A central consideration in the judging this year was effectiveness.
We wanted to reward work that proved the power of great media thinking and execution to drive change; in behaviour and in meaningful results.
Rightly, therefore, our Crème de la Crème this year was Tesco. The ‘Food Love Stories’ work demonstrated excellence in orchestrating a complex, sustained campaign that truly connected with UK Shoppers and which made a proven difference to Tesco’s improving fortunes. This work showed the critical role agencies can play in bringing strategic intelligence and executional skill to building businesses.
Behaviour change was also at the heart of the excellent United Airlines work, using data-informed media in New York to change biases and behaviour regarding the ease of getting to their base at Newark versus JFK. It was also at the heart of the smart and highly integrated Pedigree Selfie Stix work – fusing an understanding of pet owners and social media with an execution that created a new branded promotional asset for Pedigree and which drove sales.
This year we saw the first award given to Essence for the brand impact of their work on Google’s Pixel 2 launch, creating a content series spanning media types and putting the product at the heart of an exploration of the contemporary fashion scene, including (interestingly for a digital client) a deluxe bespoke magazine. We look forward to seeing more from them in the future.
Finally, although we have seen many great entries from Nike in the past, the ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ still stood out; not just for the impact of the campaign, but also the skill and nuance that underpinned a campaign that was both scaled and also highly localised.