31st annual Loeri Awards

The 31st Loeri Awards took place after the last weekend, and for the 1st time in the events history it was going to take place in the mother city, Cape Town. The venue was the Good Hope Centre. The bars were fully stocked, as there is a joke that advertising executives love to drink, well they work so hard...so they play so hard!

And you could see that their hard work had definitely paid off. I was lucky enough to have 2nd row seats in the packed auditorium, and what I saw was very impressive and made me proud to be South African.


The whole setup of the award stage and the background visuals was the stuff of a sci-fi movie, with the visuals making you feel like you were in a Star Wars ship. John Vlismas was the host and he did a very good job. Then it came time for the awards. The Loeris celebrates and awards excellence in the advertising industry ranging from website multimedia to radio and television commercials. The 1st awards were for digital multimedia. I had no idea that South Africans produced such amazing websites, with their user interactivity being the most impressive things.

There were other industry related awards, and then it came time for the television commercial awards. This is what the crowd and I had been waiting for. There is just something about South African commercials that maybe only we understand, but I think they are just universally funny. For me personally the Nandos commercials steal the show, combination of humour and controversy.

The big winners of the night were the big players in the industry, with Ogilvy, DraftFCB and TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris taking home most of the awards. The event was a very good experience for me, as it opened my eyes as to how creative South Africans can be. And how important creativity is. It keeps things fun, people excited and it gets people spending. This is why creativity is so important in charity fundraising and sponsorship accrual, and even in everyday life. Sometimes I let people dampen my creative spirit, but no more. My mind is awake and through our creativity we can influence people and thus improve things that need improvement.
No idea is ever a bad one, make sure it gets heard ;)