This year, an exciting social media campaign to reveal the 2022 COTY winners was used to create even more public interest in the 36-year-old competition. The COTY competition, staged every year since 1986, has evolved to keep up with the changes in the automotive and media industries.
The newly elected chairman of the SAGMJ (South African Guild of Mobility Journalists), Dirk Gallowitz, explains that the COTY competition has developed over the years to see the introduction of category winners, additional categories, automated scoring, the public’s favourite and the Juror’s Excellence Award. “Technological advances saw the COTY competition presented online for the first time in 2020. The social media landscape is also developing rapidly, which offers many new opportunities to the Guild and its members.”
Seven SAGMJ members from diverse backgrounds and publications were chosen to announce the overall- and category winners on social media this year. The 2022 COTY jurors selected 25 semi-finalists from more than 49 entrants, and after a four-week scoring process, the Toyota Corolla Cross was voted the South African Car of the Year.
To create more excitement for this social media campaign, the Guild pitched the seven journalists against each other in their own competition to see who came up with the best campaign when announcing their respective winners. The team members had to vote for their favourite campaign, and in the end, Sisanda Mbete from Dozer Drives was crowned the winner (to view the winning video visit Facebook).
“The contenders’ videos ranged from original and humorous to Sisanda’s exciting and dynamic video, showcasing the winner using exhilarating action footage. Sisanda’s video also got the most views on social media,” says Michelle York, General Manager of the SAGMJ and the COTY social media campaign coordinator.
With more technological advances being introduced in both the automotive and media industries, the Guild is embracing new technology to bring messages to their members’ audiences in the most creative way that can create the biggest impact.
“We have seen with this year’s competition that the contribution from these younger members of the Guild acknowledges talent in the journalism sphere and recognises a new generation of mobility journalists,” concludes Gallowitz.
More information about the Guild’s 2023 COTY competition plans will be announced in October.
To view all the winners of the 2022 COTY competition, click on the link below:
https://sagmj.org/2022/06/06/the-2022-south-african-car-of-the-year-winners-announced/
