Joe Public Named Agency Of The Year As Creative Circle Celebrates Industry Excellence In Sandton

The Creative Circle Best of the Year Awards took place on Thursday, 5 March and saw Joe Public named Agency of the Year (Image @Creative Circle)

Creative Circle introduced the inaugural Brand of the Year award, recognising the best-performing brand at the 2025 Best of the Year event, which was awarded to City Lodge Hotels after securing two first-place awards in the Digital and Integrated categories.

The Awards took place on Thursday, 5 March in Sandton, with more than 750 guests, underscoring the industry’s appetite to connect and celebrate together.

The Kagiso Connect Cannes Cash Prize

At last year’s Full Circle event, Nick Grubb, CEO of Kagiso Connect, announced a Cannes promotion, a R250,000 cash prize toward a trip to Cannes for the winning team.

Joe Public secured the prize with their Radio campaign for SAB AB InBev’s Hansa, You Deserve a Beer

The campaign also won first place in the radio category.

Highlights and observations

Several clear patterns emerged from this year’s body of work.

While the Radio category, sponsored by Kagiso Connect, received the highest number of entries, the jury noted a need for renewed innovation.

Writing style, production, voice over delivery are all feeling the same. The category remains strong, but the standard must continue to evolve.While print was still celebrated, there was no first-place winner this year.

Film remains resilient despite tightening budgets. The Integrated category continues to perform strongly. Sanlam’s The F-Show was the only deserving winner in the Live Communication category. This is a step up from 2024, when no winners were awarded.

Grid Worldwide reinforced its design credentials with first and second place in Design for their work for the Marble Group: Dictionarium and The Marble Group Cape Town Identity Programme.

Broader discussions also centred on the increasing role of AI, the automation of craft, and the need for continuous innovation. Ultimately, the work itself remains the final measure.

All the winners

Design

1st place: Grid WorldWide, The Marble Group, Marble Cape Town2nd place: Grid WorldWide, The Marble Group, The Dictionarium3rd Place: LePub Johannesburg, Heineken Beverages, The Max Speed Logo

Digital Communication

1st: TBWA \ Hunt Lascaris,City Lodge hotels, SOS Save Our Stay2nd: Bananas, KFC Thailand, Chizalulu Chizalala3rd: VML South Africa, Vaseline, Mntana ka Gogo Heritage Day

PR & Media communication

1st: Boundless, NSPCA, Rein In The Pain2nd: Clockwork, Byron Thomas Properties, Homes Need Pets3rd: The Odd Number, Previdar, Show Ghana Love

Live Communication

1st place: Accenture Song, Sanlam, The F-Show

Mza’Taal

1st: Avatar, Corruption Watch, Corruption Doesn’t Just Steal Money

Out Of Home

1st: Promise, Afrisam, Unwanted Sites2nd: LePub Johannesburg, Heineken Beverages, The Max Speed Logo3rd: Boundless, NSPCA, Rein In The Pain

Print Communication

2nd: Joe Public, SAB (ABInBev), Castle Milk Stout – The Revealing Pour3rd: Bananas, KFC Thailand, Long Live The Taste

Radio & Audio

1st: Joe Public, SAB (ABInBev), Hansa Pilsener - You Deserve A Beer2nd: Avatar, Corruption Watch, Corruption Doesn’t Just Steal Money3rd: Joe Public , Chicken Licken, You Like Things

Film

1st: Bananas, KFC Thailand, Let There Be Cake2nd: Joe Public, Nedbank, Hard Working Professionals3rd: Bananas, KFC Thailand, Missing Piece

Integrated

1st: TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris, City Lodge Hotels, SOS Save Our Stay2nd: Ogilvy South Africa, Volkswagen South Africa, Forever Golf3rd: Joe Public, Chicken Licken, Boneless Bites of Soul

Milestone

The Awards mark a pivotal milestone in the advertising and marketing calendar, contributing to the Overall Best of the year rankings that reflect the top-performing agencies across all Creative Circle accredited award shows, including The One Show, D&AD, Cannes Lions, the Loerie Awards, and of course, the Creative Circle’s own Best of the Year.

Handing over

Carl Willoughby, outgoing Creative Circle chairperson and chief creative officer of TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, formally announced the appointment of Kabelo Moshapalo, CCO of Ogilvy Johannesburg, as the new Chairperson, alongside deputy chair Peter Little, CCO of Publicis Groupe Africa.

Reflecting on his tenure, Willoughby says, “The past two years came with their fair share of challenges, but the experience and responsibility have helped shape who I am.

“I’m grateful for all the lessons and confident that the organisation is in a better place than when I found it. That is every chairperson’s goal: to build on the predecessors’ hard work. Now, Kabelo and Pete get to take things to the next level.”

The evening also saw the unveiling of a new, more user-friendly Creative Circle website. The platform is designed to enhance the user experience and clearly showcase monthly, as well as annual Best of the Year winners, providing ongoing inspiration to the industry.