Effie Awards South Africa announces 2026 finalists

Effie Awards South Africa has announced 45 finalists for the 2026 programme, following the first round of judging. Following 2025’s record-setting programme, the 2026 Effie Awards South Africa recorded a further 29% increase in entries, reflecting growing participation from agencies, clients and specialist partners and reinforcing the value placed on marketing effectiveness across the industry.

Issued by Association for Communication and Advertising

30 Jul 2026

Effie Awards South Africa announces 2026 finalists

Hosted by the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), the Effie Awards remain the globally recognised benchmark for marketing effectiveness. Reaching finalist status is already a significant achievement, recognising work that has demonstrated the potential to meet Effie’s rigorous standard for effectiveness through clear objectives, strategic thinking, creativity and measurable results.

“Finalist status at Effie means the work has stood up to a process that interrogates not only the idea, but the challenge, the strategy, how the idea was brought to life and the results achieved,” said Gillian Rightford, ACA executive director for Effie South Africa. “With a record number of cases entered this year, the continued growth of the programme reflects how seriously the industry is taking effectiveness. These finalists represent the cases that have shown the discipline, ambition and evidence required to compete at the highest level.”

All Effie finalists earn points towards the global Effie Index, giving both agency and client teams recognition beyond the local programme. Finalists now progress to the next stage of adjudication, where Round 2 judging will determine which campaigns will go on to win Bronze, Silver and Gold, with the most effective work considered for the prestigious Grand Effie.

Effie South Africa extends its appreciation to the moderators who guided the adjudication sessions, managed the judging rooms and helped keep discussions focused and on track: Refilwe Maluleke (Jury co-chair), Ahmed Tilly (Jury co-chair), Franco D'Onofrio, Sue Napier, Sarah Dexter, and Quantin Montello, and the Effie Score Review, comprising the Jury co-chairs, Adeshia Singh and Mpume Ngobese, for their time and expertise in supporting the integrity of the judging process.

Appreciation is also extended to the Emeris students who provided valuable technical support during judging.

Effie South Africa congratulates all 2026 finalists. This is a significant achievement, recognising work that has demonstrated the potential to meet Effie’s global standard for marketing effectiveness.

Round 2 judging will take place on Thursday, 13 August 2026, followed by Grand Effie adjudication on Thursday, 10 September 2026. Winners will be announced at the 2026 Effie Awards South Africa Gala on Tuesday, 20 October 2026.

