Pendoring, CWF launch Afrikaans Advertisement of the Month

Entries of outdoor, newspaper, radio, TV/movie theatre and magazine advertisements, which have appeared and have been flighted/printed in the first three months of the year, will be judged in mid-April by a representative panel of advertising gurus and creatives, and the first winners will be announced at the Advertisement of the Month's official launch. This will take place on Wednesday, 21 April at Ads24 and Beeld's offices in Auckland Park.

Ms Lucille van Niekerk, senior advertising manager at Beeld, says there is great anticipation and excitement surrounding Pendoring and CWF's Advertisement of the Month as a further motivation for producing creative, imaginative and striking Afrikaans advertisements.

"We welcome the impact this kind of support should have on Afrikaans advertising in the long term, as well as the healthy spirit of 'collaborative competition' which it wishes to produce in the industry."

The women's magazine Sarie, from the stable of founder member Media24, last year paved the way with its successful launch of its Kwê-voël competition, which awarded the best advertisements in the magazine.

"In line with Sarie's punchline My Inspiration, the magazine initiated its Kwê-voël awards specifically with a view to improving the quality of Afrikaans in advertisements in Sarie. The aim was to once again inspire copywriters at agencies to use creative Afrikaans, thereby generating fresh excitement among Sarie readers for their language. The readers' reaction was overwhelming - the competition obviously moved them emotionally. For Sarie it was a clear sign that our consumers are well informed and that readers are definitely more receptive for an advertising message in their mother tongue.

"With the inclusion of Kwê-Voël in Pendoring, inspiring, lively Afrikaans usage is now brought to the attention of a far wider readership. It was truly Sarie's privilege to initiate this competition," says the magazine's editor, Michelle van Breda. The award-winning copywriter, Madelet du Plessis, the CWF's representative on the Pendoring working committee, says Pendoring's and the CWF's Advertisement of the Month makes her very excited about the direction currently taken by Afrikaans advertising.

"The CWF was launched in the early Nineties by a group of Afrikaans copywriters in order for them to get to know one another better, to create an esprit de corps and to have a greater say in the industry. But with the reduction in Afrikaans advertising after 1994, many of the writers either left the industry or became freelancers.

"Luckily there has been a breath of fresh air over the past few years with a group of young writers graduating from advertising schools and working as English writers at agencies, but who always jumped at the opportunity to 'Gooi die Taal' whenever they could. Their talent is definitely necessary to inject new energy into the CWF and the best way of doing so, is to let them compete with one another. The main purpose is, of course, to get them to convince their agencies and clients to advertise more in all Afrikaans media."

According to Pendoring's organisers, the competition will initially be run every second month in the five above-the-line categories to create sharp Afrikaans advertising on a continuing basis. A representative panel of adjudicators will be appointed for each time, and the bimonthly winners will be announced in turn at all Pendoring's founder members - the ATKV, Caxton, De Kat, KSF, kykNET, Media24 (newspapers and magazines), RSG and Rapport.

No entry fees are payable, and the winners are automatically entered into Pendoring's advertising competition. The winners will also receive certificates.

Plans are afoot to eventually have closer relations with the Creative Circle and its Ad of the Month campaign and to have the competition run on a monthly basis with attractive prizes on offer.

Full details in this regard and an entry form for Pendoring/CWF's Advertisement of the Month competition are available on Pendoring's Web site at www.pendoring.mweb.co.za.