Awards

At Flow, we believe our work for our clients comes first. We are committed to never doing work with awards first in mind, or doing work only for the purpose of entering awards.

At the Global Smarties Awards for 2023, held at Johannesburg’s Inanda Club on 11 April 2024, Flow won awards in the following categories:

• Real-Time Marketing (gold)

• Contextual Targeting (gold)

• Social Messaging/Chat Apps/Text Messaging (gold)

• Small Budget/Big Impact (silver)

• Personalisation (bronze)

• Best in Show (judges’ award)

The awards, recognising excellence in digital marketing, were presented to Flow for its TriggerMessage app, which harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to identify customers and build their loyalty. It’s used by Carspa, an upmarket car wash based in Illovo, Johannesburg.

Flow Communications was named an 8th Annual Shorty Impact Awards Bronze Honouree for our work on Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day 2022, in the Conservation and Preservation category. The same campaign also won the Audience Honour Award in the Pro Bono Campaign category.

Flow Communications walked away with 10 golds at the 2023 Assegai Awards, including five for TriggerMessage, its AI application for client CarSpa. Flow received 20 accolades in total:

Gold

• Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day 2022: Gold Award in the Campaign for Under R500 000 category

• CarSpa AI Loyalty Campaign: Gold Award in the Emerging Technologies category

• CarSpa AI Loyalty Campaign: Gold Award in the Mobile category

• CarSpa AI Loyalty Campaign: Gold Award in the CRM/Customer Loyalty Campaign category

• CarSpa AI Loyalty Campaign: Gold Award in the Technology & Communication category

• CarSpa AI Loyalty Campaign: Gold Award in the Automotive category

• Launch of the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden’s Braille Trail for the South African National Biodiversity Institute: Gold Award in the Travel, Hospitality & Transportation category

• Daily Maverick’s The Gathering 2022: Gold Award in the Experiential category

• Daily Maverick’s The Gathering 2022: Gold Award in the Publishing, Entertainment, Media & Sports category

• Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day 2022: Gold Award in the Social Media category
  

• Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day 2022: Silver Award in the Not-for-Profit category

• Launch of Air Côte d’Ivoire’s Johannesburg-Abidjan route: Bronze Award in the Travel, Hospitality & Transportation category

• Launch of Air Côte d’Ivoire’s Johannesburg-Abidjan route: Bronze Award in the Integrated Campaign category

• The 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture: Bronze Award in the Social Media category

• The 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture: Bronze Award in the Campaign for Under R500 000 category

• The 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture: Bronze Award in the Not-for-Profit category

• ForAfrika’s Cyclone Freddy campaign, Mozambique: Bronze Award in the Not-for-Profit category

• ForAfrika’s Cyclone Freddy campaign, Mozambique: Bronze Award in the Campaign for Under R500 000 category

• Launch of Air Côte d’Ivoire’s Johannesburg-Abidjan route: Leader Award in the Customer Acquisition Campaign category

• South African National Aids Council’s call for public comment on the draft National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs (2023-2028): Leader Award in the Health, Wellness & Pharmaceutical category

Our team won the Best Marketing & Communications Consultancy award in the 2023 Africa Global Funds Service Providers Awards. More here. 

Flow Communications walked away with 11 awards – including three golds – at the 2023 New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards.

Corporate awards

• Gold for Blogging Excellence, for the Women Presidents Organization: Growing WPO campaign

• Silver for Most Innovative App Developed by a Corporate, for Daily Maverick’s The Gathering 2022

• Silver for Best Online PR Campaign, for the Nelson Mandela Foundation: the 20^th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture

• Bronze for Best Low-Budget Campaign, for CarSpa: AI loyalty campaign

• Bronze for Most Innovative App Developed by a Corporate, for CarSpa: AI loyalty campaign

Agency awards

• Gold for Most Innovative App Developed by an Agency, for Daily Maverick’s The Gathering 2022

• Silver for Blogging Excellence by an Agency, for the Women Presidents Organization: Growing WPO campaign

• Bronze for Best Use of AI in Marketing by an Agency, for CarSpa: AI loyalty campaign

Online media and tools

• Gold for Best Corporate Website, for Two Oceans Aquarium: launch of new website

• Silver for Best Marketing Automation Campaign, for CarSpa: AI loyalty campaign

• Silver for Best Online Newsletter, for Good Work Foundation: Reimagine Education newsletter

Flow Communications won 14 awards at the 2023 PRISM Awards on Saturday 29 July 2023, including a gold for its work on the launch of the Johannesburg-Abidjan Air Côte d’Ivoire route and silver in the Best Large Public Relations Consultancy category.

