Only the Best are Called Smarties

MMA SA SMARTIES
Business Unusual 2020

The SMARTIES AWARDS 2020 is excited to celebrate the creativity and innovation many brands have been able to demonstrate this year, producing campaigns that were creatively agile during what has been a very UNUSUAL time.

To honour them, the MMA South Africa has decided to run the awards a little differently this year... Introducing the MMA SA SMARTIES BUSINESS UNUSUAL 2020. This year:

All SMARTIES entries are fully sponsored, so FREE to enter

We have a new, more accessible three-stage entry process

You can nominate and refer campaigns you think deserves recognition

Your entries will be judged by your peers

A true celebration of modern marketing excellence across Africa and EMEA, this is a call for resilient brands, surviving and thriving in unusual times, and winning in unusual ways.

Take a moment to nominate a brand, a marketer, an agency or an individual for creative excellence, innovation or business impact with mobile at the core.

Nominate an Entry

The MMA SA SMARTIES

To win a SMARTIES Award is an outward sign of mobile marketing expertise, mastery of the medium and the ability to drive results. Winners are chosen by some of the best marketing minds across the globe.

A SMARTIES Award winner has demonstrated power over the medium — effectively weaving together a great idea, compelling creative and air-tight execution — to deliver significant business impact.

In South Africa, a SMARTIES Award is considered the gold standard of mobile marketing excellence and winners are awarded by a highly respected panel of judges.

All SMARTIES Award winners are automatically entered into the Business Impact Index (BII). It honours work from around the world that significantly delivers tangible business impact for clients through mobile-first campaigns.

The SMARTIES Celebration of Talent honours global innovation, creativity and success by showcasing each year’s most effective mobile campaigns. This winning work inspires, educates and ultimately propels the industry forward through the most trusted authority in mobile marketing.

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Business Impact Index

Launched in 2018, the MMA SMARTIES Business Impact Index (BII) is the first and only global mobile marketing index that identifies, ranks and awards top agencies, advertisers, brands and technology enablers that drive significant business impact through mobile first campaigns.

In collaboration with WARC, the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness, the Index recognises the best-of-the-best from each year’s SMARTIES winners by ranking finalist and winner data from the global awards programme.

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MMA SA SMARTIES Business Unusual 2020

The SMARTIES AWARDS 2020 is excited to celebrate the creativity and innovation many of our local brands have been able to demonstrate this year, producing campaigns that were creatively agile during what has been a very unusual time.

The coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic has had an immense effect on consumer behaviour and in turn has forced brands to reconsider their approach to marketing their products today and in the future.

Marketers have been compelled to constantly re-adjust budgets and communication strategies when considering the uncertainties of how COVID19 will further impact the economy, their businesses and their customers.

To recognise this, we have launched our Business Unusual Categories for 2020.

Check Out the Categories

What's New in 2020

In an effort to promote inclusivity and being cognisant of the economic impact the pandemic has had on businesses, the MMA SA will be introducing an exciting new submission process that will allow all businesses, regardless of size, to enter their finest and most successful digital campaigns of 2020.

Our aim is to create one of South Africa's largest digital case study hubs, where we can provide credible benchmarking for the South African marketing community to work with when implementing digital at the epicentre of their Marketing Mix.

With the help of our generous partners, the MMA SA SMARTIES ENTRIES will be fully sponsored this year, and as a result we have been able to:

Eliminate the cost to submit entries.

Capture collate and report on aggregated Benchmarking insights from South Africa's finest and most successful digital campaigns in 2020.

This year's MMA SA Smarties Awards will be split into 3 phases:

Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3
Preliminary Round	Shortlisting	MY SMARTIES PITCH, A virtual presentation pitch

Phase 1:

Preliminary qualifying stage for both Core Smarties and our new "Business Unusual 2020" categories.

You can enter a campaign in a maximum of 3 categories or be nominated / referred by someone else

The pre-qualification entry process is short and simple (campaign videos are not required)

Please note, in submitting a campaign, each entrant agrees to the terms and conditions set out by the MMA relating to data privacy and prior permission granted from all parties involved. Please find the MMA SMARTIES TERMS & CONDITIONS here.

Method of entry	Direct Entry, Nomination / Referral Entry Form Supporting presentation Slide Images and URL Links can be included to support any material
Cost	No cost
Platform	MMA South Africa Business Unusual Voting Platform
Timeframe	23 August 2020 - 9 November 2020
Categories Pillars	Each entrant can submit an unlimited number of campaigns. A single campaign can enter up to 3 different categories and across any of the four core pillars: Marketing Media Tech Business Unusual
Judges Voting by marketer only jury panel	1 Senior Brand Marketer per MMA Member company will be invited to judge the preliminary round. Please note that they will be exempt from scoring work from their own company or affiliate partner companies. Senior Brand Marketers

The supporting presentation should provide an overview of the campaign:

A summary of the business challenge and campaign objectives

The strategy employed

An overview of the campaign execution

The campaign creative work

The results / outcomes of the campaign.

