The Effie Awards South Africa have been announced, with TBWA\Hunt Lascaris and its client, City Lodge Hotel Group, winning the Grand Effie 2025.
The agency won gold for the SOS – Save Our Stay campaign.
Three other agencies and their clients also won gold – Ogilvy SA and VW, Accenture Song and Sanlam and Halo with Pineapple.
The winners were announced at a glittering event at The Venue, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg last night, Tuesday, 21 October.
The programme recorded 44% year-on-year growth in entries, with 26 trophies awarded and 44 campaigns shortlisted as finalists — underscoring continued momentum and the industry’s sharpened focus on measured effectiveness.
“Effectiveness is disciplined creativity — the fusion of insight, imagination and evidence that turns strategy into growth. With continued growth this year, the bar keeps rising, and so does the quality of the proof presented.
“The 2025 winners demonstrate what Effie stands for: clarity of problem, originality of solution and hard, verifiable results. Their cases are a reminder that effectiveness isn’t a buzzword; it’s the discipline of making strategy, creativity and measurement work as one,” said Gillian Rightford, ACA executive director for Effie South Africa.
As part of Effie’s global framework, all finalists and winners earn points on the global Effie Index, contributing to worldwide effectiveness rankings. In addition, all Gold winners qualify for Effie’s Global Best of the Best competition.
Looking ahead, Effie and Ipsos will present the 2025 Effie Awards South Africa Ipsos Trends Report, continuing the evidence-led series that examines what drives marketing effectiveness among South Africa’s Effie winners. Details will be announced soon.
All the winners
| Bronze | |||||
| Category | Lead agency | Client | Brand | Title | Contributing companies |
| Transportation | Joe Public | Uber Eats South Africa | Uber Black | Uber Black: So good you’ll find a reason | They Films, Phd (South Africa) |
| Timely Opportunity | M+C Saatchi Abel | Mr D | Mr D | How Mr D got South Africa’s vote of approval during elections | Razor PR, Listen Loft |
| Timely Opportunity | TBWA Hunt Lascaris | Savanna Cider | Savanna | Try January | Vision HQ, Dentsu Red Star, Urban Striker, |
| Sustained Success – Products, Services | Ogilvy | Mondelez SA | Mondelez: Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate | Selfish to Shareable: Cadbury’s South African Success Story | STARCOM, starcom south africa, hogarth worldwide cape town, Promidea |
| Social Good – Brands / Positive Change | Joe Public | Amnesty International | Amnesty International | Faeces Ink: Reigniting Attention Around a National Shame | Juno, Joe Public Engage |
| Omni-Channel Shopper Solution / Commerce & Shopper Effies | 99cents | Shoprite Group of Companies | CHECKERS | Little Shop Goes Xtra | Rainmaker Media, PHD South Africa, Video Cartel |
| Media Innovation – Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies | Joe Public | Amnesty International | Amnesty International | Faeces Ink: Reigniting Attention Around a National Shame | Juno, Joe Public Engage |
| Marketing Innovation Solutions | TBWA Hunt Lascaris | Savanna Cider | Savanna South Africa | Savanna Neat: It’s Giving | Vision HQ, Dentsu Red Star, Urban Striker |
| Marketing Disruptors | Ogilvy | Volkswagen SA | Volkswagen | #ShouldaGotAVivo: VW’s Masterclass on end-of-product-life-cycle marketing disruption. | |
| Influencer Marketing | Ogilvy | Gates Foundation | The Gates Foundation | Influence With Impact: #ForeverWena’s Culture-Driven Approach to Youth HIV Awareness | |
| Finance | Joe Public | Nedbank | Nedbank | Bank Your Time – How Nedbank reframed digital banking by turning time into a currency | The MediaShop |
| Disease Awareness & Education: Non-Profit | Ogilvy | The Gates Foundation | The Gates Foundation | FROM SHAME TO SELF-LOVE: How #FOREVERWENA Revolutionised HIV Prevention. | |
| Current Events | M+C Saatchi Abel | Mr D | Mr D | How Mr D got South Africa’s vote of approval during elections | Razor PR, Listen Loft |
| Beverages – Alcohol | Ogilvy | ABInbev | Carling Black Label | From Decline to Dominance: Carling Black Label’s 8-Year Journey of Purpose-Driven Sustained Success. | |
| Silver | |||||
| Sustained Success – Products, Services | Ogilvy | ABInbev | Carling Black Label | From Decline to Dominance: Carling Black Label’s 8-Year Journey of Purpose-Driven Sustained Success. | |
| Small Budgets – Non-Profit, Products, Services | Joe Public | Amnesty International | Amnesty International | Faeces Ink: Reigniting Attention Around a National Shame | Juno, Joe Public Engage |
| Small Budgets – Non-Profit, Products, Services | M+C Saatchi Abel (1st lead agency), Razor PR (2nd lead agency) | Gun Free South Africa | Gun Free South Africa | Firing A Silver Bullet That Turned Apathy into Policy Action | Strangelovepost, Listen Loft |
| Media Innovation / Commerce & Shopper Effies | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | PHD South Africa, OnPoint PR and Lifestyle Management, Instreem |
| Media Innovation – Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies | Ogilvy | KFC SA | KFC | Block Booked | |
| Marketing Disruptors | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | PHD South Africa, OnPoint PR and Lifestyle Management, Instreem |
| Automotive – Vehicles | Ogilvy | Volkswagen SA | Volkswagen | #ShouldaGotaVivo: How VW used competitor drivers to sell their Vivos | |
| Gold | |||||
| Travel & Tourism | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | PHD South Africa, OnPoint PR and Lifestyle Management, Instreem |
| Social Good – Brands / Positive Change | Ogilvy | Volkswagen SA | Volkswagen South Africa | Volkswagen Night School: Rewriting the Rules of the Road saving lives and building brand | Bonfire |
| Finance | Accenture Song | Sanlam | Sanlam | Sanlam “The F-Show” | Incubeta, Kintaro |
| Sustained Success – Products, Services | Halo | Pineapple | Pineapple | 100% Sustained Results: How Being Totes Honest Totes Helped Pineapple Soar | |
| Grand | |||||
| Travel & Tourism | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | PHD South Africa, OnPoint PR and Lifestyle Management, Instreem |
