Well, February didn’t hang about. If January was the warm-up, February hit full stride!

This month’s newsletter reflects the pace, ambition and responsibility shaping our marketing and communications community right now. From key dates and programme milestones to opportunities for learning, participation and industry input, there’s a clear thread running through it all: progress depends on involvement.

Across the Effie eco-system, momentum is building with important calendar markers, opportunities to engage with thought leaders through judging and events, pathways for upskilling, and platforms that elevate the standard of effectiveness in our market.

At the same time, we’re creating space for critical conversations around regulation, transformation, measurement, and the evolving role of technology in advertising.

You’ll also find opportunities to contribute your voice, strengthen your teams, deepen your expertise, and connect with peers across the industry. Whether you’re focused on performance, compliance, innovation or long-term brand growth, there’s something here designed to support and challenge you.

As always, thank you for being an active part of this community. Let’s make this first quarter count.

The ACA is growing! We are always delighted to welcome new members. The ACA aims to help agencies run better businesses, through standards, guidance and collective influence they cannot build alone. And in doing so, build a stronger industry. We look forward to having you at the table.

Stay up-to-date with all upcoming ACA events — workshops, webinars, networking and more — in one place. 💡 Tip: Click “+ Google Calendar” to add ACA events to your own calendar.

Do You Want to be an Effies Judge?

We're looking for senior marketers, agency leaders (strategists/creative directors), and specialists in research, media, digital, and PR, with proven track records in strategic depth, commercial understanding, and marketing effectiveness.

Round 1 Eligibility: Senior/Director level.
Round 2 Eligibility: C-suite executives.

Complete the online form, providing details of experience and expertise.

2026 Key Dates:
Deadline for Application: 15 May 2026.
Judges Training Workshop: 30 June 2026.
Round 1 Judging: 1 – 16 July 2026.
Round 2 Judging: 27 July – 13 August 2026.
Grand Effie Judging: 10 September 2026.

Winning an Effie is a global benchmark of marketing excellence. It can bolster budgets, attract new business and turbo-charge careers. It’s important that Effie represents the modern marketing landscape; while traditional advertising still has an important role to play, we welcome entries from all marketing disciplines, and our categories reflect this.

We open for entries for 2026’s Awards programme on 1 April 2026.

Our website has ALL the info ->  

If you plan to enter for the first time, don't miss this webinar for tips and advice from judges on crafting the best case study.

Looking at 2025 Winners, this session will explore the transformation that happens when disciplined thinking and creative spark combine to deliver effectiveness. The session will highlight cases, including the Grand Effie winner, by TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris and City Lodge,  that show us that when we harness the right chemistry, we can move consumers, build brands, and transform businesses. They inspire us all to push harder, think deeper, and collaborate better.

Calling Effie Sponsors and Partners. The Effie Awards is becoming the year-long conversation about marketing and creative effectiveness. If that's something you want/need to be aligned with, or support, we have an exciting new sponsors & partners proposal. Read it below and call us if you want to be part of the growing movement that proves and celebrates effectiveness.

Effie College: Future Talent + Real Business Value

Last year, we ran our very successful first Effie College program, with Nedbank as the inaugural brand-briefing partner, and UCT, UJ, AAA, and North-West University (NWU) all competing brilliantly, learning and using the Effie Marketing Effectiveness Framework.

4 universities (likely to be more this year)
421 students
An exceptional standard of strategic and creative work
Deep, practical learning rooted in the Effie effectiveness framework
Academic, industry experts & brand sponsor team judges

As a sponsoring brand, you don’t just support education, you gain fresh Gen Z–informed thinking on a real business challenge, engage directly with future talent, build genuine brand advocacy and teach your own team about effectiveness.

Effie manages the full programme end-to-end. 

You bring the brief. Students bring the insights and the ideas!

The ACA's very own marketing graduate, Dineo Mashiane, chats to Brenda Khumalo, ACA Board Director, Education Tribe member and CEO of Lobengula Advertising.

Join us for a conversation packed with real talk on entrepreneurship, growth, and the lessons that come with building something from the ground up. Brenda shares her journey with refreshing authenticity that shaped her path to the insights she's gathered along the way. No filters, just honest, grounded wisdom from someone who's lived it. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a creative, or someone hungry to grow, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

An inspiring listen. 

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has published Draft Government Gazette 54032, proposing sweeping changes to the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice that would materially redefine how B-BBEE compliance is measured and implemented in South Africa.

