Forge By Brave Drives Innovation As Sponsor Of Key Categories At The 2025 New Generation Awards

Best Use of Technical Innovation by an Agency.2. Best use of AI in a Corporate Marketing Campaign.

Musa Kalenga

The sponsorship underscores Brave Group’s ongoing dedication to driving innovation and excellence in the marketing and communications industry, enabling brands to leverage the power of technology for tangible results.

This announcement follows a landmark year for Brave Group and Forge by Brave. In late September 2024, Brave Group was honoured with eleven accolades at the 2024 New Generation Awards for its pioneering work with Nedbank, all powered by the Forge platform. These awards recognised campaigns that leveraged Forge’s advanced AI capabilities to deliver exceptional results, creativity, and local relevance.

Launched in September 2024, Forge by Brave has acquired 145 customers in just ten months, thanks to its effective and efficient marketing efforts.

“Forge is an AI-powered platform that reshapes how campaigns are created, developed and delivered. Connected to the top AI platforms, with Forge, marketers can input a brief and generate a complete marketing strategy, creative concepts, social media posts, assets, and even production – all in one place – efficiently and effectively,” says Musa Kalenga, group chief executive officer of Brave Group.

Forge by Brave stands out for its user-friendly interface, agility, and ability to strike a balance between data-driven insights and creative execution. The platform enables marketers to implement campaigns quickly, optimise in real-time, and achieve deeper local resonance by catering to the unique needs of emerging markets and diverse cultural contexts.

“With Forge, the Brave Group is democratising AI for marketers by giving businesses a tool that brings advanced AI capabilities to all marketers on a single platform that’s easy to use,” adds Kalenga.

Stephen Paxton, founder of the New Gen Awards, states: “We are pleased to collaborate with Forge by Brave for this year’s New Gen Awards. Within a mere 13 years, this platform has successfully adapted its offerings to meet the needs of a diverse audience comprised of future-ready marketers and creatives.”

“It is a significant honour to partner with a brand such as Forge, which has also experienced remarkable growth over the past 10 months, propelled by its effective marketing strategies and operational efficiency. This growth aligns seamlessly with the mission of the awards, which prioritises performance at its core,” Paxton says.

The awards are recognised as the most significant independent, performance-based accolades in social-first marketing, digital media, AI, creativity, integrated marketing, and online technology. They represent the highest level of achievement in these dynamic fields.

The New Gen Awards celebrate innovators among corporations, agencies, and individuals who implement creative strategies and utilise advanced technology to enhance their brands and products, meeting the changing demands of today’s consumers.

With 60 industry-specific categories, the awards ignite a spirit of excellence and challenge participants to push the boundaries of innovation, setting new benchmarks for all to aspire to. The awards are judged on strategy, innovation, creativity, content, results, reach, and engagement. In 2024, the twelfth edition of the awards attracted over 500 submissions from 120 businesses and agencies.

For more info on the 2025 awards, go to: https://www.newgenawards.co.za/pages/awards

About Brave Group

Brave Group is a 100% Black-owned, tech-forward marketing company that delivers fully integrated brand solutions, combining creativity, strategy, and technology. Brave is a consortium of specialised businesses that include House of Brave (an integrated creative advertising agency), Forge by Brave (a proprietary AI platform), BOLD (a PR and corporate communications company), and Bravado (an experiential marketing firm). These Brave companies work together seamlessly to create innovative, relevant solutions that shape culture and power measurable business value. Brave’s clients include Unilever, Tiger Brands, African Bank, Accenture, and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University). A future-fit creative force rooted in inclusive excellence and powered by innovation; Brave Group is a shared-value company. Brave harnesses the philosophy of Ubuntu and meaningful participation to serve employees, clients, communities, and the environment. Why? Because when one thrives, all thrive. For more information, go to: https://bravegroup.co.za/