Hip Hop is proving to transcend so many walls, genres and fields lately and this is testament to that fact. Last year we saw Riky Rick win a whole Loerie Award for his Exodus short film which was directed by Kyle Lewis. The Loeries are a big deal in the advertising world okay?
We're talking about the Bookmarks now though, these are the digital advertising awards and SA Hip Hop showed face this year. Khuli Chana’s One Source collaboration with Absolut was both the most awarded and most nominated advertising campaign at the 2017 Bookmarks winning 7 of its 14 nominations. Egg Fllms’ Sunu directed the music video and brand films for the Native VML campaign, which won the only Gold in the Branded Content category as well as four Silvers and two Bronzes. MAJOR KEY ALERT!
One Source wasn’t the only music video to feature prominently at the Bookmarks. Arcade Content director Kyle Lewis won a Silver Craft award in the Online Video Production category for Mr Madumane (Big $pendah), his Cassper Nyovest music video as part of King James’ Conspicuous Saving Sanlam campaign. Mr Madumane was the centerpiece of a larger campaign, which challenged Cassper and Pearl Thusi to live sparingly for National Savings Month (2016) encouraging their fans to embrace a future that is low on debt and high on savings. The Conspicuous Saving campaign also won Bronze for Integrated Multi-Platform Campaign.
Cassper Nyovest 'Mr Madumane (Big $pendah)' music video, directed by Kyle Lewis from Egg Films on Vimeo.
Kyle also took home a Bronze in the Branded Content category for 011Beats, Volkswagen’s collaboration with Kwesta and Dabone to find the sound of Jozi. Kwesta and Dabone spent one night in the new Volkswagen Polo Beats, driving around Jozi, using geo-location tech to hunt for the city’s diverse sounds. While their night was live-streamed, Kwesta wrote the lyrics, with some help from his social media fans, while Dabone proved the car’s sound system is so good it can double as a recording studio, creating a single and a music video in one night. The Ogilvy Cape Town campaign also won two Silvers and a second Bronze. Yerrre! Kyle is the plug yo'll!
