A quarter of recognition, partnership & purpose.
Q2 reminded us what becomes possible when strong relationships, brave thinking and consistent delivery come together – a period defined by recognition, new partnerships and a growing mandate to take on work with greater scale, complexity and purpose.
Trust, earned one conversation at a time
Q2 has been one of those quarters that reminds us what becomes possible when strong relationships, brave thinking and consistent delivery come together. It has been a period defined by recognition, new partnerships and a growing mandate to take on work with greater scale, complexity and purpose.
Our campaigns for Kwikot and the Springbok Women, delivered in partnership with South African Rugby Union (SA Rugby), were recognised at the SMARTIES South Africa Awards and have since been shortlisted across three categories at the Mark Awards 2026. We also welcomed Spur Corporation to our client portfolio and were selected through a competitive pitch process as the South African communications agency for the One Young World Cape Town Summit in November.
Beyond the announcements and accolades, this quarter has reflected something more important: the trust our clients place in us to understand their businesses, challenge convention and find more meaningful ways to connect with people. That trust is earned through the quality of our thinking and the care we bring to every brief, every relationship and every conversation.
In May, I also had the privilege of representing Dialogue at the PROI Worldwide Global Summit in Tokyo, where 120 CEOs and leaders from leading independent communications agencies across 70 countries came together to share ideas, lessons and perspectives. It was a powerful reminder that although our industry is evolving at extraordinary speed, its strongest foundations remain deeply human.
Thank you to our clients, partners and every member of the Dialogue team for the energy, commitment and courage that made this quarter possible. There is much to be proud of and even more to look forward to as we carry this momentum into the second half of the year.
Onwards to Q3
Tracy Jones & team Dialogue
Founder & Managing Director
SMARTIES South Africa 2026
On Thursday, 21 May, Dialogue received two awards at the MMA South Africa SMARTIES Awards, one of the industry’s leading platforms for recognising marketing effectiveness, innovation and measurable impact. These wins matter because they recognise the strategic thinking behind the work as much as the creative execution. Both campaigns began with a clear business and communications challenge and were built around ideas that could move people to think differently, participate and act, reinforcing our belief that effective communication is not about making the most noise, but about finding the idea people genuinely want to engage with.
By turning technical geyser information into entertaining and accessible short-form content, the campaign demonstrated that even highly functional product categories can become culturally relevant when brands communicate with creativity, personality and a clear understanding of their audiences.
Designed to do more than drive awareness, the campaign challenged how women’s sport is seen and supported by inviting every existing fan to bring one more person into the stands, the conversation and the movement around the team.
Left: Gold in Cross Digital Media Marketing (KwikTok). Right: Silver in Diversity & Inclusion (Springbok Women #PlusOne).
The Mark Awards 2026
The momentum continued when all three campaigns entered by Dialogue into the MarkLives.com Mark Awards 2026 were named finalists, extending the quarter’s recognition across purpose, content and search, and reflecting how our approach extends beyond traditional public relations to solve wider reputation, engagement and business challenges through integrated communication.
Springbok Women #PlusOne, with SA Rugby
KwikTok: content into a growth engine, with Kwikot
From website to AI discovery, with Kwikot
The Springbok Women #PlusOne campaign shows how communication can help build communities and shift cultural behaviour; KwikTok demonstrates the commercial and brand-building value of a distinctive content platform; and our work transforming Kwikot’s website into an AI discovery engine reflects the growing importance of ensuring credible brand information can be found and understood by people and by the search and generative systems shaping discovery. We look forward to celebrating alongside our fellow finalists at the awards ceremony on 12 September.
Africa Consultancy Performance Index
Our recognition this quarter also extended beyond individual campaigns. Dialogue has been shortlisted in Earned First’s inaugural Africa Consultancy Performance Index, an industry benchmark created to identify and recognise the continent’s most impactful and innovative public relations consultancies. We were named alongside Burson Africa and We.Communications in the small consultancy category, which recognises firms with fewer than 16 employees. The Index assesses performance across five areas, making the recognition particularly meaningful because it considers not only commercial growth, but the quality of the work, the strength of the agency behind it and the contribution each consultancy makes to the wider industry.
Creative impact & client outcomes
Innovation & thought leadership
Talent & culture
Industry leadership
One Index Champion in each category will be announced at PRAXIS Africa during Africa PR Week in Nairobi on 26 August. Regardless of the final result, the shortlist is a proud milestone for Dialogue and further evidence that independent African agencies can build work, teams and businesses that compete at the highest level.
