GLOBAL: Campaigns from Coca-Cola, IKEA and Whiskas are among the 21 from around the world that have been shortlisted for the Effective Content Strategy category in the 2018 WARC Awards.

The panel of 16 judges, led by John Dokes, global chief marketing officer and general manager at AccuWeather Network, has selected papers from Brazil, Canada, the US, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, the UAE and the UK.

The complete list can be seen on the Awards site, where WARC subscribers can read the shortlisted entries in full.

Soft drinks brand Coca-Cola used an imaginative integrated campaign to start a conversation around football and increase awareness during the African Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Working on a variety of fronts, online and on the ground, Coke hijacked the event without being the official sponsor, and managed to outshine its competition on all awareness and brand parameter, growing brand love by 5 points in just a month.

Retailer IKEA used a well-timed reactive campaign to dramatically raise awareness of its brand in Canada virtually cost free.

When a Leonardo Da Vinci painting was sold for US$450,312,500, IKEA came up with a response ad on social media promoting its frames that frames that work with any photo, print or painting. The campaign succeeded not only in persuading consumers to engage with the brand, but also with one another as individuals by sharing, tagging and commenting.

Cat food brand Whiskas created a branded content platform to consolidate its position in the UK as the authority in cat care and stand out in a crowded arena – cat videos are the most popular content on the internet.

Kitten Kollege showed ‘pupils’ how to get through all the milestones of their first year and graduate into an awesome cat. The campaign reached 25% of UK cat owners, increasing searches for ‘Whiskas’ by 306% and significantly improved SEO rankings.

The aim of the WARC Awards’ Effective Content Strategy category is to recognise editorial-style content (including audio, video, text and imagery) commissioned by a brand that has helped it achieve business goals.

There is a $10,000 prize fund for the best papers and the winners will be announced in late May.

Sourced from WARC