Media Industry Heroes crowned at MOST AWARDS 2015| #eBizWires

More than 600 media leaders flocked to the 7th Annual MOST Awards ceremony at the Linder Auditorium on the eve of the 9th September to see Times Media Newspapers win the Overall Media Owners Award and The MediaShop, Johannesburg, take home the Overall Media Agency Award.

The MOST Awards is an independent web-based survey commissioned by Wag the Dog Publishers and conducted by Freshly Ground Insights (FGI) to inspire media agencies and media owners to improve their knowledge and service delivery to their clients. Media owners and media agencies vote for each other against criteria that have been set by the industry.

The MOST Legend and Rising Star Awards are presented to individuals in recognition of their commitment and integrity. Nominations for these awards are submitted by respondents to the survey and the winner was selected by a panel of previous winners using specially selected criteria. These awards cannot be won more than once by any nominee.

Winners of the highly prized awards for 2015 are:

Media Owner Legend – Chris Hitchings, CEO of DStv Media Sales;
Media Agency Legend – Rob Smuts of RMS Media
The Media Owner Rising Star – Brett Tucker, MD of Grass Roots Media
Media Agency Rising Star – Ilan Lazarus of PHD, Cape Town

Leading media commentator and mentor, Gordon Patterson, received the MOST Shepherd Award, in recognition of his selfless contribution to the industry.

Originator of the awards, Sandra Gordon, CEO and founder of Wag the Dog Publishers says that the MOST Awards, “enhance the relationship between media owners’ sales and marketing teams and media agency personnel.”

The MOST Lamb Award, for companies that do not receive the minimum number of 30 votes, but who excel in terms of great service, went to media owner Mark1 (Digital) and media agency Posterscope, Johannesburg. Winner of the Best Specialist Agency award went to PHD, Johannesburg while The MediaShop in Johannesburg scored honours with the award for Best Full-Service Agency.

Media Owner Category Awards

The media owner category winners were varied and some were first-time winners. In the radio category, Mediamark Radio took the honours while Cinemark won in the Television/Cinema category. MMAP won in the Out of Home (OOH) category, the SpaceStation pipped other digital media owners to the post while Times Media Newspapers garnered the honours in the newspapers category and Caxton Magazines won the magazines category.

The full list of winners is listed at the bottom of this release.

The MOST Africa Awards

Due to a growing interest in Africa as an economic growth area, a new category was introduced this year for media owners Africa sales teams and for South African based agencies that strategically plan and book media in the rest of Africa.

The MOST Africa Media Owner category was won by The MediaShop, Johannesburg while The MOST Africa Media Agency Award was won by Initiative Media, Johannesburg.

Sandra, CEO and founder of Wag the Dog Publishers, who is the originator of the MOST Awards says she is delighted at the participation in the awards which saw a healthy number of participants. Brad Aigner, CEO of FGI says that, as usual the data analytics were reviewed in consultation with statistical experts at Consulta. “The methodology used managed any instances where small statistically insignificant variances in overall scores occurred between companies.”

“Specifically, voters were asked to nominate the best performer in each category in which they voted. This metric was used to ‘break the tie’. To ensure the integrity of the MOST Awards, the survey method and data analytics were reviewed by the analytics department at the University of Pretoria and given a clean audit,” Aigner said.

Full List of MOST AWARDs winners 2015

Overall Media Owner Award 2015 Times Media Newspapers

2nd Caxton Magazines

3rd MMAP

Overall Media Agency Award 2015 The MediaShop Johannesburg

2nd PHD Johannesburg

3rd OMG Digital

Media Agency Legend Award Rob Smuts, RMS Media

Media Owner Legend Award Chris Hitchings, DStv Media Sales

Media Owner Rising Star Award Brett Tucker, Grass Roots Media

Media Agency Rising Star Award Ilan Lazarus, PHD

MOST 2015 Shepherd Award Gordon Patterson

Media Agency Lamb Posterscope, Johannesburg

2nd Universal McCann

3rd Carat Cape Town

Media Owner Lamb Mark1 – Digital Category

2nd Ramsay Media (Magazines Category)

3rd Graffiti (OOH Category)

Radio Category 2015 Winner Mediamark Radio

2nd Primedia Broadcasting

3rd United Stations

Television/Cinema Category Winner Cinemark

2nd DStv Media Sales

3rd e.tv

Out of Home Category Winner MMAP

2nd Continental Outdoor Media

3rd ProVantage

Digital Category 2015 Winner The SpaceStation

2nd Mediamark Digital

3rd Google Inc.

Newspapers Category Winner Times Media Newspapers

2nd Independent Newspapers

3rd NAB Caxton (now Spark Media)

Magazines Category Winner Caxton Magazines

2nd Media24 Lifestyle

3rd Ndalo Media

Best Specialist Agency Winner PHD Johannesburg

2nd OMG Digital

3rd PHD Cape Town

Best Full Service Agency The MediaShop Johannesburg

2nd OMG Media Direction, Johannesburg

3rd Vizeum South Africa Cape Town

Media in Africa – Media Owners Primedia Outdoor

2nd Continental Outdoor Media

3rd DStv Media Sales

Media in Africa – Award winner was Primedia Outdoor

2nd The MediaShop Johannesburg

3rd Mindshare

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