It’s always wonderful to have your work recognised by your peers. And it was so for Flow last night, when we scooped 10 New Generation Social and Digital Media Awards.
The 10 awards – one gold, six silver and three bronze – represent the highest number we’ve garnered in a single year, and brings our total to 30 since 2014.
What also makes these awards particularly special is that there were three times as many New Generation entries this year as in 2016, and the awards were for work we have done for eight different clients.
New Generation Awards MD Stephen Paxton told the guests at the boisterous awards function, which took place in the ballroom at Montecasino, that “there’s been a record number of entries this year” into the 41 categories – 450 entries in total, submitted by 160 agencies for 200 brands.
“The standard of work was amazing,” he added.
For Flow chairman Bheki Shongwe, who attended the awards, the 10 won by Flow shows the breadth and depth of work produced by Flowstars.
“We won across a broad range of categories, for an equally broad range of clients. We received accolades for work we’ve done for no fewer than eight of our clients.
“I’m delighted at the outcome of last night’s awards, and I congratulate all my Flow colleagues for the sterling work they do every day,” says Bheki.
The awards won by Flow include:
- Best Online PR Campaign: Ster-Kinekor, for Ghostbusters (Gold)
- Most Innovative Use of Social Media: Mango Airlines (Silver)
- Outstanding Social Customer Care: Mango Airlines (Silver)
- Blogging Excellence: Gauteng Tourism Authority (Silver)
- Best Use of Social Media to Research and Evaluate: South African Society of Anaesthesiologists (Silver)
- Best Revenue Marketing Campaign/Event: City Sightseeing, for the Cape Point Explorer tour launch (Silver)
- Best App Developed by an Agency: Constitution Hill (Silver)
- Best App Developed by an Agency: National Department of Tourism (Bronze)
- Best Intranet: VAT IT (Bronze)
- Best Agency Community Engagement Manager: Melanie-Ann Feris (Bronze)
In addition, Flow sponsored two awards: the Outstanding Student Award, which was won by Makoma Maponya, who wins a three-month Flow internship, and the Social Wiz Award, which was won by Jess Friedman of CopperTable.
Some of our clients have expressed pleasure at Flow’s awards.
“It certainly is a job well done. Keep up the good work, and you really made us proud,” says Benediction Zubane, HoD: marketing for Mango.
Anele Mdzikwa, manager for digital communications at the Gauteng Tourism Authority, comments: “We are ecstatic to be both recognised and awarded at the New Generation Awards. Digital is the future of destination marketing, and therefore being on trend has always been a prerequisite for Gauteng Tourism. We have in the recent past invested heavily in our digital assets, including the website and social media platforms.
“This achievement has now definitely raised the bar for all our future endeavours to continue to provide travellers, both locally and internationally, with quality and locally produced content.”
Flow CEO Tara Turkington says the New Generation Awards clearly indicate the calibre of the work it does for its clients.
“We do work we love for people we love – in fact, this sentiment is immortalised above our office front door – and it shows in the quality of whatever we produce, be it a stunning website, an innovative app or first-class social media engagement.
“While we never do work for the purpose of winning awards, we produce award-winning work for our amazing clients, who give us the opportunity to showcase them through what we do best,” says Tara.
Adds Flow managing director Tiffany Turkington-Palmer: “I’m over the moon that not only are we continuing to win recognition from our industry for what we do, we’re winning more against stiffer competition. And that’s a really good feeling.”