With a total of 515 entries from 47 countries and 113 shortlisted works, the jury of the WARC Awards for effectiveness 2023 has bestowed 11 Grand Prix, two Grand Prix for Good and eight Golds accross 11 categories.
The USA tops the ranking by number of Grand Prix (a total of 4 in the categories Customer Experience, Brand Purpose, Partnerships & Sponsorships and Path to Purchase).
The United Kingdom follows the USA with 2 Grands in the categories Cultural Impact -subcategory for Good-, and Channel Integration. Argentina, Canada, Dubai (UAE), France, Germany along with Hungary and India each achieved one Grand Prix.
Gold and Grand Prix winners were unveiled today at Cannes on the sidelines of the International Festival of Creativity, Cannes Lions 2023, currently being held at the Palais des Festivals of this French touristic town.
THE WINNERS LIST
CUSTOMMER EXPERIENCE:
Grand Prix
Wear ‘Em Out Store
BRAND: eBay
AGENCY: Edelman, New York
ADVERTISER: eBay
MARKET: USA
eBay inserted itself into cultural conversation and increased sales by rewarding sneakerheads for wearing their shoes rather than preserving them.
As the largest marketplace for new and second-hand sneakers, eBay didn’t only exist to sell new shoes it was there for sneakerheads that wanted to wear their shoes and express their personality.
eBay set up the eBay Wear ‘Em Out Store: the world’s first ever sneaker shop purposefully created to reward sneakerheads for wearing, not shelving their kicks and increased sales by 25%.
Gold
Video game Amazing Thailand. Culture To Commerce.
BRAND: Tourism Authority of Thailand
AGENCY: Ogilvy, Bangkok
ADVERTISER: Tourism Authority of Thailand
MARKET: Thailand
The Tourism Authority of Thailand created a multiplayer game that enabled players to discover what Thailand has to offer as a way of promoting the country as a tourist destination during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Silver
Uncharted Playgrounds
BRAND: BRP
AGENCY: Touché!, Montreal
ADVERTISER: BRP
MARKET: Canada
Links to the campaign:
Bronce
Chiaki’s Journey
BRAND: Acura
AGENCY: MullenLowe, Los Angeles
ADVERTISER: Acura
MARKET: USA
Link to the video-case
CULTURAL IMPACT
Grand Prix
The Homecoming (Parents and baby)
BRAND: Home Centre
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, Dubai
ADVERTISER: Home Centre
MARKET: UAE
Home Center created a tangible cultural impact by supporting the adoption process in the Middle East.
War, the pandemic, and natural disasters had left many children orphaned, yet adoption was incorrectly assumed by many to be against religion and had thus become a cultural taboo.
Home Center broke through the taboo with a film conveying the positive future that adoption can give a child and the campaign resulted in 7,300 children being adopted.
Link to the video of the campaign
Grand Prix for Good
#STOPRCYBERFLASHING campaign
BRAND: Brook
AGENCY: Grey, London
ADVERTISER: Brook
MARKET: UK
Brook called for the sending of unsolicited nude pictures to be debated in parliament in the UK and change the Online Safety Bill to include cyberflashing.
Despite a number of calls for change in legislation, cybercrime wasn’t seen as a real crime and it was less likely to be reported than traditional crimes.
Brook commissioned a series of OOH displays and used QR codes to prompt people to call on local MPs to support a change in legislation; consequently, the Online Safety Bill was successfully amended to include cyberflashing.
Link to the #STOPRCYBERFLASHING campaign
Gold
Lesso Lessons
BRAND: Roto Tanks
AGENCY: Ogilvy, Nairobi
ADVERTISER: Roto Moulders
MARKET: Kenya
Roto Tanks launched Lesso Lessons, a programme in Kenya to set up early intervention in nutritional guidance that reduces acute malnutrition.
