Winners announced for inaugural WARC Awards for Effectiveness North America – ALMA delivers

A total of 22 awards have been given at the inaugural WARC Awards for Effectiveness, North America Edition in association with LIONS, shining a light on the most inspiring and effective work delivering marketing success.

Five Grand Prix, two Grand Prix for Good, six Gold, three Silver and six Bronze accolades have been awarded. Campaigns for a variety of brands are represented including BMO (Bank of Montreal), Call of Duty, Finish, McDonald’s, Michelob Ultra, Pepsi and Spotify.

The US has won 16 awards, Canada five and Mexico one.

Two highly esteemed judging panels followed a rigorous judging process guided by the Creative Effectiveness Ladder and B2B Effectiveness Ladder, to provide a consistent approach and global language to benchmark effectiveness.

The Brand Purpose, Instant Impact and Sustained Growth categories were judged by a panel of 12 chaired by Pam Forbus, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer of Pernod Ricard USA. The B2B, Customer Experience and Cultural Impact categories were judged by a panel of 13 led by Cheryl Guerin, EVP, Global Brand Strategy & Innovation of Mastercard.

Commenting on the overall results of the first WARC Awards for Effectiveness – North America, Carolyn Murphy, VP Americas, WARC, said: “I am thrilled to celebrate the incredible work that has come out of North America. We thank our judges for their time and dedication and we extend our congratulations to all the winners of these inaugural awards. Benchmarked against each step of the Effectiveness Ladders, this collection of work will provide inspiration for the industry to drive for more impactful work. Being recognized among the most effective campaigns across all of North America, including the largest global ad market, is no small feat – congratulations again to all the teams involved.”

The winners of the first WARC Awards for Effectiveness – North America, are:

Brand Purpose

• Gold: Underpressure · Michelob Ultra · GUT, Mexico City
• Gold: Feeding Imagination · Goldfish Crackers · Zulu Alpha Kilo, Toronto
• Bronze: Tough Turban · Pfaff Harley-Davidson · Zulu Alpha Kilo, Toronto

Business-to-Business

• Grand Prix: Adios Cuadernito · QuickBooks · Alma DDB, Miami
• Gold: A Song For Every CMO · Spotify · FCB New York

The Grand Prix was awarded to Alma DDB Miami for their work for accounting software brand QuickBooks. To reach out to the 14% of small businesses in America owned by Hispanic entrepreneurs, the brand brought to life insight-driven, culturally relatable creative, resulting in first-time prospects accounting for 89% of traffic.

Cultural Impact

• Grand Prix: Reverse Mode: Reversing Injustice & Rediscovering An Icon · Champion · Energy BBDO, Chicago
• Grand Prix for Good: Shamecards · Change The Ref · MullenLowe U.S., Boston
• Silver: Cut Out The Bullshit · Change The Ref · Mullenlowe U.S., Boston
• Bronze: Save It See It · Michelob Ultra · GUT, Miami
• Bronze: Extra’s Pandemic Comeback · Extra · Energy BBDO, Chicago

Energy BBDO Chicago picked up the Grand Prix for sportswear brand Champion, by turning to TikTok to reverse sales declines, propel the brand into Gen Z culture and rectify the injustice experienced by Black creators of not being recognized for their contributions.

The Grand Prix for Good was awarded to MullenLowe Boston for their work for US non-profit Change the Ref, for which they created the first postcard collection designed to be sent to Congress to demand gun law reform. With no paid media, the effort drove 2.3bn earned impressions worth $21m in ad spending, and increased gun control advocacy among those aged 55 and over.

Customer Experience

• Grand Prix: Gear Up · BMO · FCB, Montreal
• Silver: Veteruns 100K · Call Of Duty · GUT, Los Angeles

FCB Montreal is the winner of the Grand Prix for its carefully targeted multimedia campaign for BMO, the financial services organization and an active sponsor of CF Montreal. The result of the campaign saw 11,000 pieces of soccer equipment delivered to more than 2,500 children in need.

Instant Impact

• Grand Prix: Coinbase Super Bowl Ad · Coinbase · Wavemaker, New York
• Gold: Invisible Hate · NAACP Atlanta · 22Squared, Atlanta
• Gold: Better With Pepsi · Pepsi · PepsiCo · Alma DDB, Miami
• Bronze: The Wendy’s Phone · Wendy’s · McCann, Toronto
• Bronze: Pabst Is The Place · Pabst Blue Ribbon · DNA Seattle, Seattle

Wavemaker New York won the Grand Prix for its Super Bowl ad for cryptocurrency exchange platform, Coinbase, by introducing the brand to the masses using a QR code. The execution achieved over 20m instant landing page hits.

Sustained Growth

• Grand Prix: Famous Orders · McDonald’s · Wieden+Kennedy, New York
• Grand Prix for Good: Long Term · Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) · FCB, Toronto
• Gold: Skip The Rinse · Finish · Havas, New York
• Silver: Moving From Nuclear Laxatives To Holistic Health · Miralax · Energy BBDO, Chicago
• Bronze: Get Your TV Together · DirecTV · TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles

Wieden+Kennedy New York has won the Grand Prix for fast-food brand McDonald’s. To reverse the decline in the US among young and multicultural audiences, the campaign saw the creation of the Famous Orders platform and a series of iconic partnerships resulting in US$280m in incremental sales and 1.2m more 18-24-year-olds served per month.

A Grand Prix for Good has been awarded to FCB Toronto for their work for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS). The campaign empowered an entire community through a creative platform that allowed them to, literally, speak for themselves, resulting in a boost of 429% in donations.