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Local judges for Caples announced

The local judges for the John Caples International Awards have been announced - Draftfcb Cape Town's executive creative director, Glynn Venter; marketing communications agency 34's creative director, Richard Phillips; QuirkeMarketing creative director, Emma Carpenter; Studio4332 executive creative director, Stu Stobbs; and Trigger/Isobar's executive creative director, Roelof van Wyk.

The Caples Awards, honouring the best in direct and interactive marketing around the world, was founded in 1978 by Andi Emerson, a direct marketing pioneer, to honour well-recognised copywriter John Caples.

With international chairs in over 40 countries, it is run by industry volunteers and is judged by more than 80 active, senior-level, international creative professionals. Over 200 creatives and marketers from around the world will attend the annual dinner and presentation in New York City in March 2011.

Local judge chair, Venter, said the Caples Awards are open to any agency, client or individual involved in direct marketing and relationship marketing communication throughout the world.

Those agencies who believe an international 'gong' would look good in their trophy cabinets alongside their Assegai Awards still have time to make it happen - the deadline for entries is still two weeks away: September 27, 2010.

"Entering the John Caples Awards is a wonderful opportunity for South African agencies to benchmark themselves against the best on a global basis, especially seeing as judges only drawn from the ranks of creatives, and then only creatives who have had at least five years' experience," he said.

"Judging is based on a creative solution to the marketing problem taking concept, copy and art direction into account across many channels including direct mail, print, digital, branded website, e-commerce web sites, micro sites, e-mails, and online advertising. There are also categories for ambient and guerrilla marketing, mobile marketing, viral video marketing and out-of-home, radio and social media.

"I am delighted that judges of the calibre of Richard, Emma, Stu and Roelof have agreed to join the South Africa judging contingent; I am certain that they will bring a wealth of knowledge to the process as well as gain valuable insights to the genre by being exposed to the best work agencies around the world can offer," Venter said.

Philips has been in the industry for 10 years, starting at Lowe Bull and moving onto Tequila Cape Town, and then TBWA Hunt Lascaris, before becoming a founding partner of 34. He's proud to have taken the company from three people operating out of a coffee shop to an agency of some 30 employees. He heads up a small, strong studio of 10 people across a wide range of disciplines. He is also creative director of 34's newest divisions, 34 Sport (focussed on maximising sports sponsorships) and and 34 Woman (an agency specialising in talking to women; who are responsible for over 70% of all buying decisions in South Africa).

Ex-AKQA and Ogilvy, Carpenter has vast experience in the beautiful science that is digital design. She leads a team of 15 designers, copywriters and web developers who love the creative use of technology. The team creates digital assets ranging from microsites and eCommerce sites to Facebook apps to mobile apps and everything in between.

Van Wyk has been part of the digital revolution since the arrival of an Atari 2600 and a Sony Walkman graced his Christmas Socks in small town South Africa in the 1980s. However, he has participated commercially in this revolution since 1996, designing and marketing this very same world to its potential customers. Clients list from Nike and Coca-Cola, to Telecomms and banking products.

Stobbs started in advertising in the 90s. After mooching around a few agencies as copywriter and then creative director, he started studio4332, a creative shop based upon ideas. If it's creative, they're into it - or trying to be.

Venter, an art director by trade, studied locally and internationally and is today executive creative director of Draftfcb SA, Cape Town. He is also part of Cape Peninsula University of Technology board/committee for advertising and design, and enjoys sharing his knowledge by lecturing at various institutions.

15 Sep 2010 16:59

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