MEDIA Award Categories

In this category, judges will award campaigns that have been designed for local execution, taking a creative and strategic media approach towards an audience within a local region.

The work could be for a challenger, local, or global advertiser, as long as it is specifically curated for a local audience. Winning entries should demonstrate strong insight specific to a location and how they recognised cultural nuances to tailor and deliver the campaign effectively. Judges will be on the lookout for the use of appropriate media channels and strong results, such as increase in brand perception, customer engagement and sales.

Please note: entries will be assessed within the context of the brand's size, resources, and market position. This ensures that smaller local brands are not disadvantaged when compared to larger global entities; each campaign's impact will be considered relative to its unique circumstances.

This category will award the best campaigns focused on retail media and how the work has leveraged retail media networks, platforms and partnerships to achieve its clients’ objectives.

The winning work should demonstrate how and why a brand has used retail media strategies - whether in-store, online, or across various touchpoints - to connect with consumers, drive engagement, awareness and sales uplift of the product of service. This could include data-driven targeting, sponsored product listings, shoppable media and retailer collaborations.

The jury will be focused on the key metric of growth, paying special attention to results such as: purchase intent, click-through rates, conversions, store, or site visits and the number of new customers purchasing the brand’s products or services and the revenue uplift. Winning entries should also demonstrate innovative use of retail media and seamless integration into the retail environment.

Please note this category is open to online retail brands that have used their platforms, ecommerce and social commerce tools and resources as part of their campaign, as well as other brand campaigns that have used retail media or ecommerce as part of the media strategy.

Examples could be an automotive brand using a retailer such as Walmart to market its latest vehicle in the retailer's physical or virtual stores, or a combination of both, or an online only fashion brand using their own social commerce or ecommerce tools to sell its products. 

This category rewards brand communication that has used mobile as a strategic driver of campaign success.

Entrants should clearly explain how and why mobile was uniquely leveraged to engage audiences, meet objectives, and achieve results, demonstrating a deep understanding of the platform’s strengths- whether through apps, messaging, mobile-first content, location-based targeting, or real-time engagement. Judges will be looking for examples where mobile wasn’t just a channel, but a critical part of the strategy and execution.

Examples include, but are not limited to: apps, mobile websites, mobile games, and mobile based advertising Mobile apps, mobile websites, mobile games, and mobile based advertising.

This category welcomes entries from media owners and agencies, rewarding the best original content created for a brand.

The branded content should align with the brand values and strategy, clearly addressing marketing objectives and challenges. Judges will evaluate the content creation and creative execution, with additional credit given to compelling storytelling across media channels, as well as strong customer experience as evidenced by consumer engagement metrics.

Content examples can include but are not limited to: videos, articles or publications, podcasts, radio shows, TV shows, music, video games and event content directly made for the brand.

This category recognises campaigns that have centred their strategy around a holiday, festival, or celebration to deliver exceptional results for their clients. Entries should demonstrate a strong understanding and use of audience insights- including habits, traditions, activities, and preferences, associated with the occasion and specific to the target market.

Judges will be looking for campaigns that showcase creativity, clever timing, and thoughtful planning in the lead-up to or/and around the event and how it led to the campaign’s success.

Examples include, but are not limited to: Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Pride Month, Halloween, Independence Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, International Women’s Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Earth Day, Carnival, and local or regional celebrations.

This category rewards campaigns for local brands that are specific and exclusive to a certain country or region. Entries should demonstrate how the campaign has helped a local brand fulfil its targets and reach KPI’s. Entrants should outline the challenge for the brand within the market it ran, and how they worked to overcome them.

Judges will look for great insight and execution, including the use of appropriate media channels and strong results, such as increases in brand perception, local engagement, and sales.

This is an amazing opportunity for entrants to showcase campaigns for smaller, countrywide brands that are producing amazing work. Campaigns for global brands that are widely available to multiple countries should not be submitted in this category.

This category is reserved for campaigns that demonstrate how it led with a purposeful cause- addressing a social, ethical, economic, cultural, political and/or environmental issue. Eligible entries may include but are not limited to: CSR focused efforts or marketing for brands, charities, not-for profits, health enterprises, sustainability causes, social movements or inclusion and diversity initiatives.

Winning campaigns will clearly demonstrate a positive and measurable impact or meaningful shifts in cultural and social perceptions, supported by tangible results and evidence of influence. Judges will also consider how effectively the campaign has raised awareness of an organisation’s values or initiatives in alignment with the cause at its core.

This category celebrates independent agencies achieving excellence through campaigns that set new benchmarks or creative standards in the industry.

Entrants should outline how they used their unique capabilities, tools, resources, and community to generate impressive results and drive business growth for both the brand and agency. When evaluating the work, judges will be looking for innovation, solid insight and clear detail on how the agency navigated or overcame the challenges of operating independently.

