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South Africa: Creatives 'Can Compete On World Stage'
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
9 July 2008
Posted to the web 9 July 2008
Edward West
Johannesburg
ENTRIES for this year's Loerie awards, the country's premier brand communication event, comprise a mixed bag of the very good and the bad, but a recurring theme is the evolution of strong South African themes, say judges.
Three of the judges, two of them international, were interviewed near the end of the week-long judging period at the beginning of this month.
There were more than 3400 entries in the professional award categories, which were judged by more than 60 judges. The awards event takes place at the end of the month.
Vince Frost, creative director and CEO of Frost Design and one of the world's leading designers, is the jury chairman for the 2008 design awards.
Frost plays an active role in the world design community, lecturing at colleges and conferences.
In the early '90s , he became Pentagram London's youngest associate director and set up his own company. In 2004 he moved to Australia. As a judge, he will be looking out for strong ideas that make him feel, "I wish I'd done that".
"I'm very impressed with the creativity - on a standard with the rest of the world," he says.
Some categories of the competition, such as typography, received much fewer entrants than what there should have been, he said.
Competitions such as the Loeries helped to provide inspiration and a reference point for people in the creative industries. "How do we create it better, create less waste, use its shape more effectively? " he said.
Another Loeries judge, Peter Bidenko, is the creative director for Tequila in Australia and he has also judged many such events around the world. His favourite motto is: "Don't do the next one like you did the last one."
He is this year's juror chairman for the experiential and digital category, which he explains more simply as "advertising you can touch, see and be involved with".
"I've seen a few really outstanding pieces. The rest of the work has been adequate," he says, adding that the competition is slightly smaller than what he is used to, although this is understandable given the size of the South African market.
He believes the future for brand communications will be about people finding new ways of connecting with people. Marketing is becoming increasingly intimate and consumers are allowing marketers in.
"Our challenge is to make sure we create the right kind of experience for the people that we are dealing with."
He views the rapid growth of social and experiential media as a backlash to traditional media and advertising that "screams at you".
Andrew Human, managing director of the Loeries, says "one trend we're seeing is that the work has certainly become South African ... about coming to terms with being South African and not trying to be London or New York".
Brett Morris, chief creative officer of his newly formed agency, The Scoville Unit, former executive creative director of FCB and Nando's global chief creative officer, is the new jury chairman of the advertising judging panel. He said the quality of the entries this year was good, and "it's going to be difficult to choose the best".
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Morris is a multiple award winner himself, with 12 gold Loeries, five Lions, five Clios, two One Show merits, two Ads of the Year, the New York Festival Gold and London international Gold, a D&AD entry and, recently, SA's first ever Cannes Grand Prix.
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