"To win a Smarties Award is an outward sign of mobile marketing expertise, mastery of the medium and the ability to drive results. Winners demonstrate power over the medium, effectively weaving together a great idea, compelling creative and air-tight execution to deliver significant business results," says Luisa Mazinter, MMA chairperson Emeritus and judge chair for the 2020 Smarties Awards.

2020's judging process consisted of a three-part process including a Round 1 preliminary qualifying stage followed by a Round 2 shortlisting phase, which is almost complete.

Categories also changed. Five new Business Unusual categories were added to the primary category list to allow for campaigns that were run over the COVID-19 period.

They include:
  • Social Responsibility
  • Brand Purpose
  • Customer Experience
  • Tech Innovation, and
  • App.
The cost of entering this year was fully subsidised by sponsors.

"We are so grateful for the contribution of our generous Smarties 2020 partners, Facebook, MTN, Opera and Standard Bank. Because of their generosity, we were able to open up the submission process to allow all businesses, regardless of size, to enter their finest work and most successful digital campaigns of 2020, at no cost," says Mazinter.

"Our aim is to create one of South Africa's largest digital case study hubs, where we can provide credible benchmarking for the South African marketing community to work with when implementing digital at the epicentre of their marketing mix," adds Mazinter.

Mazinter says that the aim for Round 2 is for the judges to evaluate and score the 160 shortlisted campaigns that made it through from Round 1, so that the MMA South Africa can arrive at the top-scoring finalist campaigns in each of the 16 Smarties categories.

"The agencies and brands responsible for these finalist campaigns will then be invited to go through into the third and final round, The Smarties pitch," says Mazinter.

The pitch is a live judging phase exclusive to MMA South Africa Smarties Business Unusual 2020. This phase will see finalists invited to pitch their entries to a panel of six senior marketer judges.

"It is the perfect opportunity for entrants to showcase their best work to top-level marketers," Mazinter says.

The judging focus is on the impact that mobile has on business results, which is evident in the way the judging criteria allocates 40% of all awarded points to Business Results, while Creativity, Strategy and Execution account for 20% each.

"We are delighted to have had over 50 senior industry leaders judging this year's entries", concludes Mazinter. "This is a group of exceptionally talented individuals who are considered thought leaders in their respective sectors. They are all experienced and active contributors to the local marketing industry, which means they are well-positioned to help the Smarties South Africa set the benchmark for digital excellence in South Africa."

The Round 1 judges were:
  • Audrey Naidoo
  • Linda Appie
  • Sadika Fakir CM (South Africa)
  • Velly Bosega
  • Joe Steyn-Begley
  • Russel Smit
  • Daryl van Arkel
  • Stef Adonis
  • Stephan Eyeson
  • Jared Dallas
  • Jade Carlisle
  • Raymond Buckle
  • Yaron Assabi
  • Rick Joubert
  • Lelani Stoman
  • Craig Miles
  • Boye Balogun
  • Sbuyiselwe Mthembu
  • Russel Smit
  • Jenny Pheiffer
  • Catherine Munjoma
  • Zimkita Makwetu
  • Sarah Utermark
  • Luisa Mazinter
  • Lisa Devi
  • Winnifred Knight
  • Kim Gartland
  • Andre Venter
  • Shireen Jaftha
  • Sue Swart
  • Elaine Wang, and
  • David Amos.
The top scoring 160 shortlisted campaigns in Round 2 are now being evaluated by the following senior marketers:

Marketing in partnership with Opera
  • Sarah Utermark from Opera
  • Dudu Mokholo from Samsung
  • Kerry Ho-Van Rensburg from Massmart
  • Linda Appie from TymeBank, and
  • Kim Garland from Standard Bank
Media in partnership with Standard Bank
  • Sagren Pather from Standard Bank
  • Zia Namooya from Mindshare
  • Bruno Bertrand from Estee Lauder
  • Suhayl Limbada from KFC
  • Lunga Ngcime from  Telkom
  • Angelique Lynch from Autotrader / OLX, and
  • John Bradshaw from Pick n Pay
Technology in partnership with MTN
  • Jason Probert from MTN
  • Phumzile Van Damme, DA Shadow cinister communications and digital technology
  • Francois Botha from Shoprite
  • Michael Walker from GumTree, and
  • Beyers van de Merwe from Pep
Business Unusual in partnership with Facebook
  • Elizma Nolte from Facebook
  • Phil Cohen from ABSA
  • Lindy Rudman from Vodacom
  • Audrey Naidoo from ABSA
  • Sadika Fakir from Tiger Brands
  • Jenny Pheiffer from Standard Bank, and
  • Darren Hampton from Nando's

For more information, visit www.mmasa.org or contact smarties@mmasa.org.