To be considered an independent agency 51% of its ownership should be independent inclusive of private equity and have no affiliation with one of the six holding groups WPP, OMG, Havas, Publicis, IPG and Dentsu. The agency – big or small – needs to be the lead on the campaign.

For this category, the entry price will remain at £499 throughout the entire entry period to allow better access for independent agencies with restricted budgets.

This category celebrates campaigns that demonstrate a clear and cohesive narrative across all elements of their campaign, showcasing a compelling use of messaging that aligns with the brand, how it pushes creative boundaries, and, in some cases, introduces new ways of communicating. Campaigns may use any form of media, from single-platform executions to integrated, multi-channel strategies.

Winning entries should highlight strong consumer insight, a well-defined strategic approach, and precise execution that built genuine connection with the target audience. Judges will be looking for evidence of how the communications strategy delivered tangible results and successfully met or exceeded the brand’s objectives.

This category recognises campaigns successfully boosted by the distribution, amplification, and presentation of content. The content does not need to be original or newly created content and can be in any format e.g. video, print, OOH, native advertising etc.

Campaigns will be specifically judged on their content strategy, which will include assessing the identification of target audiences and appropriate media channels, how effectively the placement of content was planned and implemented to engage with consumers and how it successfully tapped into the media owner eco-system.

We encourage entries from both agencies and media owners.

Examples include distributing and amplifying user generated content, social media content, third-party generated content, brand-specific content, such as videos, articles, podcasts, radio shows, video games and live event content.

This category recognises the campaign that best demonstrates successful and measurable consumer engagement. Entrants should highlight how creativity, insight, and channel strategy combined to capture audience participation and interaction with either wide-scale, or niche consumer groups.

The jury will be looking for audience related results and clear evidence of how the campaign successfully connected with its target audience, including metrics such as 'time spent with brand', 'number of interactions with the brand', 'number of downloads', 'number of comments', ‘number of shares’, or other relevant indicators of active participation.

This category recognises campaigns that deliver effective experiences or events for consumers, whether physical, virtual, or hybrid. The case should be clear on its results and be focused on the event / experience itself.

The jury will expect to see how the brand has developed meaningful interaction with the consumer, created a number of key touchpoints and brought its values and identity to life. The winner will be able to demonstrate the tangible benefits for the brand ideally including business results as well as impressive campaign metrics.

Examples can include but are not limited to; pop-ups, brand activations, live performances, product sampling, immersive installations, festivals, community events, stunts, guerrilla marketing, projections, ambient media, digital simulations and virtual events

The winner of this category will demonstrate the most successful multi-channel campaign and must have combined two or more platforms offline and online, such as: mobile, OOH, social media, TV, cinema, digital, radio, print or other.

Entries should detail a clear strategic thread connecting all touchpoints and showcase how the chosen platforms integrated to create a cohesive and engaging brand activation. Judges will be looking for a well-defined rationale behind platform selection and evidence that each format contributed distinct value to achieving outstanding results against the campaign’s objectives.

Please note: Campaigns may be purely digital, purely traditional, or a hybrid of both — but must demonstrate a truly multi-channel approach and clear integration across all touchpoints.

This category is open to campaigns which have tapped into the world of music as the main driver of their strategy and success.

This could be campaigns that have curated musical experiences, are focused on, or incorporated the use of a licensed, or original piece of music, or collaborations with music acts/artists, or organisations such as, but not limited, to music publishers, licensors or distributors, record labels and music streaming platforms.

Judges will be looking for an authentic connection between the music and the brand, and how music has been leveraged to communicate and resonate with consumers, while delivering or surpassing its client objectives and generating awareness, product or service uplift and key amplification to current and potential customers.

This category is open to campaigns that have tactically responded to the cultural, environmental, economic, social, political, health or community landscape in a creative and resourceful way. Judges will look for brands that have developed their campaign strategy - short and long term - in reaction to the changes within the environments and adapted their media and marketing strategies to deliver the best possible results.

Winning entries should be able to demonstrate how and why the brand has responded to the topic in focus. Judges will be looking for clear insight and an authentic brand connection to the issue at hand.

Examples include, but are not limited to, campaigns responding to topics such as: inclusion & diversity, extreme weather conditions, environmental issues, conflict or war, political elections or policies, consumer trends, viral movements, cultural shifts, news stories, crisis, public affairs and healthcare issues from pandemics to viral infections.

The winner in this category will demonstrate the best use of data and reflect the achievement of effectively reaching consumers where the successful campaign has been notably enhanced or even made possible through learning gained from econometrics and insights. Campaigns can be from social media to e-commerce as long as they have data at their heart.

Judges will be looking at how data has been used to inform the campaigns and apply pivot strategies to adapt and evolve the overall delivery of the work when needed during the execution. The winning entry should demonstrate the best use of all data insights, which has ultimately improved results, as evidenced by metrics including purchase intent, attention, brand consideration, increases in the average order value, a reduction in online CPA or increase in ROI. Pre- and post-campaign statistics will be another useful benchmark for judges.

