Award Categories

This category welcomes entries from media owners and agencies, rewarding the best content newly created for a brand. The branded content should fit with the brand values, strategy and clearly address the marketing challenge. 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. 

Content 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. 

Please Note:  Sub-content does not need to be entirely original. Entries may include the creative repurposing or reformatting of existing content, such as television broadcasts, previously recorded footage, archive material, or other media assets- provided the resulting content has been substantially adapted or transformed to create a new branded content experience. 

This category will reward campaigns that have used a holiday, festival, celebration or cultural occasion as the focal point of their strategy to generate results for their clients. This could be through timing, strategically launching on or around the occasion, and/or by integrating the occasion into their content and storytelling. 

Campaigns 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 and a a clear rationale for the brand’s connection to the event. 

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 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 also 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 $525 throughout the entire entry period to be inclusive for all independent agencies in the region. 

Judges also have the option to award multiple trophies within 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 topic. 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, raised awareness 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 rewards campaigns that best demonstrates a clear and successful communications strategy. 

Judges will be looking for a cohesive narrative across all touchpoints of the campaign, with a compelling messaging aligned with the brand, and strategically selected media channels working together to reach the target audience. This can include any form of media, whether a single or multi-platform campaign. 

Winning entries should evidence strong consumer insight and a well-defined strategic approach that builds a genuine connection with the target audience, delivers tangible results, and successfully meets or exceeds the brand’s objectives. Judges will favour work that pushes creative boundaries and, in some cases, introduces new ways of communicating. 

This category recognises campaigns that demonstrate how a campaign was 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 combine to capture audience participation and interaction with either a broad or niche consumer groups. 

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

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 meaningful 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, 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 channel contributed distinct value to delivering strong 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. 

This category recognises the innovative use of an adtech platform as a core driver of campaign success. Judges will be looking at how the platform’s unique capabilities were instrumental in achieving outcomes that couldn’t have been delivered through other methods—highlighting its ability to integrate creativity, data, and technology to effectively connect with audiences and drive conversion. 

The platform may have been used as a standalone solution or as part of a larger campaign led by a brand, media agency, or media owner. Regardless of execution, the key focus will be on how the adtech platform directly contributed to measurable impact and campaign performance. 

The winner in this category will demonstrate the best use of data, where the successful campaign has been notably enhanced or even made possible through learning gained from econometrics and insights. 

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.

Entries should provide evidence of success by metrics, such as, 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. 

Example 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, or partnerships with organisations in this space and games publishers. This could also include gamification campaigns created by brands to engage with specific audiences.

Judges will be looking at how the brand has engaged with the esports or games/gaming 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, board games, arcade, console, mobile and other offline/online gaming experiences.

Please note: Campaigns for Gaming and esports brands are eligible for this category, provided they utilise gaming or esports as a media channel. 

This category is open to campaigns which have tapped into the world of music as the main driver of their strategies 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, as well as collaborations with music acts/artists, or organisations such as, but not limited, to music publishers, licensors or distributors, record labels and music streaming platforms. This could also include campaigns utilising communities, audiences/fanbases and networks in this space.

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 audiences, while delivering or surpassing client objectives. Entries should demonstrate how the campaign generated awareness, drove product or service uplift, and achieved key amplification among both existing and potential customers. 

This category will be celebrating the best use of traditional print, or digital publishing media owners/vendors inventory to drive awareness, sales, and to meet objectives for the client. Judges will be focusing on how the client has utilised the publishers’ data, networks, audiences, tools and portfolio of products - which could include events - and the results these delivered. Entrants should be clear as to why this medium was chosen and integral to the success of the campaign.  

The campaign could have been executed through traditional print or digital publishing or could have used both.  

Examples can include, but not restricted to campaigns utilising publishers, magazines, newspapers and their digital portfolio of products, as well as leaflets, and other digital or non-digital content outlets. This could be an automotive brand using a specialist car magazine or the NY Times to reach a particular audience, or an FMCG brand using a site such as Reddit to reach the right consumers at the right time.  

This category is open to campaigns that have successfully engaged with their customers utilising real-time information. The strategy may be planned or be more spontaneous/reactionary, so long as the entry showcases how the brand created relevant messaging and reacted with audiences in real-time by responding to current data, trends, news or events.

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, venues, communities, audiences/fanbases, networks, 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 US / Miami Open, F1, FIFA World Cup, Superbowl and the Olympics.
• Partnerships with sports venues such as Allianz Arena, Scotiabank Arena, AT&T Stadium, Fenway Park or Madison Square Garden.
• Campaigns incorporating work with sports teams, clubs or organisations- such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, IOC, PGA, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Cowboys, LA Lakers and  New York Kicks.

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

The talent might be a celebrity, micro-influencer, creator, public figure, brand ambassador, leading industry figure community spearhead, or other notable individuals- real or fictional- who have directly tapped into their own following or community to benefit a brand.

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

This category will champion campaigns that have focused on or highlighted the topic of inclusion/inclusivity. The jury will be looking to award work 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 agencies or clients who have courageously stepped outside of the comfort zone to create a courageous, daring or provocative campaign that has sparked conversation and been rewarded with 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 entrants to demonstrate how and why they pushed the boundaries into unknown or uncertain territory, the risks at hand and how they navigated marketing challenges to achieve success. These campaigns can cover any medium. 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 outstanding creativity within the media industry. Entries should demonstrate how campaigns have been creatively elevated, whether through innovative ideas, intelligent use of existing media channels, the creation of new platforms or formats, or a game-changing strategic approach.

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

Please note that while results will play a role in the judging of this award, the jury will be primarily focused on the creative idea, concept, and innovation.