Evolve Group Africa, a leading brand marketing and communications agency, has announced plans to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Uganda Marketing Excellence Awards (UMEAs). The event is scheduled to take place on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at the Kampala Serena Hotel. The announcement was made during a press briefing held earlier today.
The UMEAS @5 will run under the theme `Celebrating Sustainable Marketing Excellence,’ and will evaluate how brands, marketers, and their agency partners have harnessed various media channels, to create campaigns that have left a powerful impact on their target audiences and businesses.
UMEAs @5 will feature the State of the Marketing Address, an awards gala pre-event that will shine a spotlight on the marketing sector in Uganda and beyond. This will be held earlier in the day before the awards gala in the evening. The event will bring together industry leaders, to analyse the current state of the marketing sector.
The State of Marketing Address will culminate into the launch of the State of Marketing Report 2025, a key document that will feature important statistics and insights from industry leaders.
“The report will provide industry players with actionable data to drive their strategies in the forthcoming year,” said Paul Businge, Co-Founder of Evolve Africa.
Initiated in 2021, the first installation of the UMEAS was inspired by the extraordinary marketing campaigns that brands and their stewards created, against all odds, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Five years down the road, the awards have grown by leaps and bounds, taking an annual deep dive into how well marketers have leveraged different media channels to create campaigns that have made a powerful impact across the marketing landscape.
I&M Bank, who bagged the UMEAS Advertising Campaign of the Year last year, for its “I&M at 50” campaign, is continuing to lead in sustainability and innovation. As a proud event partner, the bank supports businesses and communities with eco-friendly digital solutions, helps SMEs grow, and backs green businesses.
“At I&M Bank, sustainability means doing business in a way that helps people, businesses and the planet thrive now, and in the future. Through initiatives like our Express Go Account, the Tukikube Ne I&M SME campaign, and our partnership with UGEFA- that supports green businesses, we are committed to creating real and lasting impact, and this year’s UMEAS theme perfectly reflects our shared vision for responsible growth and innovation,” said Annette Nakiyaga, I&M Bank’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications.
UMEAS @5 will come with an introduction of a special new category- The Brand of the Year Award.
UMEAS will have the Evolve Marketing Council hold a 60% stake on public vote categories while the public shall hold 40% stake.
The criteria to determine the nominations and eventual winners shall include; big ideas (concepts), insights driving the ideas (evidence), integration of the communication across different platforms, KPIs and impact, as well as execution.
The UMEAS partners are; NSSF Uganda, I&M Bank, Centenary Bank, Crown Beverages (Pepsi and Aquafina), Vision Group, Equity Bank, Radio City, Matooke Republic, Kadanke Brand House, and Datamine Technical Business School.
The UMEAS 2025 awards categories include
-Best advertising campaign (For entry and public vote)
-Best use of partnership marketing (For entry and public vote)
-Best use of digital marketing (For entry and public vote)
-PR Campaign of the year (For entry and public vote)
-Best use of experiential marketing (For entry and public vote)
-Best not for profit/social good campaign (For entry and public vote)
-Best innovation- new product/ service/process (For entry and public vote)
-Brand of the year*New (For entry and public vote)
-Rising agency of the year (For entry but not for public vote)
-Agency of the year (For entry but not for public vote)
-Best use of Sustainability (For entry but not for public vote)
-Marketing Campaign of the year (For entry but not for public vote)
-UMEAS most accomplished Marketer (Not for entry)
The awards will be carefully judged by a cherry picked Evolve Marketing council, constituting of the country`s top professional Marketing leaders.
To submit entry for any of the above categories, one should simply visit the UMEAS website:
www.umeawards.co
The deadline for entries is Nov 14th, 2025, and finalists to be announced by November 30th, 2025 while voting to begin by 4th to 10th Dec 2025
The State of the Marketing Address and the UMEAS fifth awards gala will be held at a red carpet and black-tie event on Thursday December 11th, at Kampala Serena Hotel.
The UMEAS @5 edition is sponsored by Centenary Bank, NSSF, I&M Bank, Crown Beverages Ltd, Equity Bank, Vision Group, Datamine Business School, Matooke Republic, Kadanke Brand House and Radiocity97FM.
