TBWA\Hunt Lascaris and City Lodge Hotel Group claimed the top honour, the Grand Effie, for their campaign “Save Our Stay (SOS)” at the 2025 Effie Awards South Africa. The awards celebrate the pinnacle of marketing effectiveness.
The coveted Grand Effie recognises South Africa’s single most effective campaign of the year. The campaign also clinched a Gold Effie in the same category, along with two Silver trophies in the Media Innovation and Marketing Disruptors categories.
In addition, three other golds were awarded: to Ogilvy and Volkswagen South Africa for “Volkswagen Night School” in the Social Good — Brands/Positive Change category; to Accenture Song and Sanlam for the “Sanlam ‘The F-Show’” in the Finance category; and to Halo and Pineapple for “100% Sustained Results: How Being Totes Honest Totes Helped Pineapple Soar” in the Sustained Success in the Products, Services category.
Effectiveness is disciplined creativity — the fusion of insight, imagination and evidence that turns strategy into growth
— Gillian Rightford
The winners’ table highlighted the consistent performance of several agencies. TBWA\Hunt Lascaris led the charge with the Grand Effie, one gold and three silver trophies for its work with City Lodge Group, alongside bronze wins for Savanna Cider. Ogilvy also had a strong showing, earning one gold and four silver Effies across work for clients that included Volkswagen South Africa, KFC South Africa and SAB (AB InBev), in addition to multiple bronze awards. Joe Public collected three silver and four bronze trophies, primarily for impactful campaigns for Amnesty International and its work with Uber Eats and Nedbank.
“Effectiveness is disciplined creativity — the fusion of insight, imagination and evidence that turns strategy into growth,” says Gillian Rightford, ACA executive director for Effie South Africa. “The 2025 winners demonstrate what Effie stands for: clarity of problem, originality of solution and hard, verifiable results. Their cases are a reminder that effectiveness isn’t a buzzword; it’s the discipline of making strategy, creativity and measurement work as one.”
All finalists and winners earn points on the global Effie Index, contributing to worldwide effectiveness rankings. Gold winners also qualify for Effie’s Global Best of the Best competition.
In the coming weeks, Effie and Ipsos are set to present the 2025 Effie Awards South Africa Ipsos Trends Report, continuing their series that provides evidence-led analysis on what drives marketing effectiveness among South Africa’s top campaigns.
2025 Effie Awards South Africa — Winners
| AWARD | AGENCY | CLIENT | BRAND | CAMPAIGN | CATEGORY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | Travel & Tourism |
| Gold | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | Travel & Tourism |
| Gold | Ogilvy | Volkswagen South Africa | Volkswagen South Africa | Volkswagen Night School: Rewriting the Rules of the Road saving lives and building brand | Social Good - Brands / Positive Change |
| Gold | Accenture Song | Sanlam | Sanlam | Sanlam “The F-Show” | Finance |
| Gold | Halo | Pineapple | Pineapple | 100% Sustained Results: How Being Totes Honest Totes Helped Pineapple Soar | Sustained Success - Products, Services |
| Silver | Ogilvy | SAB (AB InBev) | Carling Black Label | From Decline to Dominance: Carling Black Label’s 8-Year Journey of Purpose-Driven Sustained Success. | Sustained Success - Products, Services |
| Silver | Joe Public | Amnesty International | Amnesty International | Faeces Ink: Reigniting Attention Around a National Shame | Small Budgets - Non-Profit, Products, Services |
| Silver | M+C Saatchi Abel and Razor PR | Gun Free South Africa | Gun Free South Africa | Firing A Silver Bullet That Turned Apathy into Policy Action | Small Budgets - Non-Profit, Products, Services |
| Silver | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | Media Innovation / Commerce & Shopper Effies |
| Silver | Ogilvy | KFC South Africa | KFC | Block Booked | Media Innovation - Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies |
| Silver | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | City Lodge Hotel Group | City Lodge Hotel Group | Save Our Stay (SOS) | Marketing Disruptors |
| Silver | Ogilvy | Volkswagen South Africa | Volkswagen | #ShouldaGotaVivo: How VW used competitor drivers to sell their Vivos | Automotive - Vehicles |
| Bronze | Joe Public | Uber Eats South Africa | Uber Black | Uber Black: So good you’ll find a reason | Transportation |
| Bronze | M+C Saatchi Abel | Mr D | Mr D | How Mr D got South Africa’s vote of approval during elections | Timely Opportunity |
| Bronze | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | Savanna Cider | Savanna | Try January | Timely Opportunity |
| Bronze | Ogilvy | Mondelez South Africa | Mondelez: Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate | Selfish to Shareable: Cadbury’s South African Success Story | Sustained Success - Products, Services |
| Bronze | Joe Public | Amnesty International | Amnesty International | Faeces Ink: Reigniting Attention Around a National Shame | Social Good - Brands / Positive Change |
| Bronze | 99cents | Shoprite Group of Companies | Checkers | Little Shop Goes Xtra | Omni-Channel Shopper Solution / Commerce & Shopper Effies |
| Bronze | Joe Public | Amnesty International | Amnesty International | Faeces Ink: Reigniting Attention Around a National Shame | Media Innovation - Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies |
| Bronze | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris | Savanna Cider | Savanna South Africa | Savanna Neat: It’s Giving | Marketing Innovation Solutions |
| Bronze | Ogilvy | Volkswagen Souh Africa | Volkswagen | #ShouldaGotAVivo: VW’s Masterclass on end-of-product-life-cycle marketing disruption. | Marketing Disruptors |
| Bronze | Ogilvy | The Gates Foundation | The Gates Foundation | Influence With Impact: #ForeverWena’s Culture-Driven Approach to Youth HIV Awareness | Influencer Marketing |
| Bronze | Joe Public | Nedbank | Nedbank | Bank Your Time - How Nedbank reframed digital banking by turning time into a currency | Finance |
| Bronze | Ogilvy | The Gates Foundation | The Gates Foundation | FROM SHAME TO SELF-LOVE: How #FOREVERWENA Revolutionised HIV Prevention. | Disease Awareness & Education: Non-Profit |
| Bronze | M+C Saatchi Abel | Mr D | Mr D | How Mr D got South Africa’s vote of approval during elections | Current Events |
| Bronze | Ogilvy | SAB (AB InBev) | Carling Black Label | From Decline to Dominance: Carling Black Label’s 8-Year Journey of Purpose-Driven Sustained Success. | Beverages - Alcohol |
The big take-out: The 2025 winners are a reminder that effectiveness isn’t a buzzword; it’s the discipline of making strategy, creativity and measurement work as one.
