LONDON: A total of 16 entries have been shortlisted for the $10,000 Warc Prize for Innovation, which recognises the best case studies worldwide that used innovative thinking to deliver tangible business results.

Visit the Prize website to browse the shortlist, where Warc subscribers can also read the nominated cases studies in full.

Now in its fourth year, the competition awards the $5,000 Grand Prix to the best overall paper, while a further five Special Awards of $1,000 each go to the best examples of specific types of innovation.

These cover product or service innovation, channel innovation, category innovation, co-created innovation, and innovation in a not-profit-campaign, as decided by a distinguished panel of judges under the chairmanship of Jeremy Basset, the head of Unilever Foundry.

Shortlisted entries come from 14 countries this year plus a global campaign for Rip Curl, the Australian sportswear brand, and a Middle East and North Africa campaign for Coca-Cola.

Three campaigns each from Australia and the UAE have made it through, while the US and UK each have two. Other shortlisted entries come from Finland, India, Peru and Turkey.

Several major brands have been shortlisted, including two campaigns for Coca-Cola, Hindustan Unilever, 7-Eleven, Volvo Cars, Sony Mobile Middle East and Toyota.

In addition, innovative campaigns on behalf of two NGOs have been recognised. SmartLife, an NGO for labourers based in Dubai, created Project Akshar (Alphabets) to provide accessible English training for hard-to-reach, time-poor labourers.

And the American Red Cross has been shortlisted for its Hope.ly campaign, which sought to overcome two years of reduced donations by using a bespoke click tool to promote the organisation through social media.

In terms of agencies, FP7/DBX, which is part of McCann Worldgroup, has four entries, including its work for the SmartLife campaign.

Visit the Prize website to browse the shortlist.

Data sourced from Warc