As the US seeks to bring its opioid epidemic under control, a campaign by Energy BBDO for the National Safety Council has won the Grand Prix in the Effective Innovation category in the 2019 WARC Awards.

Prescribed to Death used data to create a memorial to the 22,000 people who die every year from opioid overdoses, including carving faces into pills to personalise the impact of overdoses. In addition to raising awareness, the campaign also distributed more than one million ‘Warn me’ labels for people to stick on insurance cards to prompt conversations with medical professionals.

Describing why it won, judge Lorenzo Wood, Chief Innovation Officer, Publicis.Sapient, commented: “It was brave to spend so much of their budget on an installation, and the sticker was brilliant: it used something forgotten and basic in a really effective way.”

In addition to the Grand Prix, the judges, chaired by Dan Burdett, former Chief Marketing Innovation Officer EMEA, eBay, awarded four Golds, five Silvers and three Bronzes in the category that recognises innovative thinking that has transformed a business to deliver tangible results. The winning papers can be read in full on the WARC Awards site.

The Channel Innovation Award and a Gold went to a campaign by Mindshare in Australia for Foxtel, as the pay TV channel sought to persuade viewers to pay to watch cricket they had previously seen for free. The solution was Monty, the world’s first AI ‘predictive commentator’, who, when he anticipated a wicket falling, triggered dynamic creative across pre-roll video, mobile display ads and outdoor billboards, with a call to action to tune in to Fox Cricket and watch.

Saudi Arabia’s first outdoor campaign featuring women, by FP7 McCann Riyadh for Al Rajhi Bank’s new credit card for women, took the Category Innovation Award and a Silver. The Woman Behind the Veil sidestepped a ban on showing women in outdoor and print ads by putting a mirror on a standard MUPI unit and adding a camera and a Bluetooth beacon; women could get their picture taken and sent to their mobile with the message “Discover a card that’s unique to you” and a link to the bank to start the application process.

The Partnership Award, and a Silver, went to a campaign devised by MediaCom UK for broadcaster ITV and Missguided, an online fashion retailer. This saw Missguided embedded within hit reality TV show Love Island, with all the Islanders wearing the brand's fashion clothing and simultaneously driving real-time sales on its Love Island app.

The winners in the remaining three categories – Social Strategy, Use of Brand Purpose and Content Strategy – will be announced in the coming weeks.

Sourced from WARC