whiteGREY Sydney and Mindshare Australia win Grand Prix for Volvo ‘Omtanke’ at WARC Awards 2020 – Effective Innovation
whiteGREY Sydney and Mindshare Australia have taken out the Grand Prix in the Effective Innovation category of the WARC Awards, a global search for next-generation marketing effectiveness, which recognises innovative thinking that has transformed a business to deliver tangible results.
whiteGREY and Mindshare won for their Omtanke – Rethinking Volvo initiative, which highlighted the car manufacturer’s sustainability credentials leading to the creation of the Volvo Living Seawall, an ocean conservation project in Sydney Harbour. Volvo experienced an unprecedented 113% average uplift in brand attributes across its key target audiences and record sales.
Also from Australia, The Brand Agency, Perth won the Category Innovation Award, for the best example of a brand defying category norms or creating a new category for Hungry Puffs, an initiative for hunger charity Foodbank Western Australia, which created a new cereal brand, consisting of an empty box, to raise awareness and funds in Western Australia.
Two other special awards have also been given in specific areas of excellence:
Partnership Award, for the best collaboration that helped a brand rethink a solution to a business challenge, was awarded to PS21 Madrid for gin brand Tanqueray’s colourful multi-channel campaign in Spain. #FFAB60 – Searching for the special colour of Seville, launched to drive growth of its new product and stand out from the crowd.
Channel Innovation Award, for the best example of an innovative use of media, has been awarded to McCann London for travel-themed campaign Visit Xbox – the Birth of Gaming Tourism, to engage a new audience of non-gamers worldwide.
Commenting on the winners, jury chair, Jane Wakely, Lead Chief Marketing Officer, Mars & Mars Pet Nutrition, commented: “Amidst the current challenges faced by the world, it’s never been more critical that brand innovations deliver tangible IMPACT for consumers. The true innovations are the ideas that can meet the needs of consumers, address their pain points or provide added-value in a creative and surprising way.
“Against the backdrop of an impressive line-up of submissions, it was this ability to fuse creativity with deep consumer insight that truly set this year’s Innovation winners apart.”
The jury of 14 agency- and client-side industry professionals, also selected the following winners:
Silver:
SelfieSTIX · Pedigree · Mars · Colenso BBDO · New Zealand
Blood Unity · Donner Sang Compter (DSC) · FP7 McCann Dubai · Lebanon
Colonel KI · KFC · Yum! China · Mindshare China · China
OMO Tag · OMO · Unilever · TBWA\RAAD · Lebanon
Bronze:
Ok Nestlé! Tell me more about food · Nestlé · McCann Worldgroup · India
The Makeover of the Four Immortals · Master Kong Express Noodle · Ting Hsin International Group · BBDO China · China
View the winning case studies in the Effective Innovation category.
The winners of the remaining categories – Effective Content Strategy, Effective Social Strategy and Effective Use of Brand Purpose – will be announced shortly. The Grands Prix and Special Awards winners across the four categories of the WARC Awards share a $40,000 prize fund.
