Nairobi, November 2016 … Kenya’s creative and brilliant individuals from various advertising agencies were acknowledged and celebrated at the 2016 APA awards held at the Kenya National Theatre. The highlight of the evening saw Squad Digital and Ogilvy Africa scoop Grand Prix awards recognizing the best of show. The award show saw 66 winners across various categories from TV, radio, print, design, outdoor & out of home, integrated campaigns, digital & interactive, experiential media, media innovation, sustainable marketing and the young creatives award. The Television, Video and Cinema category had the largest number of winners consisting of 14 victors receiving the grand prix, gold, silver and bronze awards.
The 2016 APA Awards held in partnership with The Loeries, re-launched the return of the APA Awards after a 12-year hiatus. This year’s awards received over 400 entries from 23 agencies across the 15 categories. Speaking during the awards ceremony, the Chairman of the Association of Practitioners in Advertising (APA) Mr. Lenny Ng’ang’a was honored to celebrate all the creative talents in the advertising industry and congratulated the winners for their achievements. “It is particularly pleasing to note the diversity, in terms of creative excellence, which we see in this year’s entrants, as this confirms the existence of talent across a broad spectrum.”
The Loeries recognizes that creativity and innovation are vital business tools for communication within the brand communication industry of Africa and the Middle East. Their key mandate is to help marketers, agencies and consumers appreciate the value of ideas and fresh thinking and showcase the value that creativity adds to brands. The Chief Executive Officer, The Loeries, Dr. Andrew Human extended his gratitude to the association for working seamlessly with the Loeries team to manage the judging.
“The judging process is a key element for any awards. Our whole process is designed to reward the best work and prevent influence and bias. The jury panel consisted of 17 local judges. All work was judged anonymously and was very controlled. All the scores were recorded electronically and sent to the Jury president who determined the final statues that were thereafter awarded. Mr. Alistair King, the Chief Creative Officer of the King James Group was chosen specifically as the Jury president for his global experience and was the number one creative in the Loeries official rankings. He has also judged awards across the globe and was able to provide an independent and credible leadership before the panel.” Human added.
In his remarks during the gala event, the Jury President, Mr. Alistair King added that it was a privilege working with the jury and learning about the Kenyan advertising industry and getting to review the various creative work.
“We are here to recognize the courageous creatives, agencies and the clients that work with them. I firmly believe that the advertising industry is only truly healthy until its greatest work is done on a large scale with clients who are absolutely embracing the bravest ideas.” King said.
Applauding the creative ingenuity in the advertising industry, the Guest of Honour, Machakos Governor, Hon. Dr. Alfred Mutua was very honored to be part of the 2016 APA awards and congratulated everyone for the wonderful comeback.
“As a person who has been in the film industry, it is very exciting to see great talent in pushing brands to a higher level. This is a great achievement and I urge you to keep up the good work and continue raising the standards of advertising industry in Kenya.”
APA as an association is mandated to enforce advertising standards through adherence to the code of advertising practice and direct marketing and also advocate for professionalism among its members. It also seeks to recognize the application of creative excellence in the way brands and businesses communicate.