Warc announces 3rd edition of Prize for Social Strategy

Warc has announced the third edition of the Warc Prize for Social Strategy 2016, a global competition with a $10,000 prize fund. The Prize recognises the best examples of social media marketing that deliver a measurable business impact. It is free to enter, and open to clients and agencies in any discipline.

As per information put up on the Warc website, the competition asks entrants to show why their strategy is ‘social by design’. “We’ve updated the Prize to reflect the fast-changing landscape of social media,” said David Tiltman, Head of Content at Warc.

“We are still looking for the best ideas that drive ‘earned media’ – but at the same time we want to recognise other uses of social media: social-driven content programmes, for example, or social strategies that focus on key moments in a consumer’s path to purchase,” he added.

Previous winners have come from all over the world, he continued, “underlining the global impact of social media on marketing communications”.

The 2015 competition Grand Prix was won by a case study from Campbell Ewald on behalf of the US Navy. The Project Architeuthis initiative recruited cryptologists via an alternate-reality puzzle-solving game on social media, and saw the US Navy beat its recruitment targets.

The $10,000 Prize fund will be divided between a $5,000 Grand Prix for the world’s best social strategy case study, plus five $1,000 Special Awards to the best examples of a long-term idea, social content, customer journey, use of analytics and use of a low budget.

In addition there will also be Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for the highest-scoring cases.

The deadline for entries is April 15, 2016, and the winner will be announced in the summer.

An analysis of entries to last year’s Prize was authored by marketing consultant Peter Field. In Seriously Social 2015, he reported that creativity is strongly linked to social effects and that social strategies are most effective when they take a long-term view.