The teams behind the teams within the business of sport.
Campaigns showing true grit, resilience, and exceptional creativity spanning marketing, PR, virtual events, sponsorship, advertising, community investment, social media, production and branding were recognised and awarded at the virtually held 2021 Hollard Sport Industry Awards.
“This year we celebrate the brand owners, the agencies and the media owners who have inspired us, entertained us and keep us healthy at a time when we needed it more than ever. We’ve seen so much wonderful inventiveness in entries this year – somehow we’ve managed to hear crowds cheering, even though there weren’t any in the stadiums,” says Heidi Brauer, Hollard’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Heartfelt congratulations to the deserving winners, and to each and every person who has played a part in keeping sports, brands, and campaigns alive and entertaining during this really strange and difficult time,” she says.
“This is our third year sponsoring these awards and celebrating the energy, enthusiasm and creativity of the business of sport. These awards are about so much more than the sports themselves or the sporting codes. They are about the people who bring them to us. Those people who create sponsorships and communication campaigns and events, who often go unrecognised,” says Brauer. “But these people and these teams are so important, because sport is so important. Sport brings down barriers and creates better futures which is everything that we are about at Hollard”.
Agency of the Year Awards
This year the Agency of the Year Award, sponsored by Gallo Images, went to Mscsports. Founded as a sports memorabilia company in 2000, Mscsports has grown and evolved into one of South Africa’s most-reputable sports and entertainment agencies. Their consistent drive to change the game, create opportunities, and deliver impact for sponsors, rights holders and athletes, secured them this prestigious win.
Two campaigns featured prominently within numerous categories this year. These included Mscsports for Castle Lager #InOurBlood and Levergy for the Nedbank Breaking Barriers Race. #InOurBlood took home the much sought-after Campaign of the Year Award, sponsored by Ab InBev, as well as the Worldwide Sport Event or Competition Sponsorship Award, and came third in the category of Social and Environmental Impact.
Winning agency Mscsports used their collective passion for rugby and Castle’s sponsorship of the British & Irish Lions Series as a unique opportunity to build a campaign for South Africans to come together and unite behind the Springboks. Taking this campaign one step further was its partnership with the SANBS, to drive desperately needed blood donations.
Last year’s Agency of the Year, Levergy, continued their winning streak with the Nedbank Breaking Barriers Race, winning both the Communications Award and the Virtual Event of the Year Award. This campaign created a way to ignite momentum into elite running when little else was happening. Backed by Nedbank’s longstanding heritage in the sport, Breaking Barriers saw an attempt made to break the 50 km world record with an exclusive ultramarathon take place in Gqeberha, creating a high, when running in South Africa was at an all-time low.
Young Agency of The Year went to Matchstick Creative, a virtual creative agency comprising work-from-home freelancers established during the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic. Matchstick Creative, with a full-time staff compliment of 1, has gone from zero to hero in a matter of 12 months, establishing firm clients, ongoing projects and some phenomenal storytelling and production.
to read more information about the Sports Industry Awards head over to https://www.sportindustry.co.za/.