WARC, the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness, has released all the shortlists of the WARC Awards 2019, an international case-study competition seeking next-generation marketing effectiveness.
A total of 82 campaigns from a wide range of markets, categories and brands have been shortlisted across four categories, each judged by its own high-calibre jury.
Effective Content Strategy
Campaigns for Harley-Davidson in North America, Google Assistant in Indonesia and Nescafé Dolce Gusto in Egypt are among the 21 papers that have been shortlisted for the WARC Awards’ Effective Content Strategy category, rewarding branded content strategies that can demonstrate a business outcome.
Eight shortlisted papers are from Asia, seven from the Middle East and North Africa, with the remainder coming from Europe and North America.
The 16-strong jury is chaired by Namita Mediratta, Global CMI Director, Content Centre of Excellence, Unilever, who explains: “In the cases we’ve selected, we’ve looked for hard evidence and creative magic.
“We searched for cases that consumers wanted to engage with, and that marketers would be proud to learn from. We wanted to shift the dialogue from great digital content to great content maximised by a digital world”.
Effective Innovation category
Campaigns for Snickers in China, Google in North America and GlaxoSmithKline in Russia are among the 21 that have been shortlisted in the Effective Innovation category, recognising innovative thinking that delivers tangible results.
Judged by a panel of 15 chaired by Dan Burdett, Chief Marketing Innovation Officer EMEA, eBay, other shortlisted papers are from Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Finland, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.
Among agencies, McCann WorldGroup India leads the shortlist with a total of four entries; FP7 McCann has three entries from separate offices in Istanbul, Riyadh and Dubai. Countries with the most shortlisted entries are the UK with four, and India with three.
Effective Social Strategy category
Campaigns for Heineken in Nigeria, KFC in Malaysia and JetBlue in North America are among the 20 that have been shortlisted for the Effective Social Strategy category which links social strategy to business success.
A jury of 13, chaired by Christine Xu, Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald’s China, has shortlisted campaigns from around the world with the Middle East being especially well represented with six papers from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates; there are also papers from Belgium, India, Singapore, Taiwan and the UK.
Effective Use of Brand Purpose
Campaigns for Absolut Vodka from Slovakia, Nippon Paint from Malaysia and the Louvre Abu Dhabi are among the 20 that have been shortlisted for the Effective Use of Brand Purpose category, recognising marketing initiatives that have successfully embraced a brand purpose and achieved commercial success and benefited a wider community. This category is judged by a panel of 15, chaired by Fernando Machado, Global CMO, Burger King.
Asia leads the way with ten papers, including six from India as well as contributions from Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. There are seven papers from the Middle East (three covering the region generally, as well four from specific markets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt). There are also papers from Norway and the UK.
The winners will start to be announced in late May and June. There is a $40,000 prize fund for the top winning papers, spread across the four categories.
View the shortlists here where WARC subscribers can also read the shortlisted case study papers.
About WARC – advertising evidence, insights and best practice
WARC provides the latest evidence, expertise and guidance to make marketers more effective. WARC’s mission is to save the world from ineffective marketing.
WARC’s clients include the world’s largest brands, advertising and media agencies, media owners, research companies and universities. They rely on WARC for rigorous, unbiased information and advice on almost any advertising and marketing issue, which WARC delivers via best practice guides, case studies, research papers, special reports and advertising trend data, as well as via webinars, awards, events and advisory services.
WARC collaborates with more than 50 respected industry organisations globally including: The Advertising Research Foundation, Cannes Lions, Effie Worldwide, Association of National Advertisers, ESOMAR, 4A’s, IPA and DMA.
WARC was founded in 1985, and has offices in the UK, US and Singapore. In July 2018, WARC became part of Ascential plc, the global specialist information company.
About Ascential
Ascential is a specialist, global information company that helps the world’s most ambitious businesses win in the digital economy. Our information, insights, connections, data and digital tools solve customer problems in three disciplines:
Product Design via global trend forecasting service WGSN;
Marketing via global benchmark for creative excellence and effectiveness Cannes Lions and WARC, and strategic advisory firm MediaLink; and
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Ascential also powers political, construction and environmental intelligence brands DeHavilland, Glenigan and Groundsure.
