Evolve Africa has on Wednesday announced the third Uganda Marketing Excellence Awards (UMEAs), under the theme `Celebrating Ideas That Work.`
Now in its 3rd year, the awards slated for Friday December 1st, 2023, aim at giving brands, agencies and marketers an opportunity to showcase their marketing successes, and amplify the quality of their businesses.
The announcement follows a successful 2022 edition, where a total of 11 winners bagged accolades and bragging rights for having exhibited the best marketing strategy executions across the Ugandan market.
The UMEAs 2023 edition was announced at a press conference held at the Kampala Serena Hotel, on Wednesday September 20th 2023.
Evolve Africa, the organisers of the prestigious Marketers Biggest celebration, said this year’s edition will be a red carpet and black-tie event, and will take place on December 1st, 2023, at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
Addressing the media, Evolve Africa Co-Founder Shafique Ssemakula, said the awards span all aspects of the marketing profession, including; Communications, Advertising and Public Relations.
“The UMEAs will explore how well brands, marketers and their agency partners have leveraged different media channels, digital and traditional, to create campaigns that have made a powerful impact on their target audiences, and businesses,” Ssemakula said.
Ssemakula also highlighted the 2023 new partnerships the event has attracted from some of the leading brands in the country;
“This year we are proud to be joined by I&M Bank Uganda, the leading financial growth partner. Our partnership is the beginning of a long term relationship that we hope to be an abler for growth of the marketing industry as a whole,” Ssemakula remarked.
Ssemakula said entries for participation in the UMEAs 2023 are open via www.umeawards.org, and emphasized that participation is free and open to all organizations that have engaged in marketing campaigns with potential to win them an award.
The awards categories
The UMEAs 2023 will have new special categories of ‘Best ESG campaign Award, Best not for profit/social good award, Rising agency of the year as the newest additions to this year’s awards list.
The UMEAs 2023 awards categories include;
1. Advertising campaign of the year
2. Best use of partnership marketing
3. Best use of digital marketing
4. PR Campaign of the year
5. Best innovation- new product/ service/process
6. Experiential marketing Campaign of the year
7. Best Not for profit/Social good campaign*NEW- For entry but not for public vote
8. Best ESG campaign *NEW-For entry but not for public vote
9. Rising Agency of the year- For entry but not for public vote
10. Agency of the year-For Entry not for public vote
11. Marketing Campaign of the year-For entry but not for public vote
12. UMEAs Marketing Pioneer Award- (Not for entry and public vote.)
The jury
Jury Lead: John Paul Okwir
Evolve Africa also presented a six-member jury of renowned industry professionals that was selected based on leadership, contribution towards the profession, experience, and academic qualifications.
The jury will oversee the nomination and critical awards winner selection for the UMEAs 2023.
Ssemakula noted that the jury shall determine all nominations, but the public vote shall that shall be transparently conducted on the UMEAs website, will be considered for six (6) of the eleven (11) categories of the awards.
“The jury shall solely make the decision on the winners of the four other categories. The major aim of establishing a jury, is to ensure professionalization of the processes, credibility, transparency, and fairness,” Ssemakula noted.
The jury includes; Dr Benedict Mugerwa PhD (Head professional courses, UMI), Ngulumi Immaculate Nabatte(Chief Manager Marketing & Branding, CentenaryBank), John Paul Okwi (Senior Manager events & Sponsorships, MTN Uganda and the Jury President), Rogers Anguzu (Commercial Director, Crown Beverages Ltd) Barbra Arimi Teddy (Head Marketing& Communications, NSSF), as well as Jackie Namara, (CEO IguruConsult Ltd).
Ssemakula said that the nomination criteria and eventual winners for the Uganda Marketing Excellence Awards 2023 shall be based on three major aspects; alignment to strategy, implementation & Impact based on objectives set.
“To submit entry for any of the categories, one should simply visit the UMEAS website, or follow this link: https://umeawards.org/entry-submission-form/
The deadline for entries for the UMEAs 2023 edition is October 22nd, 2023.
The winners of the UMEAS 2023 will be announced on December 1st, 2023, the awards gala on December 1st at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
The UMEAS 2023 are organized by Evolve Africa and proudly sponsored by; I&M Bank Uganda, Daily Monitor, KFM, NTV, Spark TV, NSSF, Equity Bank, Kampala Serena Hotel, UDB, Radio City, Matooke Republic, Kadanke Brand House, Wango App and Centenary Bank.