Silver
The Missing Chapter
BRAND: Whisper (feminine Hygiene)
AGENCY: EssenceMediacom, Mumbai/Leo Burnett Gurgaon
ADVERTISER: Procter&Gamble (P&G)
MARKET: India
Links to the campaign:
Bronze
Female Arabic
BRAND: Twitter
AGENCY: VMLY$R, Dubai
ADVERTISER: Twitter
MARKET: UAE
Links to the campaign:
Link to the initiative (explains the new feature) Twitter blog
The Micropedia of Microaggressions
BRAND: BBPA/TMU Diversity Institute/Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity
AGENCY: Zulu Aplpha Kilo, Toronto
ADVERTISER:TMU Diversity Institute/Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity
MARKET: Canada
Link to the video-case
LONG-TERM GROWTH
Grand Prix
New Is Old (OOH billboard saying Special offer, 91% off your carbon footprint)
BRAND: Back Market
AGENCY: Marcel, Paris
ADVERTISER: Back Market
MARKET: France
Back Market created a new category and became the leading online smartphone seller in France with its three-year New Is Old campaign.
Back Market examined consumers’ relationship with ‘new’ and the reasons why they were often reluctant to buy refurbished tech.
Over three years, Back Market developed the platform through TV, OOH and digital executions to change minds and became a trusted e-commerce brand, valued at €5.78bn.
Link to the OOH piece selected by WARC
Gold
Man receiving Uber Eats delivery. Tonight, I’ll Be Eating…
BRAND: Uber Eats
AGENCY: Special, Sydney
ADVERTISER: Uber Technologies
MARKET: Australia
Uber Eats grew the brand by partnering with celebrities to introduce the catchphrase “Tonight, I’ll be eating…”
Silver
Long-term growth done proper
BRAND: Yorkshire Tea
AGENCY: Lucky Generals, London
ADVERTISER: Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate
MARKET: UK
Link to the campaign (more than one video)
Bronze
Kevin Versus John-How a hymble carrot usurped a national treasure to win the UK’s Christmas ad crown
BRAND: Aldi
AGENCY: McCAnn, Manchester
ADVERTISER: Aldi
MARKET: UK
Links to the campaign:
Link to the case-study Effie Awards 2022
INSTANT IMPACT
Grand Prix
Dream Drop (Man in a shop)
BRAND: Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
AGENCY: FCB, Toronto
ADVERTISER: Ontario Lottery and gaming Corporation
MARKET: Canada
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation connected with new players by releasing an exclusive clothing line with a LOTTO MAX ticket attached.
The lottery was struggling to attract younger players while facing the challenge of a rise of new gaming options such as sports and online betting and video games.
The Lottery released the world’s first wearable lottery ticket in the form of a clothing line with a barcode giving the wearer access to a year’s worth of lottery tickets, resulting in a 200% increase in ticket sales.
Links to the campaign:
Link to the awarded piece
Link to the video campaign case
Grand Prix for Good
A bottle of wine caked in mud #Flutwein – Our Worst Vintage
BRAND: Flutwein
AGENCY: Seven.One AdFactory, Munich / White Rabbit, Budapest
ADVERTISER: Ahr Wine Region
MARKET: Germany / Hungary
Flutwein increased donations and awareness about flooding and the Ahr Valley in Germany by selling bottles of wine that had survived the flood.
To raise donations for the damaged areas, Flutwein branded the bottles of wine that were rescued from the cellars of the wineries.
The newly created #flutwein brand united the wines of more than 50 independent wineries from the Ahrweiler region under one single label and generated over 4.4m euros in six weeks.
Links to the campaign:
Link to the campaign case study (The One Club)
Gold
Mountain biker. No Fear Is Too Small
BRAND: Mountain Dew
AGENCY: Flibbr Consulting Services, Mumbai
ADVERTISER: PepsiCo
MARKET: India
Mountain Dew questioned the conventional codes of heroism to tap into an emerging ethos of courage in post-pandemic India.
Links to the campaign:
Link to the video ofthe campaign (original language)
Link to the campaign-case study (in English)
Silver
Lunchabuild This!
