Indian winners of YouTube Works Awards announced

YouTube announced the winners of its second India edition of the YouTube Works Awards. Held in partnership with Kantar India, these Awards recognize advertising campaigns on YouTube that have driven impactful results for brands and businesses by enabling meaningful and measurable engagement with viewers. This year, brands competed for the YouTube Works Awards across eight categories, up from five in the launch edition, with the addition of Big Screen Big Results for Connected TV, Local Connection & Force for Good. A 11-member jury led by Chair Josy Paul, Chairman & CCO, BBDO, selected the winners from hundreds of nominations of advertising released from January 2021 to January 2022, that cut across national and regional brands, and omni-channel and digital-first businesses, with entries in multiple formats and in regional languages.

Mondelez continued its winning streak, bagging the Grand Prix Award for overall advertising excellence for the second successive year with its SRK-My-Ad. In addition, Mondelez also won the awards in two newly introduced categories of ‘Big Screen Big Results’ for Cadbury #GoodLuckGirls and ‘Tech meets Creatives’ for SRK-My-Ad, along with the award for ‘6 seconds storytelling’ for Perk disclaimers. The Listerine DCO campaign was named winner of the ‘Media Innovation’ award; HUL-Knorr’s Cook with MaKaPa won the ‘Local Connection’ award; HP’s ‘Diye se Diya jalao’ won the award for ‘Force for Good’; Cotton King’s ‘Bhai Dooj’ campaign for ‘Long Form Storytelling’; and the ‘Brand x Creators’ award was bagged by Amazon for its ‘Hey Alexa’ campaign. 

Speaking at the Awards ceremony held in Mumbai, Satya Raghvan, Director, Marketing Partners, Google India, said, “Video’s intrinsic appeal to India’s diverse internet user base has made YouTube the ‘go-to’ for millions of viewers across the country – for knowledge, know-how, learning, and entertainment. Brands too have recognized YouTube’s  indispensability in reaching their consumers at scale to drive business impact. These award-winning campaigns demonstrate some of the most innovative and effective ways businesses are leveraging YouTube’s unique ability to position brands right at the intersection of culture and trends, creative storytelling, and cutting-edge human technology that together help them build personalized and meaningful connections with their consumers. I’m especially pleased that brands are tapping into YouTube’s increasing presence in our living rooms through Connected TV and gaining preference through the platform’s innovations and flexibility. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all our partners in making YouTube the #1 in reach and watchtime among ad-supported online video platforms in India and a solid springboard for their creativity.”

Commenting on the selection process, Jury Chair Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, said, “The quality of nominations we have reviewed in this second year of my chairing the jury has been fantastic and our discussions were made more valuable with perspectives from within YouTube’s creator ecosystem. It's great to see that brands are keeping in lock-step with the possibilities and potential of YouTube’s dynamic growth, not just in viewership, but in the range of opportunities – from smartphones to the living room and from Shorts to podcasts – the platform now provides brands to make creativity a lever for business growth. ”

Speaking about the Mondelez campaigns that were adjudged winners at YouTube Works Awards, Anil Viswanathan, Senior Marketing Director, Mondelez, said, “Overall, we’re are thrilled that three of our campaigns were judged winners in three prestigious categories at the YouTube Works Awards, and elated that Cadbury Celebrations SRK-My-Ad went on to win the special Grand Prix. This is a fabulous moment of celebration for the team.

“Akin to last year, in 2021-22 too, we are keen on supporting local businesses and stores to help them bounce back. Our campaign last year  ‘Not just a Cadbury Ad’ was about highlighting the spirit of generosity and understanding that enables each of us to prosper. As the second phase of this campaign, we wanted to enable small businesses to promote themselves. We are very happy to associate with YouTube via our partner agencies to facilitate this campaign that has helped us build this first-of-its-kind, self-serve ad creation platform for small businesses that allows them to work feature a mega celeb like SRK in their ads.''

In addition to Chair Josy Paul, the YouTube Works Awards Jury comprised eminent stalwarts from the advertising industry and thought leaders with a combined experience of over 100 years including Josy Paul - Chair of the Jury (Chairman & CCO, BBDO India), Kainaz Karmakar (CCO, Ogilvy India), Dheeraj Sinha (CEO - Leo Burnett South Asia & Chairman - BBH India), Prasun Basu (Head - Growth & Digital transformation, Kantar), Gayatri Yadav (CMO, Sequoia India and SEA), Vikrant Mudaliar (CMO, Dream11), Gautami Kale (Founder, Slayy Point), Prajakta Koli (Founder, Mostly Sane), Atique Kazi (President - Data , Performance, Digital GroupM), Vikram Sakhuja (Group CEO, Madison Media) and Sidharth Rao (CEO, Dentsu McGarryBowen)

The winners of the YouTube Works India Awards are:

• Grand Prix: The most outstanding, innovative campaign of them all, from insight to media to creative
  • Campaign Name: SRK-My-Ad
  • Winners: Mondelez, Ogilvy, & Wavemaker

• Media Innovation : That best highlights how smart media planning drives business results
  • Campaign Name: Listerine DCO Campaign
  • Winners: Johnson & Johnson, Blink digital, Interactive Avenues

• Local Connection: That authentically represents consumers in their local language
  • Campaign Name: Cook with MaKaPa
  • Winners: HUL-Knorr, and Mindshare

• Big Screen Big Results: That creatively used YouTube to reach new audiences on internet enabled TV and drove results
  • Campaign Name: Cadbury #GoodLuckGirls
  • Winners: Mondelez, Ogilvy, & Wavemaker

• Force For Good: That puts a cause first and drives great business results too
  • Campaign Name: Diye Se Diya Jalao
  • Winners: HP India, Media Monks & Simple Creatives

• Long Form Storytelling: That brings story to life in a video beyond 30 seconds
  • Campaign Name: Bhaidooj
  • Winners: Cotton King and Fifth Estate

• 6 Seconds Storytelling: That resonates with audiences in a second YouTube bumper ad
  • Campaign Name: Perk Disclaimers
  • Winners: Mondelez, Ogilvy, & Wavemaker

• Brands x Creators: That behaves like creators or collaborate with creators using YouTube formats that tap into consumer trends and growing communities
  • Campaign Name: Hey Alexa with Social Media Star
  • Winners: Amazon and Interactive Avenues

• Tech Meets Creatives: That makes innovation use of technology to scale up, automate or break through clutter to meet objectives and creates benchmark work
  • Campaign Name: SRK-My-Ad
  • Winners: Mondelez, Ogilvy, & Wavemaker