GLOBAL: A ground-breaking campaign by AMV BBDO for feminine hygiene brand Bodyform has won the Grand Prix in the Effective Use of Brand Purpose category in the 2018 WARC Awards.

This category is for marketing initiatives that have successfully embraced a brand purpose and achieved commercial success as well as a benefit for a wider community.

With its #bloodnormal campaign, Bodyform, the feminine hygiene brand, broke societal taboos around menstruation by featuring real blood in its digital ad and showing awkward period-related situations in social media posts.

This generated additional earned media coverage and helped Bodyform, a challenger brand in many markets, gain a disproportionate share of voice including in markets where it didn’t have a presence.

Commenting on the Grand Prix winner, jury member Jo Arden, Chief Strategy Officer, MullenLowe Group UK, said: “This is an unbelievably great case study. It makes me proud of advertising.”

In addition to the Grand Prix, a total of three Golds, five Silvers and four Bronzes were awarded by the judges, led by Claudia Willvonseder, Chief Marketing Officer at IKEA. The full list of winning papers can be read on the WARC Awards site.

The Bodyform campaign also won one of three Special Awards in the category – the Evaluation Award for a brand purpose strategy that has gone the extra mile in measuring both commercial and societal impact.

The Smart Spender Award – for purpose-led strategy that was effective on a budget of $500K or less – was given to a campaign by BBDO Indonesia for Johnson’s Baby.

This used social media and events to differentiate the baby-care brand in a crowded market, with a Facebook campaign that extolled the virtues of baby massage, educated mothers on how to do it correctly, and encouraged them to support a scheme to reach under-privileged mothers.

The campaign increased brand awareness and consideration, and helped Johnson’s Baby increase sales while its nearest competitor’s declined.

The Employee Engagement Award – which rewards a brand purpose-led strategy that is consistent both inside and outside an organisation – went to Paytm in India. The digital wallet Paytm used a multimedia approach to bring its services to the poorest in India, in the wake of a ban on two high-denomination currency notes.

The winners in the remaining two categories – Effective Content Strategy and Effective Social Strategy – will be announced over the next two weeks.

Sourced from WARC