For a change in a television advert, we let consumers speak to us. Ordinary South Africans were filmed in their homes and gave us an honest account of the work us advertisers were doing. What was evident in these conversations is that bad ads were not appreciated, while the few exceptional adverts were recalled with feelings of happiness and approval.

We saw this as more than just a campaign, we saw it as a protest, a movement – a rallying call that unified industry ‘citizens’ in the hope of easing long-standing tensions between clients and agencies, all for the greater good of better work. In light of South Africa’s political history, unifying uprisings are so richly woven into the fabric of our society. We reflected the struggle of advertising creatives through similar empowering slogans, speeches, manifestos and demonstrations. The Creative Freedom Charter took inspiration from the Freedom Charter presented to the South African people at the birth of our democracy.

People rallied behind the call, entering their best work in hopes of Loeries recognition. Entries to the 2012 Awards were up 17% on the year before. Almost 5 000 delegates attended with tickets selling out in record time. Boisterous cries of Viva! could be heard through the auditorium as delegates supported their favourite work.