BRAND: Lunchables
AGENCY: Starcom, Chicago/Goodby Silverstein & Partmners, San Francisco
ADVERTISER: Kraft Heinz Company
MARKET: USA
Links to the campaign:
Link to the video case-study (The One Club)
Link to the work (includeing all the pieces and actions)
Bronze
Interface Interruption
BRAND: Tubi
AGENCY: Mischief@ No Fixed Address, new York
ADVERTISER: Fox Corporation
MARKET: USA
Beernaments
BRAND: Miller Lite
AGENCY: Alma DDB, Florida
ADVERTISER: Molson Coors Group
MARKET: USA
French Toast Guy
BRAND: Wendy’s
AGENCY: McCann, Toronto
ADVERTISER: Wendy’s Company
MARKET: Canada
Link to the case-study (video)
The Trophy Grill
BRAND: Tramontina
AGENCY: WundermanThompson, Sao Paulo
ADVERTISER: Tramontina
MARKET: Brazil
Link to the campaign case study
BRAND PURPOSE
Grand Prix
Four women of colour. See My Skin
BRAND: Vaseline
AGENCY: Edelman, New York
ADVERTISER: Unilever
MARKET: USA
Vaseline created the world’s first and most diverse medical image library to help people of colour in the USA find images of people with skin complaints that matched their own.
Under 6% of image-based online search results for skin conditions are on darker skin tones, meaning Black Americans suffer from misdiagnoses and untreated conditions
Vaseline aggregated thousands of images of conditions on Black and Brown skin to create a database designed to search conditions on darker skin and increased the number of people seeking dermatological care by 1,430%.
Gold
H For Handwashing. How Lifebuoy made handwashing a lesson that no one forgets
BRAND: Lifebuoy
AGENCY: Lowe Lintas, Mumbai / MullenLowe, Singapore
ADVERTISER: Unilever
MARKET: India / Singapore
Lifebuoy partnered with educators, NGOs and governments in 30 countries to instill the habit of handwashing into children through digital and on-ground activations.
Link to the explanation and pieces of the campaign
Silver
Breaking taboos by brealing silence
BRAND: Stayfree
AGENCY: DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai
ADVERTISER: Johnson&Johnson
MARKET: India
Link to the campaign (all pieces) and explanation
I Will Always Be Me
BRAND: Dell Technologies&Intel
AGENCY: VMLY&R, New York
ADVERTISER: Dell technologies&Intel
MARKET: UK
Bronze
Hypo Toilet Rescue Initiative (against open defecation in Nigeria)
-first time that Nigeria wins a Warc Award for Effectiveness-
BRAND: Hypo Toilet Cleaner
AGENCY: Mediareach OMD, Lagos
ADVERTISER: Multipro Enterprise Limited
MARKET: Nigeria
Links to the campaign:
Reseeding our appreciation for nature
BRAND: Air Wick
AGENCY: Havas, New York/Reckitt Benckiser, Parsippany
ADVERTISER: Reckitt
MARKET: USA
Link to the information on this initiative
BUSINESS TO BUSINESS
Grand Prix
The Hire (two men in a corridor standing up to their waists in water)
BRAND: Indeed
AGENCY: DDB Mudra, Bangalore
ADVERTISER: Recruit Holdings
MARKET: India
Indeed promoted itself in India by targeting small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with a humorous campaign about the pitfalls of informal hiring practices.
Around 70% of Indian SMBs hire via casual, personal recommendations, which is partly due to a lack of recruitment know-how.
Indeed launched a series of humorous films demonstrating the dangers of informal hiring and presenting Indeed as the solution and increased consideration by 10%.
Silver
Billion Dollar Collection
BRAND: H&M Foundation
AGENCY: Prime Weber Shandwick, Stockholm
ADVERTISER: H&M Foundation
MARKET: Sweden
Links to the campaign (explanation and video):
Link to the explanation (dedicated microsite)
Link to the video
Link to the making of the Billion Dollar Collection
Bronze
From Pushing Paper to Pulling on Heart Strings
BRAND: Pergraphica
AGENCY: True, London
ADVERTISER: Mondi
MARKET: UK
Link to the case-study (video)
CHANNEL INTEGRATION
Grand Prix
Love Island contestants. Pre-Loved Island
BRAND: eBay
AGENCY: EssenceMediacom, London
ADVERTISER: eBay
MARKET: UK
eBay increased the popularity of second-hand clothing by partnering with ITV’s reality show Love Island in the UK.
