TBWA\ scoops multiple international agency awards

It’s been a month of wins for TBWA\SA. 

Days after appearing in the Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2022, ranking first place in the advertising sector, TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris has again been named as the number one agency in SA, and TBWA\SA is the number one group for 2021 by The Creative Circle.

In addition to this, Ad Age international has just recognised TBWA\ as the 2022 Network of the Year.

“It’s a tremendous honour to be recognised as one of the most innovative companies in the world, and at home in SA yet again,” says TBWA\SA CEO Luca Gallarelli.

“It’s challenging enough to simply set your sights on winning and being recognised in any of these awards, but to hold onto a leadership position for four years is an extraordinary achievement. If it weren’t for the passion and creativity of the team, TBWA\SA would not be recognised at all.” 

“Globally, these wins put TBWA\SA on par with the likes of Canva, Roblox and SpaceX. It’s a position the company intends to hold, defend and define every day through constant innovation, selling great thinking, and prioritising excellence in creativity.”

The TBWA\Group’s move beyond advertising is key to fuelling these successes, and the work speaks for itself. 

Some of the most notable projects by TBWA\Group include: 

• Juniper Park\TBWA’s “Signal for Help”, a hand gesture created for the Canadian Women’s Foundation that serves as a distress signal for domestic violence. The signal helped to save the life of an abducted teenager when she used it to alert a driver that she needed help. She had learnt the hand gesture on TikTok, where it had been shared millions of times.
• TBWA\Media Arts Lab’s “Hollywood in Your Pocket”, which enlisted Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow to introduce iPhone 13 Pro’s new cinematic mode by shooting five different genre scenes including romance, war, gangster, space thriller and Western in a campaign that extended into an interactive digital experience. 
• TBWA sibling agency, Lucky Generals, created one of the best ads of the 2021 Super Bowl to show off Amazon’s new Alexa, giving the virtual assistant the only body that could possibly compare — Michael B Jordan’s — on the world’s biggest media stage. 
• TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris SA’s “Shwii by Nissan”, which demonstrates how Shwii by Nissan uses descriptive language to help users navigate through SA’s local roads on Waze. Voice commands are available in isiZulu and local SA slang, and downloadable via a link or QR code that allows SA motorists to navigate the road in their mother tongue.

TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris SA has taken home three 2021 The Creative Circle’s Ad of the Year awards for Shwii by Nissan, including Digital Communication, Radio & Audio and Integrated Campaign. 

“TBWA\SA prides itself on the work it does for clients and on its people. Through them, TBWA\SA is able to make a profound impact on both the industry and culture at large, driving disruption across some of the most dynamic sectors of the economy — represented by its client mix,” says Gallarelli.  

“These wins bear testament to the fact that TBWA\SA is no longer just an advertising agency. The company is a global creative collective that uses creativity as a catalyst for clients’ business transformation, innovating across the total brand experience and driving positive social impact. The TBWA\SA team can’t wait to see what the rest of 2022 has in store.”

This article was paid for by TBWA\The Disruption Company