It was all glitz and glamour at the Exceptional Marketers Awards held on October 30 at the Carribea Bay Hotel with as guests followed the event’s theme, Met Gala.

The dress theme for the Awards was Met Gala with colours gold, blue red and white. The colours resonated with the awards dinner sponsor colours Nyaradzo and Zimgold.

The Exceptional Marketing Awards are an annual event that seek to recognise and honour organisations and people who would have exhibited exceptional marketing prowess and at the same time showing professionalism at the highest level.

Zimnat Group Marketing Executive Tatenda Marongwe was adjudged as the National Top Marketer of the Year at the recently held awards ceremony.

Marongwe leads a team of creatives that have come up with interesting innovations and advertisements in the past months.

Upon being called out as the Top Marketer, Marongwe received a thunderous applause as well as a standing ovation from the guests at the awards ceremony.

This award is given to an individual who has spearheaded or implemented a financially viable campaign. The award winner should be innovative and should be a team player.

They are required to demonstrate the highest level of customer relationship management skills and extraordinary success despite unavailability of adequate resources.

The individual should also have been with the company for at least 6 months.

The second runner up for this award was Linda Mariga, the Marketing Manager of United Refineries Limited and first runner up was PPC Zimbabwe General Manager Sales and Marketing, Nkosana Mapuma.

One of the night’s tightly contested categories was that of the Marketing Oriented CEO. The category had two second runner ups namely Zimnat’s CEO Mustafa Sachak, Dandemutande’ CEO, Never Ncube and Ingwebu’s Dumisani Mhlanga as first Runner.

The award went to Nyaradzo CEO, Philip Mataranyika.

The award criteria looks at the following, forward thinking, a risk taker and always comes up with innovative ideas. He/She must motivate and inspire marketers and other aspiring marketers around, ensure that executions meet objectives.

The CEO must actively share responsibility with his or her team, executes excellent communication skills and customer relationship management for both internal and external staff. He/She must appreciate the use of IT based strategies and Set high standards of integrity.

His /her organization must be producing excellent results and outputs.

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority’s Godfrey ‘Chief’ Koti scooped the National Public Relations Practitioner of the Year 2021 with Multi Choice’ Elizabeth Dziva finishing as second runner up and Doreen Dzamatira from ZITF Company as first runner up respectively.

The award is given to an individual who has managed to maintain good corporate reputation for the organisation that he or she works for and has good media relations. He/she must maintain good relationships with both internal and external stakeholders and have the ability to effectively respond to public inquiries and complaints.

Econet’s Kudzai Munemo was voted as the National Brand Manager of the Year followed by Getrude Chipamba and Gamuchirai Sibanda as first and second runners up respectively.

The National Sales Manager award went to Proton’s Daniel Chipato, followed by Sharon Musodza from ZimSwitch and Anotida Kereke from Doves Holdings.

The Best National Jingle / Radio Advert of the Year award went to Zimgold for their Zimgold flava town. The first runner up in this category was Ingwebu for their Royal Brew jingle and Econet for their Digital Lifestyle network jingle.

Zimgold won the Best National Video / TV Advert for their Zimgold flava town. On second spot was Nyaradzo Group – Sahwira wear and win advert and Ingwebu was second Runner Up for their The Royal Brew Icalabash advert.

The Best National Print advert of the year went to Nyaradzo Holdings for their Nyaradzo wear and Win Advert. The first and second runner ups in this category were Zimgold and PSMAS.

Zimnat Parkade Billboard was adjudged Best National Region Outdoor Media Advert of the Year 2021 followed by DSTV premier league and Econet’s –Live the Difference.

Again, Zimnat scooped the Best National Social Media and Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year 2021 Winner with their WhatsApp Drama (Jabu Homecoming) , beating Zimgold and Bulawayo Chiefs in that category.

Impala Car Rental was adjudged as having the Best National Website of the Year.

The Exceptional National Customer Experience of the Year award was awarded to Nyaradzo Holdings with Cimas and Engen also finishing as runner ups in that category.

The award for the Best New Product or Innovation went to PPC for their Surerange cement with Econet’s – 4g mifi kambudzi and Proton’s  – sponge cake mix in that same category.

Yanaya was adjudged as the Best National Marketing Oriented SME of the Year with Image Magic Corporate and Powerlive as the first and second runner up in that category.

The Best National Marketing Services Supplier of the year award went to Barkers Ogilvy. Askeland Media and Image Magic Corporate were first and second runners up respectively.

The National Promotional Campaign award went to Nyaradzo Holdings for their Sahwira Wear and Win campaign.

For their Corporate Mad Campaign for Recycling , Delta Corporation won the National Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign of the Year award followed by Trek  for their Christmas Benefit and Green Fuel  for the – Vimbo “Hope for a Better Future initiatives.

Congratulations to all the winners!!