2019 MMA SA Smarties winners announced!

Yonder did extremely well being the first South African agency to win in the EMEA categories. Image supplied.

Significant step forward

Of the entrants, Digitas Liquorice was the most awarded agency of the evening, scooping seven Smarties including the coveted Agency of the Year Award.

Of their wins, Brian Carter, Digitas Liquorice’s executive director says, “Each year the standard of work entered into the MMA’s Smarties increases. This year we entered work that was a significant step forward from our previous entries and that pushed the boundaries in the respective categories.

Our mobile work aims to be go above and beyond best practice into a space where we are first in market with new technology. Mobile technology is constantly developing and evolving. Being agile helps us to creatively harness this technology as it comes online. Seeing opportunities to exploit new mobile technologies has been the key to our success in this area.”

Pushing the digital boundaries

But it was Yonder Media’s win that was the big story of the evening. The agency took home five Golds across SA and EMEA regions – including the Best in Show EMEA for their Otees Mobile Game campaign. This means that their campaign came out trumps among all the EMEA entrants across the region, outperforming entrants from Turkey, UK and Spain.

“Yonder Media is honoured to be recognised on a global level for our development, media and creative skills. To be shortlisted for two Smarties X Awards, nine Smarties EMEA Awards and six Smarties South Africa Awards in competition with some of the world’s finest brands and agencies has proven to us that our goal to continually push the digital boundaries for our clients is leading us down the path of the future,” comments Rick Joubert, Yonder’s CEO.

Picking up the Best in Show across the EMEA Region is a first for a South African agency, and a great achievement for mobile marketing in this country, says Sarah Utermark, The Mobile Marketing Association’s country director. “The standard of work across all the entries was exceptional, I can really see how mobile is becoming the main meal and not just the side order. It’s also really encouraging to see such a broad range of brands enter this year, and we want to congratulate all the winners.”

Here are all of this year’s 2019 Smarties winners:

Marketer of the Year
Unilever (SA GOLD)

Agency of the Year
Digitas Liquorice (SA GOLD)

Agency of the Future - One to watch
Hello Square (SA GOLD)