LEVERGY AND TELKOM STAND TALL AT 2023 HOLLARD SPORT INDUSTRY AWARDS

LEVERGY AND TELKOM STAND TALL AT 2023 HOLLARD SPORT INDUSTRY AWARDS

Awards honour the teams and creatives that make sporting events, campaigns and sponsorships possible

Johannesburg, 23 November 2023: The annual Hollard Sport Industry Awards took place tonight at the home of Gauteng horse racing, Turffontein, to celebrate the best of the best within the business of sport.

Levergy M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment won the sought-after Agency of the Year for the second consecutive year, while their Telkom Stand Tall campaign won Campaign of the Year as well as the awards for Event or Competition Sponsorship and Team or Individual Sponsorship. These multiple awards are the result of their campaign to shine a light on our Netball superstars ahead of the 2023 World Cup, which combined a passion for netball and superhero culture to motivate and inspire the youth through our new netball role models.

Specialist sports and entertainment storytelling shop, T&W, won the Audio-Visual Content of The Year Award for Down: A Comrades Story – a commemorative piece about ‘The Ultimate Human Race’. ‘For South Africa’ , a series of TV spots offering viewers intimate interviews with our Springboks in the build up to the Rugby World Cup, also won T&W the Sports Promo or Advert of The Year Award.

Winning the 2023 Active and Wellbeing Award was ABSA Run Your City. Launched in 2021 to promote inclusivity and a healthy, active lifestyle, this initiative is now run in five cities and has become the biggest 10km road series in Africa.

Women’s sport continued to dominate at the awards, with the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup ‘Turn it Up’ winning Best on Social and Best Communication clocking up another two accolades for Levergy. With the Women’s Cricket World Cup taking place in South Africa, this campaign used influencers, iconic imagery, always on content and a loud and colourful event to inspire fans to Turn It Up for the game and for the nation.

Event of the Year went to SS Network for Netball World Cup 2023 with this tournament bringing exciting games, elite athletes and widespread media coverage and delivering the tournament’s most successful commercial programme ever.

This year’s prestigious Brand or Sponsor of The Year Award was won by Telkom, recognising their efforts to change the sports industry for the better through engagement, awareness and real societal impact.

The African Excellence Award went to SuperSport and Playmakers who together pioneered an innovative fan engagement campaign to mark the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Their “Sounds of the World Cup” engaged with over 70 million African football enthusiasts. This campaign also secured them the best Experiential Marketing Campaign Award.

Other winners on the night included the Fan Engagement Award going to Dialogue Communications for driving RWC2023 #bokfridays and bringing the tradition of wearing green and gold on Fridays back to life.

The Social and Environmental Impact Award was won by Levergy for their Nedbank Runified for Mental Health campaign and the Sports Organisation of the Year went to Lions Cricket and consulting and creative studio, Migration. Rounding off the many awards won by Levergy was the 2023 Tech Innovation Award for the Nedbank Golf Challenge virtual country club.

“At Hollard, we recognise the role played by sport in shaping individuals and communities for better futures. We are proud to once again highlight the incredible work produced over the last year by this brilliant and creative sector, and are inspired by what has been produced, especially when it comes to promoting women in sport. Thank you for making sport possible and for fostering those important relationships that connect sport and business,” says Hollard’s new chief marketing officer, Hazel Chimhandamba.

The Hollard Sport Industry Awards were also attended by prominent personalities from the world of sport, high-profile industry stakeholders, sports bodies and members of the media.