Better conversations at MMA South Africa NEXT
Recognition matters, but so does creating spaces where the industry can connect more meaningfully. At MMA South Africa NEXT, a simple table activation became a powerful reminder of why Dialogue created Cards for Conversation in the first place: to help people move beyond transactional networking and surface-level small talk into discussions that are more human, memorable and useful.
Delegates were invited to choose a card and use its prompt to begin a discussion with someone new. The response was immediate. Around the tables, people shared perspectives, challenged assumptions and formed unexpected connections, proving that even in an industry defined by speed, technology and constant change, meaningful human dialogue remains one of the most valuable tools we have.
The activation also introduced the latest Cards for Conversation packs to a wider industry audience, reinforcing a simple belief at the heart of Dialogue: meaningful connection is not a soft extra. It is where better ideas, stronger communities and more valuable relationships begin.
“The highlight of the day – a reminder that the best communities are built one authentic chat at a time.”
Welcoming Spur Corporation
The quarter’s momentum also translated into new business. We were delighted to welcome Spur Corporation to our client portfolio for a six-month strategic communications project linked to the One Young World Cape Town Summit. Spur is one of South Africa’s most recognisable homegrown brands, with a legacy built around shared experiences, family and a strong sense of belonging.
The opportunity gives Dialogue the chance to bring together purpose, storytelling, stakeholder engagement and integrated campaign thinking around a globally significant platform hosted in our home city. It also reflects the continued trust that established South African businesses place in Dialogue to help them participate in important cultural and societal conversations in a way that is credible, relevant and true to their brand.
One Young World Cape Town Summit
Following a competitive pitch process, Dialogue was selected as the South African communications agency for the One Young World Cape Town Summit, taking place from 3 to 6 November 2026. The Summit will bring together more than 2,000 delegates from over 190 countries, alongside keynote speakers, counsellors and leaders from across the globe, to exchange ideas and develop practical responses to some of the world’s most urgent challenges. Being entrusted with the mandate is a significant endorsement of our experience in purpose-led communication, local market insight and our ability to manage complex stories across earned, owned, shared and stakeholder channels.
Previous One Young World speakers and counsellors have included former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Arianna Huffington and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, reflecting the calibre of global voices the platform convenes. With Cape Town providing the backdrop, our role will be to ensure that the summit’s global ambition is translated into stories and conversations that resonate meaningfully in South Africa, while showcasing the city and the country as a place where ideas, leadership and change can take root.
“We are excited to have partnered with Dialogue for the One Young World Summit in South Africa. Their strong local market expertise, strategic thinking and clear understanding of our purpose made them a natural choice to help us build meaningful visibility and engagement ahead of the Cape Town Summit.”
Dialogue in Tokyo: the heart of connection
In May, Tracy Jones represented Dialogue and South Africa at the PROI Worldwide Global Summit in Tokyo, joining 120 CEOs and leaders from some of the world’s strongest independent communications agencies across 70 countries. The summit theme was Kokoro, a Japanese concept that brings together heart, spirit and genuine human connection. Across four immersive days, it became a fitting lens through which to consider the future of leadership and communication in an industry increasingly shaped by speed, visibility, technology and constant performance.
What stood out most was not competitive posturing or transactional networking, but the generosity of the community. Leaders openly shared lessons, failures, insights and support, creating a space where experience was freely given and respectfully received. For founders and agency leaders who can often feel responsible for carrying every answer alone, the summit offered an important reminder that innovation, reinvention and problem-solving do not need to happen in isolation.
Dialogue’s membership of PROI Worldwide connects our clients and team to a trusted global network of independent agencies with deep local expertise, allowing us to draw on international perspectives and specialist capabilities while remaining proudly independent and grounded in the South African market.
Tracy returned from Tokyo with a renewed conviction that the future will not belong to the leaders who claim to know everything. It will belong to those who remain curious, learn generously and are willing to grow together. In many ways, that is also what Dialogue has always believed: better business and better work begin with better human connection.
Onwards to Q3
As we move into Q3, our focus shifts from recognition to delivery. The team will continue onboarding and building the Spur Corporation programme, advance preparations for the One Young World Cape Town Summit and bring the next phase of our award-nominated client work to life. We will also carry forward the lessons and global perspective gained through PROI, while the Mark Awards in September provide another opportunity to recognise the people, partnerships and brave ideas behind the work.
A quarter defined not only by awards and growth, but by trust, generosity and the belief that the best work is always built through better conversations.