Key proposals include a new Transformation Fund alternative compliance route, substantial revisions to procurement targets and scorecards, and a stronger focus on outcome-based economic participation and measurable transformation. These draft amendments are open for public comment for 60 days from publication (29 January 2026) — meaning submissions must be made by Monday, 29 March 2026. Our webinar with BEE123 will unpack what this means for your business and how to prepare your comments.

Thanks to BEE123 for assisting us in unpacking these changes.

Gail Schimmel from the ARB will take you through the RSM point requirements, the different ways to earn them and will answer any questions on this section of the MAC Charter.

Staying ahead of online advertising fraud is impossible when you don’t know - day by day - where your ads are actually running. The true scope and scale of fraud remains largely undeclared, and it’s accelerating fast. AI driven automation, especially agentic planning and buying, is amplifying the problem and widening the gap between what marketers think is happening and what’s really occurring behind the scenes.

Join Dr. Augustine Fou, one of the world’s most respected and independent ad fraud researchers, for a rare, inside look at how fraud really works, how to detect and mitigate it, and how to eliminate wasteage - a win-win for agency and client.

Learn practical, evidence-based methods that dramatically improve campaign performance, strengthen media quality, and drive better business outcomes.

This year’s conference is going to unpack and reveal what a modern advertising campaign workflow looks like in the age of AI. We are going to interactively develop a full campaign from market opportunity to launch live and in real time. Experts from across the industry will be joining us to talk about best practices for using these new tools and you will leave with a thorough understanding of where AI can, and can’t, deliver, how humans can work effectively with these tools and what shape the disruption to our industry will take.

This is essential learning for all marketers, advertising professionals, creatives, strategists, producers and anyone else who forms a part of our marketing ecosystem.

This year we’re not asking “if” AI has a place. We’re going to run a live experiment to see just how far this technology has come.

GenEra brought together emerging voices from across the industry in Cape Town for an afternoon of honest conversation, shared learning and real connection. From fresh perspectives on creative entrepreneurship to meaningful discussions around community, discipline, passion and growth, the energy in the room was undeniable.

Hosted by ACA South Africa and Duke Advertising with the Broke Boys, this GenEra event reminded us that the next generation of talent isn't waiting for permission; they're building boldly, together.

A massive thank you to the Duke team for a stellar event! And thanks to Brenda of Lobengula for the awesome Broke Boys vouchers as prizes. 🙌

A quick reminder that there’s still time to complete a brief (10-minute) online survey on the likely impact of a total alcohol advertising ban in South Africa. With a Private Member’s Bill calling for a complete ban last year and the Liquor Amendment Bill also proposing the same, the window to put credible, real-world evidence on the table is closing fast.

Your input is essential to ensure policymakers hear from the people who understand the sector’s realities such as job impacts, investment, transformation, media and creative value chains, and the unintended consequences that can follow sweeping restrictions.

The survey closes on the 13th of March 2026. Every response strengthens the evidence base and helps protect a balanced, workable approach grounded in facts, not assumptions.

Through the ACA's membership of VoxComm, we are invited to the EACA's webinars.

In this EACA Chats session, Marina Petrova, CEO and Co-Founder of Intentful, explores how agencies can shape this shift and why it represents a major, under-discussed opportunity.

Productivity gains are only the beginning. A far bigger shift is already underway: brands are moving from delivering controlled messages to behaving in real time across AI-mediated environments.

This was an insightful conversation on how AI is changing agency work, but not in the way most case studies suggest.

The ACA has been hard at work  representing our members' interests across various legislative and regulatory matters.

On the go are:

• Continued follow-up and industry representation as we await the outcome of the Constitutional Court hearing on the Copyright Amendment Bill.
• A legal submission (on behalf of the ACA, MASA and CPA) challenging the Department of Labour's Gazette notice deeming all "PERFORMERS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF ADVERTISING, ARTISTIC, AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA AS EMPLOYEES”. And encouraging our members to submit their own comments and concerns on the petition platform, Dear South Africa.
• Following up on insurance and other issues regarding the Department of Aviation's notice on using skyjumpers & parachutists in commercials.
• Our Task Team met to unpack the Transformation Fund and Generic BEE Code changes - leading to the information session - see above.
• Discussions with the ARB around legal advisory services.
• Finetuning the Agency Selection Charter (to be released soon), with the help of procurement experts.

A big thank you to our attorneys (Adams & Adams), our partners in the industry (MASA, CPA and IAB), our Regulatory Tribe-lead Adeshia Singh, BEE123, GIB Insurance and our Task Team members, Graham Vivian, Oupa Monamodi , Deon Oberholzer and Siphokazi Chivizhe. If any members want detailed updates, please feel free to contact Gillian or Sharon.