Not only did the Mother City agency notch up the most finalists in this year's event, 23 for campaigns done for three different clients (Distell, BASF and Agri24), executive creative director, Francois de Villiers, and his talented team of copywriter, Hanlie Kriel, and art director, Anthony de Klerk, took first place honours in nine of the 17 categories as well as the Pendoring 2002, which is awarded to the best campaign overall. They shared the kudos in the design category with sister agency FCB Design's Paul Carstens; FCB Design is one of the specialist communication companies within FCB South Africa.
Industry watchers could have been forgiven for suspecting FCB Cape Town would dominate the evening given that the agency stole the limelight in Oudtshoorn earlier this year when it won the first Doringkanna Award for the best advertising campaign at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) for its work on the iconic Distell liquor brand Klipdrift.
Commenting on the agency's performance, de Villiers said feedback from the judges, including the overseas judge Jan Coehoorn, was that 2002 was a bumper year with many entries certainly worthy of the slogan 'Slegs vir skerp skeppers' (only for sharp creatives).
"This was a good year for Afrikaans advertising because so many agencies and advertisers were represented amongst the entries," he said. "We're so used to seeing the same old names year after year – names like KykNet, SABC2, RSG etc. The fact that brands like Agri24, BASF, Santam, Standard Bank and Klipdrift had a presence for the first time shows that Pendoring – and Afrikaans – is alive, healthy and growing.
"Closer to home, it was a good year because FCB South Africa's work was so professional, creative and original. Congratulations to everyone involved from account management to production, from strategy to admin – you all played your part 'blerrie well'! I am privileged to work with clients who bring out the best in us and with industry professionals who give it their all," he concluded.
FCB Cape Town's full list of winners is:
Category: | Number of FCB Cape Town finalists | Winning ad |
Newspaper | Two | Kniediep in die kknk - Klipdrift |
Magazines | Three | Niksverloren – BASF |
Outdoor | Two | Komma in – Klipdrift |
Above the line campaign | Two | Klipdrift - Corporate |
Below the line campaign | One | Klipdrift – Maak jouself tuis by die fees |
Promotion | Two | Klipdrift – Maak jouself tuis by die fees |
Design | Three | Klip-innie-bos – Klipdrift |
Best slogan | Three | Komma in – Klipdrift |
Original Afrikaans | Three | Komma in – Klipdrift |
Overall winner | NA | Klipdrift campaign |
The Pendoring Awards were established eight years ago to promote and reward excellence in Afrikaans-language advertising. This year's awards ceremony took place on September 20 at Vodaworld. The audiovisual show-casing the winners was prepared by FCB Impact, FCB Cape Town's sister agency specialising in multimedia, promotional campaigns and experiential marketing.