2025 Effie Awards South Africa finalists

ENTERING ORGANISATION	ENTRY	CATEGORY	PRODUCT / BRAND
Boundless	Forever Committed	Corporate Reputation	South African Breweries
Boundless	Rein In The Pain	Non-Profit	NSPCA
Clockwork	The Bare Minimum	Influencer Marketing	NIVEA
Clockwork	Protect What Built You	Insurance	Old Mutual Business Insure
Clockwork	The Bare Minimum	Marketing Disruptors	NIVEA
Clockwork	Escape It	Media Idea / Media Effies	The Salvation Army x National GBV Command Centre
Clockwork	Escape It	Non-Profit	The Salvation Army x National GBV Command Centre
Clockwork	Escape It	Small Budgets - Non-Profit, Products, Services	The Salvation Army x National GBV Command Centre
Clockwork	Escape It	Social Good – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion	The Salvation Army x National GBV Command Centre
Edelman South Africa	The Unburied Casket	Non-Profit	Women For Change
Edelman South Africa	The Unburied Casket	Social Good - Brands / Positive Change	Women For Change
Grid Worldwide	Inverroche House of Amber	Experiential Marketing: Live & Digital	Inverroche Amber
Halo	How Totes Relentless Consistency Keeps Paying Off for Pineapple	Sustained Success - Products, Services	Pineapple
Joe Public	Changing How People C Us: How Cell C Cracked the Toughest Code in Marketing – Shifting Perception	David vs. Goliath (Situational)	Cell C
Joe Public	Own the Hours Others Abandoned	Delivery Services	Uber Eats
Joe Public	Changing How People C Us: How Cell C Cracked the Toughest Code in Marketing – Shifting Perception	Internet & Telecom	Cell C
Joe Public	Own the Hours Others Abandoned	Marketing Disruptors	Uber Eats
Joe Public	The Revealing Pour: A print ad that went beyond ink and paper.	Media Innovation - Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies	Castle Milk Stout
Joe Public	Out Of Your Home: How We Made Flying Fish impossible to ignore	Media Innovation - Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies	Flying Fish
Joe Public	Takealot: the marketing case for hyperlocal marketing	Multicultural - Products, Services	Takealot
Joe Public	Nothing to Bite Into. Everything to Talk About.	Restaurants	Chicken Licken
Joe Public	Takealot: the marketing case for hyperlocal marketing	Retail	Takealot
Joe Public	The Revealing Pour: A print ad that went beyond ink and paper.	Small Budgets - Non-Profit, Products, Services	Castle Milk Stout
Joe Public	Hard‑working Professionals: How Criminals Arrested a Sales Slump	Finance	Nedbank
Joe Public	Hard‑working Professionals: How Criminals Arrested a Sales Slump	Marketing Disruptors	Nedbank
Joe Public	Hard‑working Professionals: How Criminals Arrested a Sales Slump	Seasonal Marketing - Products, Services	Nedbank
KAMuses Consultancy	Add Hope The Biggest Hunger Hack	Corporate Reputation	KFC Africa
KAMuses Consultancy	Add Hope The Biggest Hunger Hack	Social Good - Brands / Positive Change	KFC Africa
McCann Joburg	Check My Beat: Heart Health Tracks	Small Budgets - Non-Profit, Products, Services	SA Heart® (South African Heart Association)
Mscsports	Possibility in Play	Experiential Marketing: Live & Digital	Telkom
Ogilvy	When love Is the Cover Story: How Vodacom Turned “Seeing” Abuse Into a National Intervention System.	Social Good - Brands / Positive Change	Vodacom Foundation
Ogilvy	What Happens When Search Never Leaves The Gen Z Feed?	Youth Marketing	Google
Ogilvy	Obsessively Building KFC's Taste Platform to Unlock a New Generation of Fanatics	Sustained Success - Products, Services	KFC South Africa
Ogilvy	Forever Golf - How VW Turned a 47‑Year Nickname Tradition into a Record‑Breaking Golf 8 Launch.	Brand Content & Entertainment	Volkswagen South Africa
Ogilvy	Carling Black Label - Be The Champion Coach: reimagined as the highest-stakes fan mechanic in SA football	Engaged Community	Carling Black Label
Ogilvy	Forever Golf - How VW Turned a 47‑Year Nickname Tradition into a Record‑Breaking Golf 8 Launch.	Engaged Community	Volkswagen South Africa
Ogilvy	Carling Black Label - Be The Champion Coach: reimagined as the highest-stakes fan mechanic in SA football	Experiential Marketing: Live & Digital	Carling Black Label
Ogilvy	Forever Golf - How VW Turned a 47‑Year Nickname Tradition into a Record‑Breaking Golf 8 Launch.	Experiential Marketing: Live & Digital	Volkswagen South Africa
Ogilvy	How Vaseline Rewrote the Rules of Trust in the Social Era	Marketing Disruptors	Vaseline PJ
Ogilvy	When Everyone Went Cheap, KFC Went Bottomless	Seasonal Marketing - Products, Services	KFC South Africa
Ogilvy	TikTok Test Drive: How Audi turned TikTok's scroll into a steering wheel	Social Media	Audi
PHD South Africa	Uber Eats Delivers groceries till midnight	Media Innovation - Emerging & New Channels, Existing Channels / Media Effies	Uber
Promise Group	The Draught Story	Sustained Success - Products, Services	Castle Lite
VML	Insure Your Unsure	Insurance	Hollard
VML	The Perfumistic Launch That Made Laundry Desirable	New Product/Service Introduction / Commerce & Shopper Effies	Comfort

Effie Awards South Africa is hosted by the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) and sponsored by Nedbank, South African Breweries (AB InBev), Heineken Beverages, Emeris, IAS, Eat Big Fish, Investec, Boundless and Motion Ads.

For more information visit the Effie South Africa website at https://www.effie.org/partners/south-africa/ or visit www.acasa.co.za.

Join the conversation - #EffieAwardsSA

Follow @EffieSouthAfrica on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and @EffieAwardsSA on X to keep up to date on the latest developments.