Warner Bros. Discovery, Cancer Research UK, Marriott Bonvoy and Bidstack are Digiday Marketing and Advertising Awards Europe finalists

In the new Best Use of Audio category, Cancer Research UK earned a nomination for its Race for Life campaign. Cancer Research UK worked with A Million Ads and Mediacom to create hyper-localized audio campaigns to increase awareness of its Race for Life fundraising events. The teams employed postcode targeting to call out a listener’s local race and recorded ad variants in male and female voices with regional accents. According to research by Unmissable, audio emerged as a vital channel for the Race for Life campaign and provided strong uplifts versus the control group.

Redefine Meat secured nominations in several categories for its European launch, including Best Use of Video. The company, which creates plant-based meat with proprietary 3D printing technology, leveraged visual and written content to generate brand awareness and collect leads ahead of its launch in Europe. Working with digital marketing agency Moburst, Redefine Meat launched a large-scale, broader awareness campaign featuring engaging visual assets to catch consumer attention and generate awareness for its products. The campaign included a newly-launched TikTok channel, which garnered 16 million video views in 60 days and increased engagements and impressions on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Marriott Bonvoy, Publicis Sport & Entertainment, Publicis Media and Bidstack received a Best Use of Technology nomination for their metaverse campaign. The hotel loyalty program partnered with in-game advertising and monetization platform Bidstack to deliver a range of native in-game ad placements and branded experiences directly into the gameplay of leading titles such as Tennis Clash, Football Manager 2021, Dirt 5, Rezzil Player 21 and Top Eleven. In-game placements and branding appeared on stadiums, racetracks, custom vehicle wraps and unique character skins. With Bidstack’s SDK technology and publisher partnerships, Marriott Bonvoy created seamless brand integrations that directly and authentically engaged gamers. It was also the first hospitality brand to engage its target audience in the metaverse across VR, PC, console, cloud gaming and mobile devices.

Creative agency The Wild earned a nomination for Best Influencer Collaboration for its campaign with Major League Baseball to create interest around America’s Pastime among 18–34 year-olds in Europe. With limited live games during the 2021 season, The Wild created an original series featuring celebrity guests and iconic baseball dishes hosted by Instagram culinary star What Whilly Cook. In the five-episode YouTube series, ‘Home Plate,’ celebrity guests competed against the host to recreate classic stadium dishes — driving 553,000 organic views, 867,000 paid views and more than 10 million impressions. Once MLB games were live again, the series spawned a spin-off with micro-influencers called ‘Home Plate: Rivalries’ on Instagram.

Altogether, the judges’ nominations in 2022 demonstrated that companies are experimenting with new ways to attract audiences.

See the complete list of finalists below. 

Agency of the Year
Aspectus Group
Assembly
Realtime Agency
RocketMill – The UK’s largest employee-owned agency
Team Whistle’s “MAGNET” Agency

Best Branded Content Series
“The Roads To Carbon Neutral” TotalEnergies x NBCUniversal Catalyst
Jungle Creations for Heinz – Heinz & Twisted: Sandwich Goals
KPN & Team5pm – KPN Ultimate Speedtest: adding value to the YouTube gaming community with strong and original branded video content.
UBS and WSJ Custom – Sustainable Investing: The Tough Questions

Best Branded Content Site
Footballco and Heineken – Fresher Football launch
Ithra x NBCUniversal Catalyst – Digital well-being
WePresent

Best Campaign Pivot
Brandfirm
the7stars: Gala Bingo

Best Collaboration
CHS & Hyperoptic – Ready to Reach Hyperspeed?
MediaCom UK, Sky, Engine, SuperAwesome, Hogarth Metaverse Foundry
MiQ x Deliveroo: The blueprint for expanding global programmatic capabilities through collaboration
the7stars: Gousto Beats on Spotify
Wilderness Agency

