The Loeries are a sellout!

Johannesburg - With two weeks to go, the "house full" signs have gone up for the final night of the Loerie Awards (Saturday September 26), and only a hundred or so seats remain for the Friday.

The awards for communication design and print media are presented on Friday September 25, while the trophies for TV, radio, digital, live events, mixed-media and integrated campaigns are handed out on Saturday.

If - as seems likely - Friday is a sellout too, attendance at the first Loeries to be held in Cape Town will be 20% up on 2008 and the highest ever. "I'm quite happy about it," says The Loerie Awards MD Andrew Human, in a massive understatement.

It suggests either that the industry isn't doing as badly as we supposed, or that its appetite for a party is even bigger than we realised. Human himself puts it down to a big turnout of Capetonians who were previously unwilling to make the costly trek north. "There are also more marketers and more production industry delegates," he says. "Johannesburg numbers are about the same."

The overall cost to the industry is millions of rands more if the event is held in Cape Town instead of, say, Sun City, because more people have to travel south than would travel north from the smaller city. But Capetonians are clearly revelling in the reversal of the cost equation.

The Good Hope Centre has a capacity of 2 500, which is 20% more than the previous venue, Margate, could accommodate in a massive tent.

The Loeries, South Africa's premier advertising awards function, have been held annually since 1978 (the year when television first began accepting commercials). Initially they were held in Johannesburg, then for many years Sun City was the venue. Four years ago they switched to Margate.

- Fin24.com