WesBank New Generation Awards Celebrate South Africa’s Digital Marketing Leaders
WesBank New Generation Awards Celebrate South Africa’s Digital Marketing Leaders. The winners of the 2026 WesBank New Generation Awards were announced at a banquet ceremony in Sandton on Wednesday, 23 September, following a record number of submissions and the largest shortlist in the awards platform’s history.
The New Generation Awards recognise work across social-first marketing, digital innovation, artificial intelligence and creative technology. Now in their 14th year, the awards have processed more than 6,500 entries and awarded more than 1,700 trophies across corporate, agency and emerging talent categories.
Stephen Paxton, founder of the awards, said the standard of entries exceeded expectations, with a number of Silver and Bronze winners reaching the gold benchmark of 82% and above.
Among the Black Onyx Main Award winners, Lucky Hustle and EGG Studios were joint winners of Small Agency of the Year. Lucky Hustle retained the title for a second consecutive year. Penquin Advertising won Medium Agency of the Year, while Ogilvy received the Large Agency of the Year award.
Volkswagen Group Africa was named Digital Brand of the Year with agency partner Ogilvy and also received the Overall Social & Digital Corporate of the Year award.
Telkom won Best Customer Experience Campaign of the Year for its Possibility in Play Campaign, by Mscsports. Dis-Chem, with Black&White and M&C Saatchi Abel, and Volkswagen Group Africa, with Ogilvy, were joint winners of Online Strategy of the Year.
The four highest-scoring campaigns included Lucky Hustle’s Xiaomi RN15 campaign at 93%, Volkswagen Group Africa’s Forever Golf: #NameThisGolf campaign at 92%, Mondelēz South Africa’s Chappies Heritage Campaign at 91%, and Clockwork’s Nivea Micellar campaign at 90%.
Other major corporate winners included AB InBev, Suzuki South Africa and Unilever South Africa.
The awards also recognised the contribution of 30 jury members and sponsors, including headline sponsor WesBank, Bronze sponsor Unilever South Africa, brand sponsors Mettlestate and Naritive Global, and category partner OnPoint PR & Lifestyle Management.
