VMLY&R South Africa Wins Big at New Gen Award with Optimistic Work

It was a good night for VMLY&R South Africa at the New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards. The agency brought home 15 awards, including Agency of the Year (med-large), and Overall Social & Digital Corporate of the Year for Nando’s, which also scooped Digital Brand of the Year.

“I’m enormously proud of our teams for this result,” says Jarred Cinman, Joint CEO of VMLY&R South Africa. “It demonstrates our teams’ creativity and ingenuity in conceptualising and executing industry-leading digital work. Being awarded Agency of the Year shows that we are making a tangible difference to our clients’ businesses. Nando’s is a long-standing client partner of our agency and we’ve been thrilled to be part of the growth their digital business has achieved during that time. Vodacom is our biggest client and it’s fantastic to see the team consistently deliver a high standard of work that helps them meet their business objectives.”

The awarded work, which included work for Nando’s and Vodacom, has something in common: the quintessential South African ability to find the positive even when times are tough. In the wake of the very serious work that we saw during the pandemic, it’s a good reminder that positivity can be equally impactful.

Nando’s social media helps South Africans to chuckle through the dark times (literally, in the case of load shedding) and Nando’s Bright Sides, which won both gold and silver awards across different categories, gave customers free sides with every whole chicken ordered through the Nando’s app during load shedding. The number of sides corresponded with the load shedding stage the country was on and updated in real time.

Vodacom Hearing Challenge, which won gold, silver and bronze awards, turned a hearing test into a fun TikTok challenge that got South African youth testing their hearing in a familiar, gamified format – and educating them on where to find help if the challenge didn’t go so well. And Vodacom Unlock Your Summer encouraged South Africans to celebrate the summer season and make their lives better with the chance to unlock prizes and benefits.

VMLY&R’s New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards Wins:

GOLD

Med-Large Agency of the Year for VMLY&R South Africa

Overall Social & Digital Corporate of the Year: Nando’s South Africa

Digital Brand of the Year: Nando’s South Africa

Most Innovative Social & Digital Campaign by a Med-Large Agency for Nando’s Bright Sides

Best Revenue-Generating Marketing Campaign / Event for Nando’s Bright Sides

Mobile Marketing Excellence for Vodacom Hearing Challenge

SILVER

Best Use of Technical Innovation for Nando’s Bright Sides

Mobile Marketing Excellence for Nando’s Bright Sides

Most Innovative use of Social & Digital Media for Nando’s Bright Sides