WARC Awards 2019 – Effective Social Strategy: Grey London wins Grand Prix

Campaigns for Burger King, M&M’s, Singapore Tourism Board, Starbucks and Vansare among the winners of the Effective Social Strategy category of the WARC Awards, a global search for next-generation marketing effectiveness.

Fifteen campaigns from around the world – one Grand Prix, three Golds, seven Silvers and four Bronzes – have been selected as winners in the Effective Social Strategy category, which links social strategy to business success.

A campaign by Grey London for The United Nations has won the Grand Prix as well at the Live Award, one of three special awards recognising specific areas of excellence. ‘The People’s Seat’ used social media to drive a global campaign that let the people of the world have their say on climate change at the COP24. It developed a Facebook Messenger bot for people to interact with the UN and got Sir David Attenborough to deliver a speech through a livestream on Facebook. The campaign reached more than 1.3 billion people.

Read more: McCann India secures 3 metals at WARC Awards 2019 – Effective Innovation

Commenting on the Grand Prix winner, Mark Carroll, Senior Creative Strategist, Snap Inc, said, “It was punchy and ambitious. They had so much to work with and had access to such amazing resources, and they did a lot with it, not just the obvious. Everything they put out was very strong and nicely executed from multiple dimensions.”

Starcom and MRY won a Gold and the Path-to-Purchase Award with a campaign for footwear and clothing brand Vans. The ‘Not Just One Creator’ campaign used influencers to successfully broaden its appeal among teens and young adults in the US, generating revenue and brand awareness.

‘Closer Than You Think’, by Wunderman Antwerp, won a Gold and the Smart Spender Award. In Belgium, Child Focus, a centre for missing children, used findings from a social experiment to inspire Belgian citizens to actively contribute to the cause of finding missing children.

Christine Xu, Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald’s China, chaired the esteemed jury of 13 agency and client-side industry professionals. Together, they selected the following winners:

Grand Prix:

• The People's Seat · The United Nations · Grey London · Global + Live Award

Gold:

• Closer Than You Think · Child Focus · Wunderman Antwerp · Belgium + Smart Spender Award
• Save the Cows · Puck · Arla Foods · FP7 McCann Dubai · Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
• Not Just One Creator · Vans · VF Corporation ·Starcom, MRY · United States+ Path-to-Purchase Award

Silver:

• Turning their tweets against them · Burger King · MullenLowe US · North America
• Change Has a Taste · Coca-Cola · FP7 McCann Dubai · Saudi Arabia
• How Starbucks created the fourth place in coffee culture · Starbucks UK · Manning Gottlieb OMD · United Kingdom
• Get Packing! · JetBlue · MullenLowe US· North America
• While You Wait... · Emirates NBD · FP7 McCann Dubai · United Arab Emirates
• The Mud Soldier · Flanders Fields 14-18 · Visit Flanders · Ogilvy SocialLab · Europe, North America, Australia
• Chairman · Heineken · Nigerian Breweries Limited · Insight Publicis · Nigeria

Bronze:

• The Burger Wars · KFC · QSR Stores SdnBhd · Reprise · Malaysia
• Sponsor of Losers · McDonald's · FP7 McCann Beirut · Lebanon
• Mix · M&M's · Mars Wrigley Confectionery · AMV BBDO, MediaCom · United Kingdom
• Why Gamble With Your Holiday? · Singapore Tourism Board · TBWASingapore · Singapore

The winners of the remaining categories - Effective Content Strategy and Effective Use of Brand Purpose - will be announced shortly. The Grand Prix and Special Awards winners across the four categories of the WARC Awards share a $40,000 prize fund.