African marketers shine for African Marketing Confederation Awards

Dazzling displays of talent were on show at the recent African Marketing Confederation (AMC) Awards dinner, held as part of the third annual African Marketing Confederation Conference. Held in Mombasa, Kenya’s historic trading hub and travel destination, between 25 and 27 September 2024, the conference presented the perfect opportunity to celebrate these sought-after awards.

Helen McIntee, AMC President, says that the judges, who based their decisions on the criteria across an array of metrics, had a difficult time selecting winners across the categories. ‘The quality of campaigns submitted shows just how much marketing talent we have in Africa. We are proud of the teams behind each and every campaign as well as those who walked away with the honours.’

For the Best Cause-Related Campaign, White Cap Kenya won gold for its Saving the White Caps project, which linked the White Cap beer to Mount Kenya, a national treasure. The project made the point that both the mountain, a large provider of Kenya’s water, and the beer are local heritages and distinctly Kenyan, while also showcasing the work White Cap Kenya did to aid in preserving the mountain.

‘Being able to honour the work done in helping support a national asset to Kenya is a fantastic achievement and we are proud of the entire team,’ says McIntee. The pitch also secured a Bronze in Brand of the Year.

In the Best Social Media Campaign category, Uganda’s TMI Technologies won gold for their MiOne Launch in January. The launch unveiled smartphone and smart devices, following the success of sales in MiOne’s feature phone, with more than 500 000 sold by 2024. MiOne is a Chinese phone manufacturer that assembles its devices in Uganda.

‘The project not only resulted in Ugandans being connected with each other, but also successfully expanded vital internet access,’ says McIntee. The MiOne launch also won silver in the Most Effective Campaign category, as well as silver for Brand of the Year.

Johnnie Walker Kenya’s Bart AI campaign won the Best Use of Local Insights award. The project placed the whiskey, which has had a presence in the East African country for two centuries, in the context of the current generation, introducing Bart AI as a mixologist.

‘The campaign successfully reached 3.8 million drinkers, providing them with an AI-powered bot mixologist that used their age, the time of day and their preferred flavour profile to craft a personalised cocktail recipe,’ says McIntee. ‘The winners succeeded in using local insights to win this coveted award, as well as bronze for Brand of the Year,’ she adds.

The Zambian Tourism Agency’s Destination Zambia campaign won the top honours in the Tourism and Destination Marketing Campaign category. The campaign made use of integrated and holistic strategies to promote Zambia to increase tourism arrivals. Some 1.2 million had already landed by last October, and the target for 2024 was set at 2 million.

‘Knowing that this project has helped boost GDP through additional tourism arrivals is an award in itself,’ says McIntee. ‘Having this success recognised by the prestigious AMC awards makes its efforts all the sweeter,’ she adds.

Stanbic Bank Uganda’s Stanbic National School Championship was the winner in the Most Effective Campaign category. This project succeeded in creating awareness and resulted in vast amounts of coverage of the championship from various angles, including profiling the winners, highlighting the benefits for learners and discussing its potential expansion. There were also numerous YouTube videos as students sought to solve real-life dilemmas.

‘Not only was more awareness created around the championship, but being lauded on a continental level shows just how successful this campaign has been,’ says McIntee. Stanbic Bank Uganda also won Brand of the Year.

The Campaign of the Year went to Guinness Kenya’s Match Day campaign, which sought to ensure the current generation of Kenyans is enamoured with Guinness by linking it with soccer to make it engaging and relevant. One of the ways this was achieved was by offering a select number of fans access to Black Pearl Lounge, where they could watch popular English teams in a two-day tournament.

‘The project included aspects such as the lounge, a social media competition and other elements together as a three-phased, multi-channel project,’ says McIntee.’Winning at the AMC awards is a clear verification of the success of the project.’ Guinness Kenya also won bronze for Brand of the Year.

‘Every entry we received was a testament to the huge amount of talent on the continent,’ says McIntee. ‘Each of our winners can be proud of their campaigns and are deserving of the accolades,’ she adds.