Campaigns for Band-Aid, Nuveen, Pantene and Specsavers have won the Grands Prix in the 2020 WARC Media Awards. 

Following a year when many brands have had to rethink their messaging, a total of 63 campaigns – four Grands Prix, 13 Golds, 19 Silvers, 27 Bronzes – across four categories have been awarded in this global awards scheme rewarding communications planning which has made a positive impact on business results. 

“The lessons provided by the winning case studies from around the globe will be particularly pertinent as brands seek ways to engage using data, emerging platforms, partnerships and innovative channel combinations to drive commercial growth,” said Mark Evans, Managing Director of Marketing and Digital, Direct Line Group and Jury Chair, Best Use of Data. 

The four juries of client-and agency-side industry experts, examined the insight, strategy and analytics that power effective media investment. Each jury also selected three special awards honouring particular areas of excellence.

Effective Channel Integration 

  • Grand Prix: Band-Aid, Job-Hunting in Sneakers, BBDO, Japan.
    A multi-platform campaign for the plaster brand Band-Aid was created to appeal to younger consumers, the brand launched a new movement in the job-hunters' market in Japan calling for an option to wear sneakers to job interviews instead of uncomfortable shoes.
  • The POE Award: Volkswagen Passat, The No Show Room, PHD Media and Nord DDB, Sweden.
  • The Effective Cross-Channel Measurement Award: NHS England, We are Nurses. We are the NHS, MullenLowe Group, UK.
  • The Path-to-Purchase Award: wagamama, From Bowl to Soul, MullenLowe and the7stars, UK.

Effective Use of Tech 

  • Grand Prix: Pantene, BrA.I.ds of Strength, MediaCom Connections Tel-Aviv and Stern Ariely Saar PR.
    A multimedia campaign for the hair care brand encouraged women in Israel to donate hair for wigs for cancer sufferers.

  • The Early Adopter Award: McDonald’s, You name it, McDelivery serves, OMD Spain. 
  • The Most Scalable Idea Award: Finistil, CheckDerm, powered by AI, MediaCom, Russia.
  • The Platform Pioneer Award: Burger King, Twitter Bait, MullenLowe US 

Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships

  • Grand Prix and Successful Sponsorship Award: Nuveen, Rerank the Rich, MullenLowe US.
    The asset management firm joined with publisher Forbes to re-rank its Forbes 400 list of billionaires to reclaim its leadership in the responsible investing space in the US.
  • The Collaboration with an Influencer Award: Timberland, Concrete Green with Loyle Carner, PHD UK and Drum
  • The Effective Native Award: Lloyds Bank, Crossword Clues, MediaCom UK and adam&eveDDB.

Best Use of Data

  • Grand Prix and Data-Driven Insight Award: Specsavers, COVID Booking Engine, Manning Gottlieb OMD, UK.
    The British optician and audiologist took a data-driven approach to improve customer experience and deliver demonstrable and sustainable value back to the business in the UK.

  • The Attribution Award: Direct Line, Lifetime Value, MediaCom UK. 
  • The Personalisation Award: Singapore Airlines, Strategy Taking Flight, PHD Singapore.


The full list of winners of the fifth WARC Media Awards is available here

The WARC Media Awards are free to enter and are discipline-neutral and channel-agnostic. Papers are submitted as effectiveness case studies and are entered by media agencies, creative agencies, media owners, digital agencies and data specialists from all over the world.

Sourced from WARC