Award Categories

This category recognises the best content created for a brand. The content should authentically align with the brand values and strategy which resonates clearly with the target audience. Judges will evaluate the content creation and creative execution, with additional credit given to storytelling across media channels, as well as the customer experience as evidenced by consumer engagement metrics.

Examples can include but are not limited to videos, articles or publications, podcasts, radio shows, video games and live event content directly made for the brand.

This category celebrates campaigns that have been executed on a budget of $75,000 USD and under. The judges will consider the creative and resourceful approaches formulated to produce great results for the brand, whether that be direct impact on sales or impressive campaign metrics. Extra points will be given to those who have displayed an inventive and entrepreneurial spirit in order to deliver the best outcome on a low budget.

This category is reserved for campaigns that demonstrate how it led with a purposeful cause- addressing a social, ethical and/or environmental issue. This can be CSR focused, marketing for brands, charities, not-for-profits or inclusion and diversity initiatives. The winning campaign will be able to demonstrate the positive and measurable impact, or how it has raised awareness of an organisation’s values or initiatives.

This category celebrates brands who have a clear narrative in their storytelling across all elements of their campaign, a compelling use of messaging its aims and objectives with work that pushes boundaries and in some cases the creation of new ways of communicating. The winning campaign must demonstrate clear consumer insight and through the development of a brilliant strategy, precise execution, and connectivity with the target audience. This can include any form of media used, whether a single or multi-platform campaign. Judges will favour work that pushes boundaries and is at the forefront of innovation.

This category recognises the campaign that can demonstrate the most successful consumer engagement showing tangible target audience related results. The campaign can have used any media channel as long as it can prove engagement with either wide-scale or niche consumer groups. The jury will be looking for audience related results and proof of engagement through metrics such as ‘time spent with brand’, ‘number of interactions with the brand’, ‘number of downloads’, ‘number of comments’ and so on.

This category recognises physical, virtual or hybrid experiences that deliver an effective event or experiential campaign for consumers. 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 its interaction with the consumer, created a number of key touchpoints and brought to life the brand’s values and identity. 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, stunts, guerrilla marketing, projections, ambient media, digital simulations and virtual events.

This category is reserved for independent agencies who are executing outstanding campaigns and making their stamp on the industry. Entrants should detail the challenges they face as an independent organisation, and illustrate how they used their independent capabilities, tools, resources, and community to generate impressive results and develop business for both the brand and the agency itself. When evaluating the work, judges will be looking for creativity, solid insight and how the campaign met or surpassed the client objectives. 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$330 throughout the entire entry period to be inclusive for all independent agencies in the region

The winner of this category must have combined two or more platforms offline and online, such as mobile, OOH, social media, TV, cinema, digital, radio, print or other. The campaign can be purely digital, or traditional medium based, but it must be multichannel and show an effective use of media in a creative and engaging way to obtain great results. The decisions behind the varying platform choices should be clear. Please note that the campaign can be solely implemented using digital media, or solely implemented using traditional media, as long as there are two or more platforms used successfully.

The winning campaign will demonstrate the most successful strategy created to launch or re-launch a new or existing product, service or brand. Judges will look for proven understanding of the target audience and marketplace, which is incorporated into the strategy and execution and focus on the results the campaign has delivered. Entries focusing on a relaunch should be able to present a significant update to the product, service or brand in question. It will also be advantageous to compare previous results to those that have been achieved since the relaunch. Please note- the launch or relaunch of a marketing campaign is not suitable within this category, judges will specifically be looking for the launch or relaunch of a product, service or brand.

The winner in this category will demonstrate the best use of data to successfully drive the campaign. The judges will want to see how this was made possible from econometrics and data insights. The winning entry should demonstrate the best use of small or big data insights, which have ultimately improved results, as evidenced by metrics, 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.

This category rewards the brand that has best leveraged a strategic partnership between a brand and talent(s) as part, or as the whole of a campaign. The talent may be a celebrity, sports star, leading industry figure, social media influencer, brand ambassador or other notable character, real or fictional, who has 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. Overall judges will look for authenticity between talent and brand.

This category recognises campaigns, which are primarily immersed in technology and has used the medium to deliver on the objectives of its clients. The winning campaign will be able to demonstrate a good brand/technology fit and show innovation in the use of new or existing technology to reach an audience and meet the marketing challenge. Technology can include, but not limited to, programmatic, 1st and 3rd party data tech, real-time marketing, AR, AI, chatbots, IOT, metaverse, voice activations, software, wearable tech, custom made technology solution, drones, AV technologies, etc. This category is open to ad and martech companies, as well as agencies, media owners and brands

This category will champion campaigns focused on inclusion. The jury will be looking to award a brand campaign 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 will celebrate marketers who have courageously stepped outside of the comfort zone to create a gutsy, head turning campaign that has sparked conversation and been rewarded with impressive results. This could be campaigns that have ripped up the industry rulebook and made unconventional media and marketing choices or deviated from cultural norms and/or tackled taboo subjects. The jury will be looking for entrants to demonstrate how and why they pushed the boundaries into unknown or uncertain territory, the risks at hand and how they overcame marketing challenges to achieve success.

This category will reward the campaign that has achieved the most against its stated targets. Results play a critical part in the judges’ evaluation, where figures showing the campaign’s direct impact on sales will be compelling, although other ROI metrics will also be considered. Positive uplift against business targets rather than campaign metrics will be most favoured. Judges will focus on the achieved results against the KPIs. This category will allow a two-year eligibility period, with campaigns that ran between 1 June 2021 and 31 July 2023 eligible for entry. Work entered into any Festival of Media Awards in previous years should be able to present a significant difference, re-launch and or obvious update since it’s last year’s entry.