The Bookmarks' 2022 Jury Chairs Have Arrive
(Cape Town, 22 March 2022): Now in its 14th year of celebrating advertising excellence within the digital media and marketing industry, IAB South Africa’s Bookmark Awards is ready to unveil their 2022 Jury Chairs.
This year’s awards look to assume the key priorities of the IAB, including placing users first, creating and maintaining a consistent approach to measurement, transforming the industry from within and providing trustworthy digital supply chains. Central to this transformation is the recognition of work that both inspires and educates the industry while delivering measurable results. And key to all of this? The experts who preside over the incredible entries submitted each year.
MEET THE JURY CHAIRS
The 2022 Jury Chairs will head up eight awards categories that align with IAB South Africa’s mandate to empower the media and marketing industry to thrive in the digital economy. To move the industry forward, the Publishing category now includes more aspects aligned with IAB SA’s core focus areas of advertising, marketing and related digital publishing.
Heading up the Bookmarks’ categories during this year’s judging process are:
Marketing: Kabelo Moshapalo, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Johannesburg
A digital native and self-taught illustrator, Kabelo Moshapalo traded his acrylic paints for a digital canvas – and hasn’t looked back. With more than 20 years of advertising and digital interactive experience, he has led key digital transformation (DX) initiatives throughout his career. This, as well as his award-winning work at major advertising festivals such as Cannes Lions, ADC New York, The One Show and more, earned him a spot on Destiny Man’s 2015 Power of 40 List, which celebrates extraordinary men under the age of 40 from across the country. Moshapalo is also on the executive committee of the Creative Circle, a leading industry body for advertising creativity in South Africa and was appointed to the Creative Circle’s forum that seeks to elevate the standard of creativity and innovation across brands and agencies, called AB InBev Braintrust, in both 2020 and 2021.
Publisher: Lebogang Boshomane, SowetanLIVE Online Editor, Arena Holdings
Lebogang Boshomane is the digital editor of Sowetan newspaper's digital platform. With more than 10 years of experience in online content production, her responsibilities include editing and managing content across SowetanLIVE’s channels, where she has assisted in growing the platform’s footprint to more than 3.5 million unique browsers as well as run successful campaigns such as Mzansi’s Sexiest and Sowetan’s Black edition. Boshomane holds an internationally accredited Digital Marketing qualification from Brand School and, in 2018, was selected for WAN-IFRA’s Strengthening Media and Society capacity building programme. She has also taken part in an exchange programme where she visited leading publications Aftenposten and Amedia in Oslo, Norway.
Performance Marketing: Audrey Naidoo, Head Digital Marketing, ABSA
Audrey Naidoo wears many hats, including that of modern marketer, digital marketing activist, podcaster, influencer, public speaker and member of various professional bodies such as IAB Brand Council, Mobile Marketing Association, Marketing Association of South Africa and Chief Marketing Officer Advisory Council for Africa. Naidoo’s podcast, LetsTalkDigital, aims to educate and open up digital conversations within the industry while her extensive experience in the broader digital ecosystem merges commercial interests and strategy with data, analytics and digital marketing transformation to accomplish superior results in an ever-evolving marketing sector.
Social, Community & Influencer Marketing: Zahira Kharsany, Head of Social & Digital Strategist, Gorilla
Zahira Kharsany is a social media enthusiast who began her career – and eventual love affair – with digital media at the Mail & Guardian Online. With 13 years working for agencies, as well as her background in media, her experience spans online, print and marketing. In addition to being the key digital strategist at Gorilla, Kharsany is a writer, blogger, tech junkie and ardent sports fan that can be found on most social media platforms. It’s online where her true passions come out to play as she is keenly interested in how people consume and use social and digital media daily.
Builders: Jessica van der Westhuyzen, Digital Marketer, 10X Investments
Jessica van der Westhuyzen has spent the past 13 years of her career leading teams and companies in digital strategy and transformation, and the adoption of MarTech platforms. She is passionate about data, the story it tells, and using this to influence user experiences and nurture customer journeys. Having served as a member of the Bookmarks Builders panel for the past four years, this will be van der Westhuyzen’s first as its Jury Chair.
Innovative Engineers: Walter Madzonga, Program Manager Digital Strategy & Innovation, ShopriteX
A driver of change who strives for excellence, Walter Madzonga has been passionate about and involved in innovation and strategy across multiple sectors since the completion of his degree in Electrical Engineering. Having assisted various companies with their digital transformation agendas in the telecoms, media and FMCG industries, he now works in the retail sector for a company disrupting itself from within. Madzonga enjoys working with dynamic teams using innovation and technology to disrupt business models and is currently enamoured with the integrated value ecosystem space.
Youth Action: Luzuko Tena, Social Media Director, MediaCom
Gqeberha-born Luzuko Tena is an advocate for youth, education and diversity, equity and inclusion in addition to being Mediacom South Africa’s Social Media Director. His career, which has seen him work at heavyweight brands and agencies such as Ogilvy Social Lab, GetSmarter(2U) and Pernod Ricard, to name a few, has exposed him to the diverse and wide-ranging ecosystem of digital marketing. In 2021, Tena celebrated many milestones, including appearing on the panel of numerous industry events and winning the 2021 Bookmarks Black Pixel for the Best Contribution to Transformation in the Digital Industry.
Special Honours: Ryan McManus, Chief Creative Officer, VMLY&R South Africa
Ryan McManus brings a wealth of global experience and clear purpose to projects, having travelled and worked for some of the world’s leading agencies. In addition to leading VML South Africa’s growth trajectory in the creative field, McManus has been listed in the Mail & Guardian Top 200 South Africans, been a keynote speaker at Cannes Lions and Adobe conferences, and had the privilege of judging Cannes YDA, the Loeries, Bookmarks, New York Festival, AdPrint and ADC.
This year’s Bookmark Awards will be led by new Jury President Khensani Nobanda, who says: “Winning an IAB SA Bookmark Award is not merely a recognition of excellence but a showcase of the talents South Africa holds within this fledgeling industry.
“The Bookmarks are about more than amazing digital work; it also plays a critical role in encouraging innovation and catapulting the industry into thinking about the next best way to execute and deliver for maximum impact.”
In an ever-evolving, post-pandemic world, digital has become even more important and The Bookmarks aim to go beyond awarding great work. “This year, our aim is for The Bookmarks to become even more relevant by assuming the key priorities enshrined within the mandate of the IAB, including educating and inspiring businesses in the sector,” concludes Razia Pillay, chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) South Africa, which manages The Bookmark Awards.
For more information on the 2022 Bookmark Awards, visit thebookmarks.co.za. The 2022 Bookmark Awards are proudly supported by DStv Media Sales as its naming rights partner.
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Issued by Chimera Creative on behalf of IAB South Africa and The 2022 Bookmark Awards.
For media enquiries, contact zainab@chimeracreative.co.za.
About The Bookmark Awards
The Bookmark Awards is an IAB South Africa initiative that celebrates innovation, creativity and effectiveness within the media and marketing industry. It is the unrivalled benchmark of local advertising excellence. While The Bookmarks have always stood for prestige digital work, it also aims to drive digital change. Winning a Bookmark Award is recognition of work that helps move the industry forward. thebookmarks.co.za
About the IAB SA
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) South Africa, formerly known as the DMMA, is an independent, voluntary, non-profit association focused on growing and sustaining a vibrant and profitable digital industry within South Africa. The IAB South Africa empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy and comprises 150 leading media companies, brands and technology firms working in digital marketing and media. The non-profit, non-government trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, publishers and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. iabsa.net