MIAMI, FL: MediaCom Mexico claimed the prize for “Campaign of the Year” at the 2017 Festival of Media LatAm Awards, thanks to its “Hotel of Legends” program for Cerveza Victoria, the beer brand.

Some 56 prizes were handed out during the Festival of Media LatAm Awards, which recognise the “best in media and thinking and communications across the region”.

In the case of “Hotel of Legends”, MediaCom aimed to encourage young Mexican drinkers – who were increasingly attracted to American beers and Halloween alike – to consume Cerveza Victoria, one of the country’s oldest brews.

To do so, it tapped into the Day of the Dead holiday, with tactics such as creating a “spooky” viral video, inviting members of the target audience to a special haunted house, which was promoted via social, and a reality show.

The results included 18m video views, as well as 4.4m interactions, a 2.4% lift in brand preference, and 5% growth in people naming Cerveza Victoria as “the last beer they bought”.

Initiative, a unit of IPG Mediabrands, claimed the title of “Agency Network of the Year”, winning in 17 out of 22 categories. Initiative Argentina also took the title of “Agency of the Year”.

Elsewhere, IPG Mediabrands was named as “Media Group of the Year” during the ceremony, which was held at Turnberry Isle in Miami.

Overall, there were winners from 11 countries. Mexico led the rankings on this metric with 13 victories, followed by Colombia on eight. Argentina and the US grabbed seven prizes apiece, while Brazil took six.

Sourced from Festival of Media LatAm/MediaCom; additional content by WARC staff