Five hundred industry leaders, from the corporate and agency sectors gathered for the 11th annual New Generation Awards’ prestigious gala awards ceremony, held on 27 September 2023 at the Hilton Hotel. The event was proudly sponsored by Standard Bank and, Wunderman Thompson South Africa. Modern Marketing is a proud media partner of the event.

The show was hosted by Thabiso Bapela and featured entertainment from SA’s number one Beat Boxer, Morgan Beatbox.

Stephen Paxton, the founder of the awards, said, ‘We saw 400 combined entries submitted this year from a total of 80 corporates, agencies, and individuals; a testament to South Africa’s continued growth within the digital and online tech sectors.’

There was a greater focus on influencer marketing and content-driven campaigns to target audiences and promote brands, with teams becoming more technically minded, resulting in smarter strategies across multiple platforms. The use of clever content drove exciting conversations with high engagement among the communities. The results achieved across several campaigns have been phenomenal.

For the main overall awards, there were a new set of winners this year which included: AAA School of Advertising taking the top spot in the Overall Student Group of the Year award, sponsored by Standard Bank; Dipuo Tshoagong from Wunderman Thompson, who won Best Community Manager of the Year; MJ Khan from Sasol scooping Digital Marketer of the Year; NightVision by Dentsu taking Online Strategy of the Year; Nando’s SA by VMLY&R flame grilling the Digital Brand of the Year; The Digital Plug who won Small Agency of the Year and VMLY&R taking top honours as the Med-Large Agency of the Year; with Nando’s SA by VMLY&R bagging the Overall Social & Digital Corporate of the Year Award.

Paxton concluded, ‘I would like to thank every one of you who entered the awards and made it as finalists. You outdid yourselves and showcased some truly exceptional work. To our 21 esteemed judges, who each marked on average 75 entries, thank you so much for your expertise, time, and efforts.’

‘A big thank you to our media partners Modern Marketing, our Gold Sponsor Standard Bank, and for the fifth year running, our Bronze sponsor Wunderman Thompson South Africa. Your ongoing support is invaluable and greatly appreciated, it goes a long way towards helping New Gen create memorable events.’

2023 Winners