Kampala, Uganda: Tuesday, October 14, 2025: Evolve Group Africa, a seasoned brand-marketing and communications umbrella, is set to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Uganda Marketing Excellence Awards (UMEAS), on December, 11th, 2025.

To celebrate the five-year milestone, Evolve Africa is set to introduce the State of the Marketing Address— the first of its kind, a ground breaking pre-event that will shine a spotlight and illuminate the marketing sector in Uganda and beyond.

The UMEAS @5 will be held under the theme `Promoting Sustainable Marketing Excellence. `

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- both digital and traditional, to create campaigns that have made a powerful impact across the marketing landscape.

On December 11th, the day’s activities will start with a pre-award masterclass- the ‘State of Marketing Address,’ scheduled to take place from 2pm to 4:30 pm.

The event will bring together industry leaders, to analyse the current state of the marketing sector, as well as extrapolate on the latest trends in digital marketing, artificial intelligence, social media, internet penetration, and disruptive media.

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with industry experts and gain valuable insights to inform their 2026 vision boards and strategies.

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.

The masterclass will be followed by a black-tie UMEAS gala, that will start at 6pm, till late.

The awards gala will see outstanding organizations and individuals recognized and celebrated for their remarkable contributions to the growth of the marketing sector in the year 2025.

Businge emphasized that the UMEAS encompass all facets of the marketing profession, including Communications, Advertising, and Public Relations.

He said that the UMEAS’ fifth anniversary will come with an introduction of a special new category.

“As we celebrate five years of the UMEAS, we are introducing a special new category- ‘The Brand of the Year Award.’ And, like the past editions, this year’s UMEAS will have the Evolve Marketing Council hold a 60% stake on public vote categories while the public shall hold 40% stake,” Businge said.

Businge highlighted that 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 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:

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.