From rice to burgers: MMA Smarties Awards revealed in SA

In an attempt to highlight some of the country’s top mobile marketing campaigns, South Africa’s MMA Smarties Awards recently took place, with the final winners that including campaigns for Tastic rice by Yonder Media, Hungry Lion by Quirk and Boxer Superstores by Mobitainment, among others.

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is one of the world’s leading non-profit trade organisations with over 70 members active in South Africa. MMA’s mission is to accelerate the transformation and innovation of marketing through mobile, driving business growth with closer and stronger consumer engagement.

One of the event’s judges, Tim Bishop, Director Deloitte Digital and Chair for Standard Bank who also previously judged the Smarties Awards in New York said he was very impressed with South Africa’s crop of entries regardless of the fact that the consumer market isn’t as much tech oriented:

“It has always been very hard with our lower tech consumer market of SA to compete with the glam and glitz of global entries incorporating mass market new technology apps, wearables and fitness bands, but our clever, contextual use of this limited tech alongside the full understanding the wide range of consumers in SA really makes for really innovative campaigns that have true reach and success for the brands involved. SA has done well in the global awards every year, but now we can really focus on, and recognise the great work within our shores.”

Sponsored by Standard Bank, the winners were announced as follows:

Category	Awards	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Marketing Strategy Awards	Brand Awareness	Boxer Superstores / Boxer Super Shopper Show / Mobitainment	None	Tastic / Tastic Red Pot / Yonder Media
Marketing Strategy Awards	Lead Generation, Direct Response & Conversion	Mxit / Mxit Millionaires / Silverstone Solutions	Boxer Superstores / Boxer Super Shopper Show / Mobitainment	None
Marketing Strategy Awards	Product & Services Launch	Nokia / Nokia 1520 Storyteller / Silverstone Solutions	None	None
Enabling Technologies	Innovation	Tastic / Tastic Red Pot / Yonder Media	Nokia / Nokia Street Kreatives / Silverstone Solutions	Hungry Lion / Hungry Lion – Bigger Burger Banner / Quirk
Channel / Media Strategy Awards	Messaging	Ponds / 7 Day Challenge / Gorilla Creative Media	None	None
Channel / Media Strategy Awards	Tablet Campaign	None	Unilever / Vaseline Skin Analysis / Liquorice
Channel / Media Strategy Awards	Mobile App	None	None	None
Channel / Media Strategy Awards	Mobile Website	None	Tastic / Tastic Red Pot / Yonder Media	None
Channel / Media Strategy Awards	Cross Media Integration	Boxer Superstores / Boxer Super Shopper Show / Mobitainment	Tastic / Tastic Red Pot / Yonder Media	None

To give you a taste of what the entries brought to the table, here’s Tastic’s Red Pot campaign by Yonder Media: