Guinness and Johnnie Walker take top honours at the Uganda Marketing Excellence Awards

The black-tie event saw several organisations and individuals in the marketing profession receive awards for the excellent marketing ideas, campaigns and outstanding execution.

Uganda Breweries’ brands, Guinness and Johnnie Walker emerged top winners of the evening for their disruptive campaigns.

Guinness emerged overall winner, as their Black Shines Brightest campaign was named the Marketing Campaign of the year, while The Walkers campaign by Johnnie Walker, won the Best Use of Experiential Marketing.

“It is such an honour to be recognised here tonight. A lot of hard work and creativity was put into the Black Shines Brightest campaign. I wish to say that tonight is a reflection of the statement; Team Work Makes the Dream Work,” Elizabeth Mutamuliza, the Brand Manager Premium Beers at Uganda Breweries Ltd, said in her acceptance speech.

Winners of the night were chosen based on big concepts (ideas), insights driving the ideas, integration of the communication across different platforms, impact as well as execution.

Christine Kyokunda, the Johnnie Walker Uganda Brand Manager dedicated the award to consumers and everyone that worked on The Walkers campaign; “This award is by, and for the team that worked effortlessly on The Walkers campaign. This award is for the Walkers and our consumers that welcomed us in the different parts of Uganda where we turned up with our Walkers campaign, thank you,” Kyokunda said.

According to Evolve Africa Co-Founder Shafique Ssemakula, the nominees of the Uganda Marketing Excellence Awards (UMEAS) 2022 were carefully selected by a six-member jury that comprised of respected top marketers.

While the public vote determined the winners for seven of the eleven categories, the jury solely determined the winners of the four top categories that included; Agency of the Year (digital), Agency of the Year (traditional media), Marketing Campaign of the Year and UMEA most accomplished Marketer of the year.

Members of the jury included, Dr. Benedict Mugerwa, Head of Professional Courses at Uganda Management Institute, Ngulumi Immaculate Nabatte, Chief Marketing Officer, Centenary Bank, Johnpaul Okwi, Manager Sponsorships and Events, MTN, Jackie Rukare Namara, CEO, Iguru Consult Ltd, Rogers Anguzu, Head of Marketing, Vision Group and Barbra Arimi Teddy, Head of Marketing and Communications at National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

Some of the other notable winners of the night included Dr. Benedict Mugerwa, who took the UMEAs Most Accomplished Marketer award, while the Agency of the year (digital media) award went to Zeus the Agency.

The first physical edition of the UMEAs was powered by Evolve Africa and sponsored by; Kampala Serena Hotel, Centenary Bank, NSSF, Radio City, Matooke Republic and Kadanke Brand House.