In the region of forty agencies, advertising schools, freelance copywriters/creatives and smaller creative companies submitted over 300 entries for the fifteenth Pendoring Advertising Awards for excellence in Afrikaans and Truly South African advertising.
The judging panel chaired by international judge, Gerhard Myburgh from Melbourne, Australia, has selected a total of 51 agency finalists from 14 advertising agencies and 12 student finalists from four tertiary institutions, which brings the total number of finalists to 63.
To facilitate the entry and judging process, the proprietary entry management solution developed by the Loeries was used and all scores were recorded using Apple iPod Touch devices. This judging system ensured a smooth process and by using the Apple devices, any errors in the ballot counting process were avoided.
In terms of agencies, Draftfcb Johannesburg leads the pack with 16 finalists, followed by its Cape Town counterpart, Draftfcb Cape Town with 13 finalists. The agency group, therefore, boasts no fewer than 29 finalists!
Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town walked away with five finalists. Ogilvy Johannesburg bagged three finalists, and Ogilvy Cape Town one, bringing the total number of finalists for the Ogilvy-group to four.
The Jupiter Drawing Room has two finalists behind its name, while ‘stable mate’ Black River F.C. has one, bringing the group’s total to three. The Cape Town agency
NINETY9 CENTS Communications also has three finalists to its credit.
Joe Public, who walked away with the Pendoring Prestige Award last year, garnered two finalists this year, while Baie-Lingual Blink Stefanus, MagicWorks, TBWA\Tequila, The President and Volcano Advertising each has one finalist to their names.
In terms of student entries, North West University Potchefstroom Campus reigns supreme with seven finalists, followed by the AAA School of Advertising (Johannesburg campus) with two, Vega The Brand Communications School also with two and the Red & Yellow School of Advertising in Cape Town with one finalist.
According to Myburgh, Executive Creative Director of The Campaign Palace in Melbourne, Australia, the radio category and the TV-section of the Truly South African category were particularly strong, and it was here that the best work easily caught the eye.
“In general the standard of gold winners was relatively high. Work originally conceptualised and created in Afrikaans, stood out. Mere translations simply didn’t make the grade.”
The Truly South African category yielded the best work in years, reckons Myburgh. “As the work was of a very high standard, there was much debate on prospective gold winners, particularly in the radio category of Truly South African,” he says.
