BII) for its respective regions.
The BII is a global mobile marketing index that identifies, ranks and awards top agencies, advertisers, brands and technology enablers that drive business impact through mobile-first campaigns. BII winners per region will be announced in April 2019.
"The value of a SMARTIE Award, as well as the BII, is broad. As a global organisation, our judging criteria is world-class. This means winners are included among the very best from across the globe, and that is something to be extremely proud of," concludes Utermark.
Winners will be announced on Thursday, 1 November at the SMARTIES gala awards ceremony in partnership with BBM, Apps Flyer and Vicinity Media. It will be held at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton.
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