Ubuntu Awards 2010

This annual award (now in its third year) recognises innovation and vision in marketing South Africa as a leisure destination, with entrants competing to win a £25,000 prize with which to breathe life into their proposed marketing campaigns.  The competition attracted a very high calibre of submissions and Africa Collection faced a tough Dragon’s Den style panel, led by Duncan Bannatyne, to win the coveted 2010 Ubuntu Awards.  

The company walks away with a £25,000 marketing fund to implement its suggested 'South Africa - Expect the Unexpected' promotion, which focuses on effectively communicating the country's outstanding opportunities for activity and adventure to a variety of market sectors Africa Collection fought off some very stiff competition in its bid to win the award. A total of 70 operators were in with a chance, with this number being reduced by the judging panel to a shortlist of six. 

After much deliberation, Africa Collection was chosen as the winner thanks to the ingenuity and originality of its proposal, coupled with its thorough and well-articulated understanding of both the product and themarketplace.  "Adventure is one of our major messages for the coming year," said Lebohang Mokhetsi, UK Country manager for South African Tourism, "so the focus on Africa Collection's exciting new adventure programme (featuring adrenaline sports, camping safaris and voluntourism, among others) was a major plus-point in itsproposal.  That, together with its highly original and well-researched 'teaser' campaign, were enough to convince us that this was indeed a company that could deliver a successful strategy to drive sales and attract market share from our key competitor destinations”

Africa Collection's 'Expect the Unexpected' campaign impressed the judges with its multifaceted approach containing both traditional and non-traditional marketing technologies.  The winning proposal also made clever use of social media and viral marketing, effectively setting a new industry standard for marketing South Africa's incredibly diverse tourism product.