Honouring the best ideas that deliver business results, a total of 61 awards have been given at the first WARC Awards for Effectiveness, a new international competition organised by WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness, in association with LIONS.
Seven Grands Prix, nine Golds, 15 Silvers, 18 Bronzes and 12 Special Awards for work that excelled in key areas have been awarded.
The UAE won six awards in the categories of Collaboration & Culture and Instant Impact (Saudi Arabia also won an award in the last category). FP7 McCann Dubai won two Grand Prix, the first, Grand Prix for Good was awarded for Donner Sang Compter (DSC): Blood Unity and the second, The Grand Prix for Home Centre: A Dad’s Job. Egypt also took an award in the Brand Purpose category.
Campaigns for both global and local brands won, with KFC Australia picking up four awards for three different campaigns. The winners are from 17 different markets with New Zealand winning the most with 11 awards. The UK and the US follow with eight awards each; Canada and the UAE have each won six awards.
Commenting on the overall results of these inaugural awards, Paul Coxhill, managing director, WARC, said: “The wide range of winners of these first WARC Awards for Effectiveness has set a new benchmark for effectiveness. Having been judged using the WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness Ladder as a universal framework to measure effective marketing, this exceptional collection of work will inspire and lead the way for our industry’s future success. We thank our juries and congratulate all the winners.”
Key highlights for each of the categories are:
- Brand Purpose
Ten awards: 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze, 2 Special Awards.
Winning countries: Australia (1), Canada (1), Egypt (1) Malaysia (1), UK (4), USA (2)
The Grand Prix was awarded to Havas New York for Finish: Skip the Rinse. The dishwasher brand grew sales and market share in the US with this multichannel campaign to launch its Skip the Rinse movement encouraging Americans to save water.
Juror Harjot Singh, global chief strategy officer, McCann Worldgroup, said: “There’s a very clear enemy, a very clear point of view, and there’s a very clear and measurable change in behaviour caused by the work.”
- Business-to-Business
Six awards: 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze, 2 Special Awards
Winning countries: Finland (1), Japan (1), Malaysia (1), Sweden (1), UK (1), US (1)
The Grand Prix was awarded to Havas International London for Maersk: Setting a New Course for Growth. The shipping giant used digital and TV executions to reposition itself as a complete end-to-end logistics and services provider to the C-Suite in Denmark.
Judge Ty Heath, Director, Market Engagement, The B2B Institute, LinkedIn, commented: “People will remember this creative. It has a compelling story arc and a memorable character they can use again and again.”
- Collaboration & Culture
Seventeen awards: 2 Grands Prix, 2 Gold, 4 Silver, 6 Bronze, 3 Special Awards
Winning countries: Colombia (2), Indonesia (1), Malaysia (1), New Zealand (7), UAE (3), UK (1), USA (2)
Wieden+Kennedy New York won the Grand Prix for McDonald’s: The Travis Scott Meal. The quick-service restaurant teamed up with an inspirational icon to build the brand and drive traffic with young consumers in the US.
Jury chair Nadja Bellan-White, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Vice Media, said: “It was the perfect cross-section of culture and effectiveness.”
A second Grand Prix for Good was awarded to FP7 McCann Dubai for Donner Sang Compter (DSC): Blood Unity. The NGO turned tradition on its head to encourage blood donation and save lives in Lebanon.
Jury member Adah Parris, futurist, cultural innovator, and chair of Mental Health, First Aid England, noted: “I really loved this one because of the big cultural element. And in the longer term, you can see there will be a cultural impact for generations because of this campaign.”
- Customer Experience
Eleven awards: 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze, 3 Special Awards
Winning countries: Australia (2), Belgium (1), Hong Kong (2), Malaysia (1), New Zealand (2), USA (3)
The Grand Prix was given to Grey Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, for Tesco: Unforgettable Bag. The supermarket greatly reduced single-use plastic bag usage in Malaysia with a behaviour-changing campaign that rewarded customers.
Judge Agathe Guerrier, Global Co-Chief Strategy Officer, TBWA\Worldwide, said: “The best ideas are always the simplest ideas; they seem obvious in retrospect. Tesco’s Unforgettable Bag falls in this category: It’s not flashy at all but beautifully smart and effective.”
- Instant Impact
Ten awards: 1 Grand Prix, 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze, 1 Special Award
Winning countries: Australia (1), Canada (4), Colombia (1), Saudi Arabia (1), UAE (3)
The Grand Prix went to FP7 McCann, Dubai, for Home Centre: A Dad’s Job. The home furniture retailer tackled the taboo topic of single mothers to create an impact with its Father’s Day campaign in the UAE.
Jury chair Dhiren Amin, Chief Marketing Officer, Asia, The Kraft Heinz Company, commented: “It not only demonstrated instant business impact; but the fact that this was achieved through strong social impact makes it commendable.”
- Sustained Growth
Seven awards: 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze, 1 Special Award
Winning countries: Australia (1), Canada (1), New Zealand (2), Singapore (1), UK (2)
The Grand Prix was awarded to McCann Manchester for Aldi Stores: 2010-2019 – How Taking an Alternative Path Took Aldi from Shame to Pride. The German discount supermarket ran a ten-year, multi-channel campaign in the UK to improve perceptions, grow sales and share, and become a top-five grocery retailer.
Judge Benoit Weisser, chief strategy officer, Asia, Ogilvy, said: “It recognised that the massiveness of the task wasn’t going to happen in a turnaround time of a week, month or year, and committed to it.”
The winners of the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Special Awards were revealed throughout today on warc.com with the Grands Prix being announced at Cannes Lions Live, including insights from the juries. This session can be viewed on-demand at Cannes Lions Live or on warc.com, alongside three other sessions hosted by WARC to help marketers be more effective. More information on the WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2021 is available here.
Later this year, WARC, in association with LIONS, will launch a new platform to drive creative effectiveness. Building on the Creative Effectiveness Ladder, it will help marketers and agencies benchmark, diagnose and improve their effectiveness culture.
