Five destinations have been invited to submit a bid to host The Loerie Awards from 2012 to 2014. The Loeries is South Africa’s premier brand communication awards event. This year’s Loeries takes place in Cape Town for the third consecutive year in September.
Selected by the Loeries board and committee, the five destinations are Cape Town – the Mother City; KwaZulu-Natal – South Africa’s Playground; Johannesburg – the City of Gold; Port Elizabeth – Nelson Mandela Bay; and Sun City – Africa’s Kingdom of Pleasure.
The Loeries Festival Weekend is a major event on the communication industry’s calendar, attracting around 5,000 people, including CEOs, marketing directors, advertising executives, creative leaders, media owners, production companies and journalists.
It was in 1978 that the Loeries was initiated as a way to promote the new medium of television. Over the past 30 years the Loeries has evolved substantially to include a multitude of disciplines within the brand communication industry. This includes areas such as digital media, outdoor, print, direct and PR communication, live events, alternative media, architecture, interior design, and more.
The Loeries were first held in Johannesburg, then Sun City was its home for many years before moving to Margate in KwaZulu-Natal in 2005, where it spent four years and attendance more than doubled. Since moving to Cape Town in 2009, attendance has reached record levels of 2,500 people per night with up to 5,000 people attending the Festival Weekend.
Around 3,000 entries are received each year and the awards are unarguably the most prestigious accolade in the R25bn advertising industry.
According to an independent economic impact asessment of The Loerie Awards carried out in 2011 by Professor Kamilla Swart, the upper estimate of the total benefit to the Western Cape economy reaches nearly R100m.
In 2010, Creative Week Cape Town was initiated in partnerhsip with The Loerie Awards as a legacy event and to support Cape Town’s bid for World Design Capital 2014. Creative Week is a week-long celebration of creativity which culminates in the Loeries Festival Weekend. Companies and individuals are invited to expose their creativity to the industry’s elite by listing their event on the Creative Week website (www.creativeweekct.co.za). Events already listed this year include a creative exhibition with Supadog, a graffiti art walkabout tour, a celebration of music at City Hall and the Creative Circle Exco meeting.
The aim of The Loerie Awards is to recognise, reward and inspire creative excellence through each point of contact between a brand and its consumer. The Loeries seeks out innovation – ideas that make the world stand up and pay attention. The Loeries calendar is now a year-long schedule of events to support and grow the creative industry. The calendar includes a Travelling Exhibition, bi-annual Migrate magazine, Judging Week, Loeries Seminar, Festival Weekend, including the awards ceremonies, the hard cover printed annual and DVD set, and the Creative Future Scholarship for disadvantaged scholars.
The committee invites the creative industry to share its views on where the Loeries should be held in 2012. Get involved by suggesting your ideal venue – Cape Town, KZN, Johannesburg, Sun City or PE – on The Loerie Awards Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Loerie-Awards/18018203922 or on Twitter @loeries.
Visit the Loeries website (www.theloerieawards.co.za) for more information about this year’s Festival Weekend, 16 – 18 September 2011, including categories awarded on each evening, Tempest car hire specials, accommodation and travelling VIP-style with kulula.com.
