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Loeries Special Section

Grey Africa scoops a few birds at the #Loeries2020

Creating a bond with consumers on their own turf

Grey Africa’s work was recognised with 24 finalists across eight different categories, three statues and a craft certificate at the 2020 Loeries Creative Awards, demonstrating the agency’s signature creativity and its proficiency across multiple channels. In the PR and Media Communication category, it was awarded a Bronze Loerie for the Nozizwe campaign, developed for long-time client Gillette. In the Radio and Audio category, it was again awarded a Bronze, this time for the #DecoloniseAurocorrect campaign for premium cider brand Savanna. Also for Savanna – Grey received a Bronze in the Film category for its online film “Savanna Jean: Survivor”. Also, for Consol Glass, a Film Craft Certificate was awarded for the “Made for Each Other” film.

“It’s obviously been an unexpected and demanding year for both the agency and its clients,” said CCO Fran Luckin. “Especially within that context, we’re honoured to have been recognised for these four innovative campaigns, all of which tackled unique marketing challenges in a heartfelt and sometimes humorous way.”

The Gillette campaign featured a short film that tells the story of the late Gogo Nozizwe, who raised her grandson, Akhona, on her own. It begins with the sobering fact that, in South Africa, two out of three children are raised without their fathers and points out that not all boys can turn to their Dads for advice as they reach maturity. Gogo was there for Akhona through all of the big milestones in his life and the film, especially activated for Women’s Month, honours her and all of the other women who are grooming the male children in their care for adulthood. It was also a call to action, inviting South Africans to join Gillette in helping to shape boys into men.


“The campaign took a different approach to marketing the client’s brand,” said Luckin. “Focusing on a real-life situation and locating the product within that. It broke ground by telling a human story rather than just a product story, and was exceptionally well received, receiving 96% positive sentiment from consumers.”

In a similarly innovative vein, the Savanna #DecoloniseAutocorrect campaign presented the first-ever solution to the problem of mobile users not being able to type in their home language due to the autocorrect function operating in English only. Appropriately sound-dense for the radio medium, the headline ad starts with a tongue-in-cheek look at how autocorrect mangles languages other than English, presenting what the function does to the well-loved song, “Shosholoza”. The mangled version? “Shoulder odour, shoulder odour; Kung Fu zen loner; simulate quicksand, South Africa.”


Apart from being remarkably attention-getting, the ad also featured an immediate call to action for mobile users frustrated by the vagaries of autocorrect. They were invited to visit the Savanna website and to set their phones free by downloading a free text file to be saved as a contact in their phones. This would ‘teach’ their mobiles to recognise their preferred language, enabling them to text in that language without their messages being distorted beyond recognition.

“The #DecoloniseAutocorrect campaign gave people who prefer to text in languages other than English a real benefit from their favourite cider, which is as unapologetic about what it is as they are,” says Luckin. “Again, it was about making the product relevant in everyday life, taking it beyond traditional features and benefits.”

The Savanna Jean campaign made use of a similarly humorous approach. Introducing a new variant with a juniper flavour, the Savanna Jean: “Survivor” made-for-online film poked fun at the trend of drinking infused drinks with pomp and ceremony, offering Savanna Jean as the down-to-earth but flavoursome alternative to flashy cocktails.


The Consol film tells the story of glass through alchemic reactions, cellular structure, and firey cuts and shows the development of glass and beer, perfectly made for each other, with shots of grains of sand and fire, wheat and rushing water.


“More than ever, advertising is about creating a bond with consumers on their own turf and inviting them to bring the brand into their lives,” says CEO Paul Jackson. “I’m exceptionally proud of the strategic and creative thinking that went into these four award-winning Campaigns.”

For more information about Grey, its campaigns and awards, visit www.grey.com. You can also follow Grey Advertising Africa on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

About Grey

Grey is the advertising network of Grey Group, which ranks among the largest global communications companies. Its parent company is WPP (NYSE: WPP). Under the banner of "Grey Famously Effective Since 1917", the agency serves a blue-chip roster of many of the world's best-known companies: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Kellogg's, Pfizer, Canon, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Nestlé, Lindt, Applebee's, and T.J. Maxx. In recent years, Grey has been named Adweek's Global Agency of the Year twice; Advertising Age's Agency of the Year and Campaign magazine's Global Network of the Year in recognition of its creative and business performance (www.grey.com)

About WPP

WPP is a creative transformation company. We build better futures for our clients through an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce and technology.

For more information, visit www.wpp.com

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