Some 69% of shoppers had negative views of second-hand clothes and 100k clothing items are sent to landfill every five minutes.
eBay created a pre-loved product placement at the heart of Love Island by providing Islanders with a wardrobe of second-hand clothes and the campaign resulted in a 7,000% increase in pre-loved fashion searches.
Links to the campaign:
Link to Pre-loved fashion hub at e-bay
Silver
The Postcard of Saudi Arabia to the World
BRAND: AlUla
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, Dubai
ADVERTISER: Royal Commission of Al Ula
MARKET: Saudi Arabia
AlUla was unveiled to the world through beautifully crafted content across a well-defined channel plan to increase brand awareness, attract 90,000 visitors, influence visitor satisfaction, and generate 240m views across 12 markets.
Link to the campaign ( see Amy Rodgers and John Bizzell cooments on video two)
Bronze
Feel out Loud
BRAND: Kids Help Phone
AGENCY: McCann, Toronto
ADVERTISER: Kids Help Phone
MARKET: Canada
PARTNERSHIPS & SPONSORSHIPS
Grand Prix
Future Baller$ (Young woman and young man with basket balls)
BRAND: iShares
AGENCY: DDB, San Francisco
ADVERTISER: BlackRock
MARKET: USA
iShares positioned itself as the antidote to the cultural problem of dangerous risk taking among young investors in the USA.
Young investors were taking huge financial risks in the stock market and iShares saw a dangerous parallel with professional athletes, as 60% of NBA players are rumoured to face bankruptcy.
iShares collaborated with rising basketball stars who agreed to a sponsorship deal which taught them how to invest responsibly and the campaign resulted in a triple digit increase in consideration for iShares.
Links to the campaign:
Link to the piece selected by WARC
Link to the ad (video)
Other pieces of the campaign:
Videos(1)
Gold
Woman standing by a car. The Not Hot Periodwear Collection
BRAND: Always
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, Beirut / Leo Burnett, Dubai
ADVERTISER: Procter & Gamble (P&G)
MARKET: Lebanon / UAE
Always increased awareness among Generation Z by creating the ‘The Not Hot Periodwear’ fashion line using their pads’ cool and dry technology to combat the heat in Saudi Arabia.
Links to the campaign:
Other pieces of the campaign:
Always x Nasiba Not Hot Collection (video)
Silver
Müller Rice X Declan Rice. It Just Made Sense
BRAND: Muller
AGENCY: VCCP, London
ADVERTISER: Muller
MARKET: UK
Links to the campaign:
Link to the video published on TikTok
Link to the video published on TikTok (short)
Bronze
Indie Eats
BRAND: Grab Food
AGENCY: In house
ADVERTISER: Grab
MARKET: Philippines
Indie Eats is GrabFood’s merchant discoverability program aimed to shine the spotlight on small yet promising and quality food business in the Philippines.
Link to the campaign:
Superstar Ravi
BRAND: adidas
AGENCY: Havas Middle East
Dubai/Red Havas Middle East, Dubai
ADVERTISER: adidas
MARKET: UAE
Links to the campaign:
Link to the case study (video)
Link to the explanation of the campaign by Red Havas
USE OF DATA
Grand Prix
Real Street Style campaign (CGI figure jumping)
BRAND: Mercado Libre
AGENCY: GUT, Buenos Aires
ADVERTISER: Mercado Libre
MARKET: Argentina
Mercado Libre ran Real Street Style, a data-driven campaign promoting its fashion category Moda Libre.
Fashion was a fast-growing category with strong potential, but its presentation on the marketplace lacked aesthetic appeal compared to fashion brand websites.
Mercado Libre used proprietary sales and delivery data to map the most popular fashion trends in five Latin American capitals and grew its social following by 300%.
