photo by Sydelle Willow Smith
@ Good Hope Centre, Strand Street
03 October 2010
Ok, that’s it; I want an award too. I ate almost my body weight in those delicious little balls of food they kept plying us with at the Loeries AwardsVIP area, and nobody even high-fived me. Isn’t there a category for a feat like that?
‘I’m afraid not, my dear,’ Andrew Human, Loeries CEO, might say patiently, were he were parley to my little petition, ‘but perhaps we’ll look into one.’ It’s not unusual for the Loeries to create new awards to answer the sign of the times, after all.
2010 saw the introduction of an Ubuntu Award for brands contributing to social and environmental change. Pretty spot on, considering the crisis in both areas globally demands we go green and give back. A Gold Loerie went to Matchboxology for Levi’s ‘Red 4 Life’ HIV awareness programme.
The New Voice award recognises non-English advertising, a must in a country with as many official languages as there are days in a fortnight (minus one Monday).
And other developments saw the appointment of a new Loeries chairman, Mrs Boniswa Pezisa. She’s a dynamite package of warm smiles and sweet talk and will probably do big things for the annual event.
On second thoughts, it’s probably a good thing nobody noticed my noshing, because they probably would’ve plied me with alcohol and sherbet from those little lucky packets instead, and then the party would’ve really gone wild. Or mine at least. Everyone was very well behaved at The Loeries, which is not what I was expecting. But then again, when you’re dwarfed by a production the size of the entire Good Hope Centre, you’re likely to know your place. If you can find it. The Loeries Awards sure know how to make a magnificent nest!
We filtered into the great, sparkling hall and its three story high screens in the longest (and fastest) pedestrian queue I’ve ever encountered. What an event. What a bright, brilliant event. What a long event. We heard the role call of categories and contestants, were treated to showcases of their work. My favourite was Justin Bonello’s Cooked In Africa, winning TwoShoes a silver Loerie in the category “Publication Design ~ Books, Magazine & Newspaper Design”, for this year’s Loerie Awards; a genius example of integrated design and marketing that I’m definitely getting to balance Evita Bezuidenhout’s South African cookbook, ‘Evita’s Kossie Sikelela’.
Mrs. Pezisa and other award presenters (including Creative Cape Town’s coordinator, Zayd Minty) were the giver of hugs and kisses and the direct recipients of big emotions on stage. The camaraderie and the competition go hand in hand, and one witty T shirt from a brand team stated quite clearly ‘my parrot will eat your Loerie’. A sense of humour is always welcome when you’ve worked hard to win. And maybe it’s not an award you win, after all; in an industry like this, you can rest assured that I’m probably using a product or service right now that you’ve had a hand in helping me buy!