Examples could include, but are not limited to: Music-based activations analysing and utilising listening data to present an engagement campaign personalised to specific users, or a pharma/health-based campaign using consumer data to locate key audience figures to partner with to promote a health cause.

This category is open to any marketing initiative where gaming has been the focal point of the campaign’s strategy and successfully used the medium to increase results for the client’s brand. This could include utilising both gaming and esports communities, partnerships with organisations in this space or games publishers. This could also include gamification campaigns created by brands to reach a specific audience.

Judges will be looking at how the brand has engaged with the esports or games/gaming organisations and generated key resonation with its products or services to the right audience, and with the innovation of the partnership activation.

Examples could include, but are not limited to: The use of esports teams, companies, events and tournaments. Gaming/streaming platforms. Gamification initiatives and apps. Virtual realities or experiences, wearable tech, the metaverse and all other emerging platforms. Single or multi-player video games, arcade, console, mobile and other offline/online gaming experiences.

This category is open to campaigns that have successfully engaged with their customers by leveraging or distributing real-time information and content.

Strategies may be planned in advance, or more spontaneous/reactive, as long as the entry showcases how the brand created relevant messaging and engaged with audiences in real-time- either by responding to current data, trends, news or events, or delivering live content, activations or experiences.

Judges will be looking for how the time-sensitive content, amplified interaction with their audiences, drove brand awareness, increased conversion, and enhanced the brand’s image.

The range of real-time work judges will consider includes, but is not limited to, marketing automation such as triggered emails, response to timely news, trends or events, engaging with customers on social media, personalised digital content based on interactions, live event promotion, or location-based deals through emails or apps. Platforms could include X (Twitter), TikTok, Snap, WeChat, OOH, digital displays, or Instagram.

This category has been created to celebrate media campaigns, which have used sport as a vital component of their strategies to drive results, resonate with consumers and communicate the client’s key messaging. This could include working or partnering with sports- teams, organisations, communities, and associations within any sport, amateur to professional around the globe, or an activation at a sports event – local, regional, or global – which allows key touchpoints for the client’s target audiences and is part of an overall media strategy.

Judges will be looking at the results the association with sport has achieved, how it met and surpassed the client’s objectives and used sport as a key communicational tool.

Examples could include but are not limited to:

• Innovative sponsorship activations at sporting events like the FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, UEFA Champions League, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, Tour de France, Wimbledon, or Formula 1 Grand Prix events.

• Partnerships with sports venues such as Wembley Stadium, Madison Square Garden, Allianz Arena, Camp Nou, Stade de France, SoFi Stadium, or Estádio do Maracanã.

• Campaigns incorporating work with sports teams, clubs or organisations such as the IOC, FIFA, NFL, NBA, Premier League clubs, MLB teams, Formula 1 teams, LaLiga, World Rugby, ATP/WTA tours, or national football federations.

This category will reward the campaign that has best leveraged a strategic partnership between the brand and talent(s) as a key element, or the entirety of its activation.

The talent may be a celebrity, sports star, industry figure, social media influencer, brand ambassador, community leader or other notable character (real or fictional) who has effectively connected with audiences and directly tapped into their own following to benefit the brand.

The activation may be part of a planned campaign using the talent or used more spontaneously in real-time marketing, but judges will look for authenticity between talent and brand.

This category will champion campaigns that have focused on or highlighted the topic of inclusion/inclusivity. The jury will be looking to award a brand that has positively represented or contributed to individuals or communities from various; backgrounds, experiences, capabilities, and perspectives who are usually excluded, unrepresented or marginalised.

Entrants should demonstrate an authentic and effective campaign that delivered impact for the groups that it is representing, alongside fantastic marketing results.

The campaign must focus on a topic of inclusion, examples can include but are not exclusive to- work based around gender, age, race, sexual orientation, or disability.

This category celebrates agencies or clients who have stepped out of the comfort zone and created a courageous, daring or provocative campaign that generated impressive results. This could be campaigns that have challenged industry norms, broke conventional marketing expectations, deviated from cultural norms and/or tackled taboo subjects.

The jury will be looking for clear evidence of how and why the campaign pushed the boundaries into unknown or uncertain territory, the risks involved and how they navigated marketing challenges to achieve success. Entrants are also encouraged to share lessons learned and insights gained from taking risks, illustrating how stepping outside comfort zones led to meaningful outcomes.

Please note whilst results will play a role in the judging of this award, the jury will be focused on the braveness of the campaign.

This category has been curated to celebrate ground-breaking creativity within the media industry. Entries should demonstrate how the campaign propelled to new heights, whether that be through innovative ideas, clever use of media channels- existing, as well as the creation of new, or a game-changing strategy.

Judges will be looking for cut-through or pioneering campaigns that skillfully navigate but also transcend the media landscape.  

Please note: whilst results play a role in the judging of this award, the jury will be focused on the creative idea, concept or innovation.