Flow won awards across a broad cross-section of categories for clients in the public and private sectors, as well as in the non-profit sector. Many of the awards were for purpose-driven work, which Flow prides itself on doing.

Agency of the year

• Silver – Best Large Public Relations Consultancy: Flow Communications

Air Côte d’Ivoire

• Gold – Travel & Tourism: Air Côte d’Ivoire’s Johannesburg-Abidjan route

• Silver – Corporate Communication (Business-to-Consumer): Air Côte d’Ivoire’s Johannesburg-Abidjan route

• Bronze – Digital Media Relations: Air Côte d’Ivoire’s Johannesburg-Abidjan route

ForAfrika

• Silver – Integration of Traditional and New Media: ForAfrika’s body of work since inception

• Special mention – Crisis Communications Online: ForAfrika Mozambique relief efforts (only award in the category)

Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)

• Bronze – Internal Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: IDC One

Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day

• Silver – Public Relations on a Shoestring: MPA Day 2022

• Silver – Environmental: MPA Day 2022

• Bronze – Influencer Management: MPA Day 2022

• Bronze – NGO Campaign: MPA Day 2022

Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF)

• Bronze – Digital Media Relations: NMF’s 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture

South African National Aids Council (SANAC)

• Silver – Community Relations: SANAC’s call for submissions on the new national strategic plan for HIV, TB and STIs

South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)

• Silver – Travel & Tourism: SANBI Braille Trail

Flow won five Assegai awards for three clients at the awards evening held at The Venue in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, on 10 November 2022:

• Marine Protected Areas: MPA Day: a Silver Award in the campaign for under R500 000 category

• The Sci-Bono Discovery Centre 4IR campaign: a Leader Award in the campaign for under R500 000 category

• The Sci-Bono Discovery Centre 4IR campaign: a Silver Award in the technology and communications category

• Hollard Do It On Purpose: a Leader Award in the financial services category

• Marine Protected Areas: MPA Day: a Leader award in the campaign for corporate social responsibility/social good

Flow won the Marketing and Communications Consultancy award in the 2022 Africa Global Funds Service Providers Awards. 

Flow Communications won five awards at the 2022 New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards on Thursday 29 September 2022. The agency scooped the following awards for its clients:

Corporate awards

• Silver for Best Online Competition for Strategic Partnerships for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPIPA): Climate 360

• Silver for Blogging Excellence for Flexability: Flexability – #MyAbility

• Bronze for Best Low-Budget Campaign for Marine Protected Areas: MPA Day

Agency awards

• Bronze for Blogging Excellence by an Agency for Flexability: Flexability – #MyAbility

Online media and tools

• Bronze for Best Online Newsletter for the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation: the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation newsletter

Flow’s leadership was recognised for its commitment to uplifting women at the 10th Accenture Gender Mainstreaming Awards. Flow Communications and Flow Travel CEO Tara Turkington and Flow managing director Tiffany Turkington-Palmer received three finalist certificates at the high-profile Gauteng awards ceremony on Friday 29 July 2022 at The Venue in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.

The three accolades are:

• Tara: a finalist in the Positive Role Model category

• Tiffany: a finalist in the Inclusive Leader category

• Tara: a finalist in the Tourism and Hospitality Sector category for our sister company, Flow Travel

Flow Communications’ Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day entry won the environmental category in the agency section of the 2022 International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards – adding to Flow’s increasing tally of international awards. The full list of IPRA winners can be seen here: www.ipra.org/golden-world-awards/winners/

Flow Communications won 21 awards for six clients at the 2022 PRISM Awards:

Hollard:

• Gold – Corporate communication (business-to-business): Hollard Big Ads for Small Business
  

• Silver – Gaming and virtual reality: Hollard Do It On Purpose campaign

• Silver – Reputation and brand management: Hollard Big Ads for Small Business

• Bronze – Corporate communication (business-to-consumer): Hollard Big Ads for Small Business

• Bronze – Corporate citizenship: Hollard Big Ads for Small Business

• Bronze – Internal stakeholder engagement and communication: Hollard Do It On Purpose campaign

The Sci-Bono Discovery Centre:

• Gold – Travel and tourism public relations: The Sci-Bono Discovery Centre 4IR campaign

• Bronze – Technology: The Sci-Bono Discovery Centre 4IR campaign

The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation:

• Gold – Best use of an event to build/change reputation (event management): 11th Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture

• Gold – International campaign: Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s 90th birthday and the 11th Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture

• Gold – Crisis communications online: Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s 90th birthday and the 11th Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture

• Bronze – Crisis management: A90 – Archbishop Tutu – in memoriam

Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day:

• Gold – Environmental campaign: Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day

• Silver – Best use of an event to build/change reputation (event management): Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day

• Silver – NGO/NPC campaign: Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day

• Silver – PR on a shoestring: Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day

• Bronze – South African campaign of the year: Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Day

Zenzele:

• Gold – NGO/NPC campaign: The Zenzele ARV Adherence Campaign

Climate 360:

• Silver – Environmental campaign: Climate 360

• Silver – Public sector: Climate 360

Agency of the year:

• Best large public relations consultancy: Flow Communications

On 28 June 2022, Flow also received a Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) Gold Presidential Award for advancing the communications industry in South Africa.

Long-term Flow client Hollard won a 2022 Marketing Achievement Award at an awards ceremony in Sandton in July, receiving the silver Internal Marketing Award for its 2021 #DoItOnPurpose campaign, which aimed to encourage staff engagement with the company purpose. Flow helped Hollard execute this campaign.

Read more here: https://www.flowsa.com/news/ch...

Two beautiful books we designed for the 2019 South Africa Investment Conference were awarded gold in the Litho Sheetfed – Magazines category of the GAPP Awards 2022.

We were honoured with five awards at the 2021 New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards.

• Gold for Blogging Excellence by an Agency, for Maropeng
• Silver for Best Social Media Reach from an Event, the South African Presidency, the 2021 State of the Nation Address
• Silver for Blogging Excellence, for Maropeng
• Bronze for Best Social Media Reach from an Event, for the Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture
• Bronze for the Best Corporate Website, for Heartlines

Flow Communications won five awards for four clients at the 2021 PRISM Awards:

• Silver PRISM (in the Environmental category) for the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation Annual Lecture
• Silver PRISM (in the Digital Media Relations category) for the 18th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture: Tackling the Inequality Pandemic
• Silver PRISM (in the Crisis Management Online category) for the SAMA Persal Migration campaign
• Silver PRISM (in the Travel and Tourism category) for the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company: The Table Mountain Comeback
• Special mention award (in the Internal or employee communication category) for the  South African Medical Association: SAMA Persal Migration campaign

Flow won the Africa Global Funds Best Marketing & Communications Consultancy award – for the second year in a row – in 2020.

These are the only international awards for businesses that offer services for African asset management funds, providing industry and public recognition of their outstanding effort, work and accomplishments.

Flow Communications won four awards for three clients at the 2020 New Generation Social and Digital Media Awards: 

• Silver for Blogging Excellence, for Maropeng
• Silver for Blogging Excellence by an Agency, for Maropeng
• Silver for Most Viral Campaign by an Agency, for Heartlines
• Bronze for Most Innovative App Developed by a Corporate, for the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Flow Communications won the Best Marketing & Communications Consultancy award from Africa

Flow Communications won four awards for three clients at the 2019 New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards and Flow CEO Tara Turkington won gold as the New Generation Best Individual Influencer Marketer of 2019.

• Silver for Blogging Excellence for Gauteng Tourism Authority
• Bronze for Best Online PR Campaign for Road Accident Fund #AlwaysRemember campaign
• Bronze for Best Use of Social Media to Research and Evaluate for Road Accident Fund #AlwaysRemember campaign
• Bronze for Best Online Newsletter for the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Flow won four PRISM Awards and a special mention for excellence in public relations in 2019. These included:

• Gold PRISM (in the Healthcare category) for the #NewBlood campaign with the South African National Blood Service
• Silver PRISM (in the Public Sector category) for the #AlwaysRemember campaign with the Road Accident Fund
• Silver PRISM (in the Communications Research category) for She Conquers campaign, on behalf of the United Nations Population Fund and the South African national Department of Health)
• Silver PRISM (in the Social Media category, where social media was the primary method of communication, with no social media spend) for work with the Nelson Mandela Foundation on the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture.
• In addition, we got a special mention in the NGO category for our work on Casual Day 2018 on behalf of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities in South Africa.

Flow Communications won six awards across a variety of categories for five different clients at the 2018 New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards. Awards included:

• Blogging Excellence – Sponsored by MediaCom: Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) – GTA blog (gold)
• Best Online PR Campaign: Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) – 16^th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture with Barack Obama (silver)
• Most Innovative App Developed by an Agency: City Sightseeing – City Sightseeing Business System (silver)
• Most Viral Campaign by an Agency: South African National Blood Service (SANBS) – #NewBlood (silver)
• Best Intranet: City Sightseeing – City Sightseeing Business System (gold)
• Best Online Newsletter: Hollard – #InsuranceTips (bronze)

Flow won its first-ever PRISM Award in 2018, claiming gold in the Healthcare category for a campaign done on behalf of the South African National Blood Service.

