Ogilvy South Africa and PEP won Gold at the 2021 Smarties Awards this week. Organised by the MMA, the Smarties celebrate the best in Modern Marketing across the African continent.
PEP’s “Wishing the World Well” campaign, took top position in the Brand Purpose category.
The campaign gave South African children a platform to spread messages of hope, at a time when the COVID-19-induced lockdown had left so much uncertainty across the nation. The campaign successfully harnessed their talent to create beautiful “Get-Well” messages which PEP then shared across integrated digital media platforms.
Through social media, PEP kids were encouraged to create their messages and share them on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. As the messages started rolling in, animated film content was dynamically produced and re-amplified, showcasing the kids’ messages.
Messages created by the campaign were viewed over 34 million times on social media and 1,7 million individual engagements were recorded. Thanks to innovative media planning, automated digital production and quick decision making, the team was able to maximize reach and ensure that the PEP brand remained top of mind during lockdown.
“This award aligns with our positive brand platform: Life's better with PEP,” says PEP Head of Marketing Beyers van der Merwe. “It also showcases the power of using modern marketing to reach an audience with impact. We’re so privileged to have been a beacon of hope to the nation, thanks to the heartfelt messages of our youth, which this campaign produced.”
“We’re very proud to have received this award with our partners PEP. At a time that was so hard for brands to make meaningful connections with their audiences, this work truly stood out” says Ogilvy South Africa CEO and Creative Chairman Pete Case. “Thank you to the Smarties and MMA judges for recognising this work.”
ENDS