Phase 2:

The Shortlisting

Method of entry	Business Unusual Voting Platform will determine campaigns shortlisted from votes calculated on the platform. The top 160 unique entries will go through Successful companies will be notified via email and asked to complete a more detailed Campaign overview via Smarties MMA global platform Online written description required URL / Link can be added to support
Cost	Entry costs are being covered by our MMA SA SMARTIES 2020 Partners. Entries are therefore free at point of submission.
Platform	Smarties MMA Global platform
Timeframe	16 November 2020 – 22 November 2020/23 November "My Smarties Pitch" released
Categories Pillars	The top scoring 160 entries across the 16 Smarties categories will be shortlisted to be submitted to the MMA Global SMARTIES Entry Platform. Successful entries will be limited to 1 campaign per category. Entrants with different campaigns can be shortlisted in the same category.
Judging Voting	Senior Brand Marketers and CMO's 6 Judges Chair Vice Chair Smarties Academy Partner 4 Senior Brand Marketers

Phase 3:

MY SMARTIES PITCH, A virtual presentation pitch

This will be done through a LIVE SMARTIES VIRTUAL PITCH session, where agency and/or brand representatives will present their entry and answer questions from the judging panel.

The judging panel will consist of MMA SA SMARTIES Jury committee, all well-known marketers from the SA marketing and advertising community.

After the pitch sessions the judges will debate the merits of each of the finalists and will vote to award Gold, Silver or Bronze SMARTIES Awards to the most deserving campaigns in each category.

Method of entry	Submission - Presentation Pitch MMA Global Smarties Platform will determine campaigns entered this phase through Judges votes.
Cost	Entry costs are being covered by our MMA SA SMARTIES 2020 Partners.
Platform	MMA Global Voting Platform
Timeframe	30 November 2020 - 04 December 2020 / 09 December 2020: Virtual MMA Smarties EMEA Ceremony
Categories Pillars	The 4 top scoring entries in each of the 16 Smarties categories will become category finalists and agency/brand representatives will be invited to present their campaign to the panel of judges in a virtual presentation, the MY SMARTIES PITCH.
Judging Voting	Senior Marketers 6 Judges Chair Vice Chair Smarties Academy Partner 4 Senior Brand Marketers

ENTER

NOMINATE

JUDGE

SMARTIES Special Edition 'Business Unusual 2020'

'Get recognized for Innovation in Modern Marketing'

As we continue to honour the mobile marketing community by celebrating the best work of the last 12 months, it also is important to celebrate and acknowledge how brands are creating innovative campaigns to connect with their customers and pivoting their businesses to help fight the coronavirus spread. With that in mind, we have added 5 new awards devoted to campaigns produced during the pandemic.

The 5 new awards are centred around campaigns that have successfully communicated brands' efforts to align their Brand Purpose and Social Responsibility efforts, as well as Tech Innovation initiatives to help improve consumers' experience of the brand, products/services during the pandemic.

The campaigns entered will have an eligibility period of December 2019 – 9 November 2020.

Please refer to the categories page for the list of Business Unusual 2020 awards.

ENTER

NOMINATE

JUDGE

New core SMARTIES Category

The SMARTIES are unique in that the awards focus mainly on the impact mobile has on business results, which is evident in the way judging criteria allocates almost half of all awarded points to results.

While achieving the above touchstones are instrumental to success, it is critical to remember that across all entries in all categories, the work must have mobile at its core.

There are now just 12 core SMARTIES categories this year, all intended to celebrate the channels used by mobile marketers, the sectors they operate in and some special awards for the most innovative brands in the industry.

Look out for a new category - Data/Insights

Use of customer data that played an integral role in the development and execution of a campaign to target, engage or develop a meaningful relationship with a specific audience or community

Eligibility & Key Dates

Smarties timelines for November- December 2020:

Monday 9th Nov: Submissions close

Tuesday 10th Nov: Phase one Judging begins- MMA peers

Monday 16th Nov: Phase two judging begins- Shortlisting by Senior Marketers

Monday 23rd Nov: Finalists for “My Smarties Pitch” released- agencies notified

Monday 30th Nov- Friday Dec 4th: “My Smarties Pitch week” Jury panel of leading Senior Marketers

Wednesday 9th Dec: MMA Smarties EMEA Ceremony- including MMA SA winners (Virtual)

ENTER

NOMINATE

JUDGE

Award Categories

Recognising the best in mobile for…

Marketing	Media	Technology	Business Unusual 2020
Brand Awareness Lead Generation / Direct Response / Conversions Product / Services Launch	Mobile Gaming, Gamification & E-Sports Mobile App Mobile Social	Innovation Location Based Targeting mCommerce Mobile Video Data/Insights (New)	Social Responsibility Brand Purpose Customer Experience Tech Innovation App

Learn More about the MMA SA SMARTIES Categories

SMARTIES Categories

Judging Criteria

20% Creativity	20% Strategy	20% Execution	20% Results (Business Impact)
Consumer Engagement Unique mobile media types Creativity Dynamics	Strategic objective Target audience Creative & Media Strategy Context	How execution achieved results Mobile or Tech integration	Objective Achieved Market impact Innovation Campaign reception

Apply to Judge

'Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun' - Mary Lou Cook

ENTER

NOMINATE

JUDGE