Read the related article: “Flow wins gold at the 2018 PRISM Awards”.

Tiffany Turkington-Palmer (Flow’s MD) and Tara Turkington (Flow’s CEO) were the first sisters ever to be awardees in the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) in November, 2017.

The sisters were nominated for the award by the Cape Chamber of Commerce, and travelled to Seattle, USA, to receive their awards.

In 2017, Flow scooped a record 10 New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards. The awards won by Flow were:

• Best Online PR Campaign: Ster-Kinekor, for Ghostbusters (gold)
• Most Innovative Use of Social Media: Mango Airlines (silver)
• Outstanding Social Customer Care: Mango Airlines (silver)
• Blogging Excellence: Gauteng Tourism Authority (silver)
• Best Use of Social Media to Research and Evaluate: South African Society of Anaesthesiologists (silver)
• Best Revenue Marketing Campaign/Event: City Sightseeing, for the Cape Point Explorer tour launch (silver)
• Best App Developed by an Agency: Constitution Hill (silver)
• Best App Developed by an Agency: National Department of Tourism (bronze)
• Best Intranet: VAT IT (bronze)
• Best Agency Community Engagement Manager: Melanie-Ann Feris (bronze)

Flow's PR team won a gold award at the 2017 Loerie Awards.

The win – shared jointly with M&C Saatchi Abel and Native VML – was for a Nando’s campaign titled “Reconciliation Table”, which ran on social feeds under the #NoBeef hashtag. M&C Saatchi Abel, as the lead agency, entered the campaign in the Loeries PR & Media Communication: PR Campaign category.

Flow walked away with seven New Generation awards in 2016: two golds, which included best app developed by an agency, three silvers and two bronze.

The list of awards:

• Best app developed by an agency – gold (City Sightseeing)
• Best online newsletter – gold (Table Mountain Aerial Cableway)
• Best social media reach from an event – silver (Nelson Mandela Foundation’s 2016 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture)
• Best corporate website – silver (The Collection by Liz McGrath)
• Most innovative use of social media – silver (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation #BestOfAfrica campaign)
• Best low-budget campaign – bronze (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation #BestOfAfrica campaign)
• Most innovative business app developed by a corporate – bronze (City Sightseeing’s “bus-iness” app)

Read the related article: “Flow wins seven New Generation awards”.

New Generation Awards (2015)

Showcasing the diversity of the work done by Flow Communications, we were nominated for 10 awards in 2015 and walked away with seven, for work done for five different clients.

The list of awards:

• Best community engagement – silver (South African Tourism for #MeetSouthAfrica campaign)
• Best corporate website – silver (Table Mountain Aerial Cableway)
• Most viral campaign – silver (Nelson Mandela Foundation for Mandela Day 2015)
• Best integrated marketing campaign – bronze (Hollard for Daredevil Run)
• Most innovative app – bronze (South African Tourism for Madiba’s Journey)
• Online strategy of the year – bronze (SAA – Ebola)
• Best app developed – bronze (South African Tourism for Madiba’s Journey)

Read the related article: “Flow scoops seven New Generation Awards”.

New Generation Awards (2014)

Flow scooped six New Generation digital awards in 2014 – two gold and four silver, for work done for South African Tourism, Mandela Day (through the Nelson Mandela Foundation) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) South Africa:

• Excellence in content marketing – gold (South African Tourism)
• Top graphic designer award – gold (Mandela Day)
• Legacy award – silver (South African Tourism for #MeetSouthAfrica campaign)
• Best low budget campaign – silver (WWF-SA for #iam4rhinos campaign)
• Best use of social media in a loyalty programme – silver (#MeetSouthAfrica)
• Innovative use of digital media – silver (South African Tourism for the Big Five)

Gold Cannes Lion (2013)

Cape Town Tourism’s Facebook campaign, “My Cape Town Holiday”, won a Cannes Lions Gold Award in the Branded Content category. Cape Town Tourism partnered with Ogilvy Cape Town and Flow Communications to conceptualise and develop the Facebook app that underpinned the campaign.

Read the related article: “Cape Town Tourism wins gold at Cannes Lions”.

Gold Loerie Award (2013)

Flow won a gold Loerie for our work on the “My Cape Town Holiday” Facebook app campaign.

Read the related Cape Town Tourism article here: “2013 Gold Loerie Award for Cape Town Tourism”.