St. Jude Hospital takes Best of Show in ANA In-House Excellence Awards

ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Theorist, Inc, took top honors at the inaugural ANA In-House Excellence Awards ceremony, in which nine other in-house shops were awarded grand prizes in separate categories.

The award was for a campaign called “YouTube Originals Presents the Game Theory $1,000,000 Challenge for St. Jude, brought to you by State Farm.” St. Jude partnered with celebrated YouTube personalities The Game Theorists to create a unique combination of variety show/telethon in which viewers from around the world participated. The campaign also was awarded top prize in the Best Collaborative Effort category, for the best and most successful collaborative efforts involving in-house teams and their external agencies.

ALSAC (American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities) was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1957 to be the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; its sole mission is to raise the funds and awareness necessary to operate and maintain the hospital. Theorist Inc. is an outside agency that created the Game Theorists and collaborated with St. Jude’s in-house team to develop the campaign.

The ANA awards showcased the most creative, strategic, and growth-driving marketing and advertising campaigns created by an in-house agency team or department. Any marketing asset or project created to promote a company’s brand, product, or service that ran at any time in 2020 was eligible to enter the competition. The competition was open to anyone working as part of an internal team, whether within a client-side marketer, retailer, media company, nonprofit, or educational institution. Both ANA members and nonmembers were able to participate.

“The ANA is proud to honor these ground-breaking innovators who are pioneering the work of in-house agencies,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. “Their inventive, results-oriented work proves that in-house campaigns are changing the way our industry approaches creativity and how real growth is achieved.”

The awards featured nine categories and included a total of 27 category winners. Each category had a total of three winners: one grand prize winner and two category winners.

CATEGORIES AND GRAND PRIZE WINNERS

•     Branded Content: Original content created to support the marketing strategy of a brand that engaged, entertained, or informed a target audience. Any creative content not viewed as “advertising” is eligible. Winner: PepsiCo Content Studio and All Rise Films.
•     Experiential: Efforts that engaged with a target audience either live/in-person or via a virtual/on-demand experience. Winner: Formica Corporation.
•     Integrated Campaign: Campaigns that utilized three or more distinct media channels to engage a target audience with a single unified theme or message. Winner: Whirlpool Creative Studios (Whirlpool Corporation).
•     Internal Communications: Communication initiatives in any creative format that engaged and informed employees and provided understanding of a company’s vision, goals, values, work culture, and/or DEI initiatives. Winner: Wonderful Agency.
•     Social Media: Best use of social media to achieve a brand or company’s marketing objectives. Winner: ID8 (NortonLifeLock).
•     Socially Responsible: All types of creative that directly addressed current social issues. Winner: Citibank and Publicis.
•     Best Collaborative Effort: A showcase for the best and most successful collaborative efforts involving in-house teams and their external agencies. Winner: ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Theorist, Inc.
•     Best Media Thinking: Best formula for when, where, and how a target audience received a creative message. This category showcased in-house media teams that developed the best mix of media for reaching their target audience. Winner: Lenovo.
•     Significant Results: Entries in this category demonstrated with facts and figures the effectiveness of their work and its positive contribution to building a brand and expanding a business. Winner: Experian.

JUDGING
A jury of over 100 leading marketing and agency executives representing the highest standards of in-house marketing work that drives business results reviewed the entries, with strategy, creative execution, and results being given equal weight to select the program’s category winners.

As part of the inaugural ANA In-House Excellence Awards, an exclusive Best in Show jury of 11 executive client-side ANA members was assembled to select this year’s Best in Show winner.

A full list of the winners can be accessed here.