Link to the case study of the campaign (shortlisted in the D&D Awards 2022)
Gold
Outline of the USA on a computer. The Black Elevation Map
BRAND: Black & Abroad
AGENCY: Performance Art, Toronto
ADVERTISER: Black & Abroad
MARKET: USA
Black & Abroad promoted tourism within the USA by collecting data to create the Black Elevation Map, which indicated where Black-owned businesses and cultural institutions were likely to be present, absent and in abundance.
Silver
Oppresion Offset
BRAND: Civil Rights Defenders
AGENCY: Prime Weber Shandwick, Stockholm
ADVERTISER: Civil Rights Defenders
MARKET: Sweden
Today, almost half of the world’s countries are dictatorships where people are deprived of their rights. Many of these countries are popular vacation destinations where money spent is likely to end up in the hands of authoritarian regimes. That is why Civil Rights Defenders hand in hand with Prime Weber Shandwick, Stockholm have made it possible to offset your oppression footprint, as a way of supporting our work for human rights and democracy in the world. The dedicated website includes a tool to calculate the money value of your oppression foodprint and then donate this amount of money to support Civil Rights Defenders actions against dictatorship regimes.
Links to the campaign:
Bronze
Wall Street Balls
BRAND: Testiculat Cancer Society
AGENCY: FP7 McCann, Dubai/McCann Helath, Dubai
ADVERTISER: Testicular Cancer Society
MARKET: UAE
Link to the campaign:
PATH TO PURCHASE
Grand Prix
The Self-Love Bouquet
BRAND: DoorDash
AGENCY: GUT, Los Angeles
ADVERTISER: Doordash
MARKET: USA
DoorDash created buzz among people and press with its The Self-Love Bouquet: a 12-rose bouquet with a twist.
Social media often shames single people for not having a significant other on Valentine’s Day, with 74% of single-shaming conversations came from women.
DoorDash purchased roses from local florists and sold the bouquets in bunches of 11 with one extra Rose™ vibrator that women could use to celebrate themselves on Valentine’s Day.
Links to the campaign:
Link to the creative piece chosen by Warc
Link to DoorDash press release
Silver
Planning fast & slow
BRAND: Sky Glass
AGENCY: EssenceMediacom, London
ADVERTISER: Sky
MARKET: UK
Links to the product explanation and launch actions:
Link to the video launch of Sky Glass TV
Link to the Sky Glass TV dedicated site
Link to the Sky Glass launch event
Link to the campaign ( see Amy Rodgers and John Bizzell coments on video two)
LINK TO WARC WINNERS LIST
CHANNEL PIONEER
Grand Prix
The Last Performance (Dead women with eyes open)
BRAND: Partners Life
AGENCY: Special, Auckland
ADVERTISER: Dai-ichi Life Holdings
MARKET: New Zealand
Partners Life partnered with New Zealand’s favourite murder mystery show to convince customers to take out insurance by using the ‘hindsight of the dead’.
Partners Life demonstrated the risk associated with an unexpected death by using the murdered characters as spokespeople.
Every episode offered unique hindsight into the consequences of an unexpected death and the campaign generated a 70% increase in website enquiries.
Link to the case study (video)
Gold
Woman conducting a self check for breast cancer. Self Check-Out
BRAND: K. Lynn Lingerie
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, Dubai
ADVERTISER: K. Lynn Lingerie
MARKET: UAE
K-Lynn encouraged of women in the UAE to conduct self-checks for breast cancer and book mammograms by turning its models’ poses into a step-by-step guide.
K-Lynn teamed up with Leo Burnett Dubai to transform its website into a self-check guide.
Link to the L-Lynn self check guide
Silver
Phone It In
BRAND: Skinny
AGENCY: Colenso BBDO, Auckland
ADVERTISER: Spark New Zealand
MARKET: New Zealand
Link to the case study (video)
Bronze
Don’t Sleep On It
BRAND: IKEA
AGENCY: Leo Burnett, Riyadh
ADVERTISER: IKEA
MARKET: Saudi Arabia
Link to the video published by IKEA Saudi Arabia
