Pond's shortlisted for Smarties Award

The POND'S flawless radiance 7 Day Challenge is the only submission to be shortlisted in the Messaging category. The 7 Day Challenge was an SMS led multi-channel digital campaign aimed at showing women how even the smallest change over the course of a week has a big impact.

The Smarties, a globally recognised initiative by the Mobile Marketing Association, is sponsored locally by Standard Bank and will be announced on September 10 at a gala event during the Mobile Web Africa conference. The Smarties™ is the only global awards program created specifically to recognise best in class mobile work from around the world. Submissions are judged equally on creativity, strategy, execution and results.

Since launching Pond's into social media in 2012 with the directive to be SA's most loved online beauty range, we've watched with pride as the genre-defining brand has grown from strength to strength, gathering accolades on the way to a community of over 238,000 Facebook Fans and a respectable presence across several platforms.

These include a SocialBakers Socially Devoted Brand 2012 in recognition of the speed and consistency of our customer care on Facebook and a Silver at the New Generations 2013 awards for Best Integrated Marketing Campaign in recognition of the Gold Radiance launch.

The brand management team is, to put it simply, thrilled. Brand Manager Natalie Milroy put it like this:

"We know that to successfully reach the South African consumer today, we need to be present on mobile. However, with so many brands acting on this same insight, it was important to Pond's to do it differently. We ensured content was always fresh and relevant for the target market so that they were always keen to engage and share. Phones are the definition of 'always on' so we ensured the calls to action were inspiring and easy to implement. Ladies loved it and shared the content organically! If you unlock the magic of mobile, it is amazing how beautifully your campaign can be brought to life. Mobile is a key link in all our marketing channels."

The shortlisting is a confirmation that Pond's digital strategy is on the right track.

"When the brand team and their consumers are happy, that's ideal, but recognition from awards judging panels is a wonderful reassurance of our belief in our approach," commented Account Manager Kelly Orsmond. "Beauty is such a personal thing and we want Pond's to be an implicit part of that. In order to do so, we need to have consistent, meaningful connections with the consumer, or they'll lose interest and move on."

As the lead digital agency, Gorilla oversees the development, implementation and execution of all online aspects of Pond's. Faces of Pond's, the current project, invites the women of South Africa to become a part of the campaign by sharing their face and story with the iconic beauty brand.

About Pond's

For over 150 years, Pond's has been dedicated to making a real difference to women's skin care needs and way of life. To this day, generations of beautiful women continue to turn to Pond's for time-tested skin care products that work. No fuss, no drama, no complicated steps. Experience the art of simple beauty.

Pond's knows that beauty is an emotional experience for women. All their skin care solutions are designed to feel incredible as you use them, look beautiful on your dressing table and above all, work. With Pond's, it's all about creating a personal and unforgettable skin experience for every unique complexion.

About Gorilla

You can think of us as a digital agency helping brands and companies meet marketing and business objectives through creative, digital solutions. We see ourselves as a group of creative people privileged to have the opportunity to do really cool stuff. We are honoured to take on the voice of some of South Africa's leading brands and, through design, creative, strategy or daydream, we work so that every interaction a fan or follower has with a brand is a good one.

We build brand love. And we love doing it.

You can follow us on our mission to build brand love on Twitter as @GorillaCM, like our Facebook Fan Page or check out our musings by visiting www.gorillacreativemedia.com. Queries can be sent to mc.allirog@olleh.