The world of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship activation is growing with the broadening landscape of fan engagement, so the inclusion of this new category in the WPPed Cream Awards marks a milestone in recognising its significance.

From the pitch to the screen, at the game to in the game, the world in which brands recruit, retain and continue to entertain fans is ever changing and becoming more exciting day after day.  Of the many entries we received, I am therefore excited to announce that the winner of this year’s Crème de la Crème is Wendy’s with their ground-breaking and highly creative ‘Keeping Fortnite Fresh’ campaign.

The work, created by VMLY&R Kansas City, sets a new benchmark for disruption and demonstrates how a simple product truth can be exploited to drive not only positive brand awareness but also physical fan participation. The idea changed the rules, as the submission noted so eloquently “Rather than pay our way in, we decided to play our way in”.

The entire jury agreed, we wish that we had come up with this idea.

The Sports Marketing & Sponsorship awards were split into three sub-categories, best Campaign, Experiential, Strategy, and it was a pleasure to see such diverse entries from far-reaching areas of the network. Please do take a look at our other winners.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter, and, importantly to each of you for the quality of the work. I would also like to thank my fellow judges:  Michele Ciccarese of GroupM ESP, Misha Sher of MediaCom Worldwide, Sarah O’Connor of Wilson Hartnell, Stephen Reid of Hill & Knowlton Strategies and Vinit Karnik of GroupM ESP - and on their behalf congratulate all of our winners.