An incredible amount of effort was put into finding the most appropriate and experienced judges for the various Bookmarks categories. With Kerry Friend, executive creative director at Isobar Cape Town, judging the builders’ category, we caught up with three of its members to find out what we can expect from this year’s results…

Friend revealed last week that the builders’ category is focused on the craft and production of the creative ideas and the ingenuity of the tech behind them.

Every, Murphy and Petra.

Sammy-Jane Every, creative director at Worldwide Creative; Miles Murphy, founder and CEO of Liquorice; and Antonio Petra, business development director at Rocketseed; are just 3 of that 10-strong builders jury panel. Here, they exclusively share their insights into judging this category of digital work…

1. What are you most looking forward to from this year’s IAB Digital Summit & Bookmark Awards?

Every: The courage to try something original. And the courage to use digital for the qualities that no other marketing can collectively deliver. For example: immediacy, personalisation and interactivity.

Murphy: Great creative digital work. There are some really standout pieces of digital work on the shortlist this year. The South African digital industry is really producing some innovative work and this is the chance to celebrate it.

Petra: A chance to see old friends and exchange ideas.

2. Share some pointers on your personal judging process and what you’re looking for from entrants in your category.

Every: Innovation and inspiration. Humans don't stop being humans when they go online, so it needs to resonate emotionally. Will I be excited to share it? Will I wish that I had done it? Will the entrant leave me inspired to gather up the troops the next day and start brainstorming?

Murphy: Innovation and work that's based on deep consumer insight.

Petra: Meaningful accurate results first, user engagement/behaviour change second, pretty third.

3. Elaborate on the overall standard of digital work in SA. Where do we shine and what’s still lacking?

Every: The SA ad industry in general excels at ideation, traditionally in above-the-line. However, as digital changes daily, it feels like we are still playing catch up in this area. I don't think it is because of a lack of skill or talent but rather that digital is not yet a way of life for our clients or nation as a whole. For now, it is still treated as a channel; students still consider TV ads the sexy side of advertising. I think, in short, that it requires a change in our industry mindset, client budget allocation and national accessibility to the internet.

Murphy: The SA digital industry has really shone in the past year. Social media, integrated campaigns, video craft and tech innovation are all strong. That said, I think ecommerce and service design still have a way to go compared to international standards.

Petra: There are some incredibly promising pieces of work with great results that stand out and can compete easily on an international stage. I think this year our benchmark has crept up, not just in terms of design or interaction, but in terms of development, technology usage and user experience. On the flip side though, I think there is also a large proportion of the work that hasn’t properly been explored, being either a bolt-on to a more sophisticated TTL campaign or simply a rehash of an existing concept that has not been properly matured. The biggest highlight for me this year is the thought that it is now going into true immersive engagement. The great digital experiences this year really did pull in the user and give them something of value in that experience. It’s this element of the work that really needs to mature in South Africa in order for us to gain any respect on the international stage as an industry. That goes for standalone as well as integrated digital.

Exciting times! If you’re eager to delve in deeper into digital, click through to this podcast interview with Josephine Buys, CEO of IAB South Africa, to find out more about the highly anticipated IAB Digital Summit &Bookmark Awards 2016, taking place at Turbine Hall in Johannesburg on 3 March 2016. Click here for the full list of Bookmarks 2016 judges and here for the full list of finalists and watch for our in-depth coverage.