Best Community Management Strategy
Wilderness Agency

Best Emerging Tech Campaign
Anzu, Twitch, and Ubisoft: Life In The Fast Lane For Twitch Ads In TrackMania
Bidstack and Starcom Worldwide – The Scent of Victory
MG OMD, TBWA & Nissan – the Launch of the Ariya electrified labs metaverse experience

Best In-House Studio
Outbrain Brand Studio
Twitch

Best Influencer Collaboration
Billion Dollar Boy x Heineken, The 12th Woman
Cherry Pick Talent & Epic Games – Fortnite’s Rift Tour ft Ariana Grande Influencer Activation
ITB Worldwide & UGG – ‘Feel’ EMEA Influencer Campaign
OneFifty x Airbnb – Reintroducing the City Break
RAPT Creative
The Wild for Major League Baseball – Home Plate

Best Multi-Channel Content Distribution Strategy
Aspectus Group and Munich Re – integrated campaign
MediaCom UK, Sky, Engine, SuperAwesome
MG OMD x NCS – Summer 2022

Best New Product or Launch Campaign
“The Magnificent Escape”: LOEWE x Spirited Away Collection Launch with Grason
CHS & LV= – Launching LV= Global Insurance to Intermediaries
LG Ads Solutions
Moburst – Redefine Meat European Launch
OneFifty Consultancy x Harvester – Bringing back a social icon

Best Organic Campaign
KPN & Team5pm – KPN Ultimate Speedtest: adding value to the YouTube gaming community with strong and original branded video content.
Rooster Marketing

Best Paid Social Campaign
Greenhouse & DELA – DELA Making Tangible Memories
Lane Media for Fairfax & Favor
Merkle x River Island
Moburst – Redefine Meat European Launch
Noise Media & TaskRabbit – #DDIY – Don’t do it yourself
RocketMill and USN: Turning the sports nutrition market inside out with “Greatness Inside”

Best Search Campaign
Assembly
Brandfirm
MG OMD & Specsavers – Live Appointment Feed 2.0
MG OMD- LNER Capacity Management Feed
Uberall

Best Use of Audio
Cancer Research UK, A Million Ads and Mediacom – Race for Life
Octave Audio and Adswizz launch dynamically targeted audio campaign for Mustard
Say It Now, Wavemaker Select, Xaxis for MSC Cruises

Best Use of Data
GroupM, MediaCom, Finecast, Kinetic, Xaxis
McDonalds & Spotify: Driving awareness of McAuto through Spotify
Mention Me
MiQ x Mediacom x Mars – Dolmio mealtime moments
VidMob & Corona UK – Free Range Humans Campaign
Warner Bros. Discovery & Movable Ink – Winter Olympics Bespoke Medal Table

Best Use of Native Advertising/Sponsored Content
Haymarket Automotive Studio: Delivering electrifying results for Audi e-tron with Autocar
Marc O’Polo & Outbrain – Achieving 1500% ROAS in a Competitive E-Commerce World
the7stars: Launch of Pokemon Legends
WhatsApp View Once: Private moments you only view once
X-LAB – JGL expert research hub,  largest international longevity platform

Best Use of Social
Assembly & Converse – CREATE NEXT with John Boyega
Assembly & Diesel – A mission to be the hottest fashion brand on the planet
Greenhouse & Subway: Recruit by AI – Apply with your favourite sandwich emojis!
MG OMD – Specsavers x TikTok
Moburst – Redefine Meat European Launch
OneFifty & Mazda UK – Beautiful Is On The Horizon

Best Use of Technology
Greenhouse & Eurojackpot – Finding the golden ticket in automation
Marriott Bonvoy, Publicis Sport & Entertainment, Publicis Media and Bidstack – Forging a New Path for Hotel Brands in the Metaverse
MG OMD & Specsavers – Live Appointment Feed 2.0
moebel.de & Productsup – Feed-based dynamic ads
the7stars – FreeNow contextual rides
Upstream and TIM Brasil – Driving plan upgrades through a multi-channel strategy and automated retargeting

Best Use of Video
CHS & Hyperoptic – Ready to Reach Hyperspeed?
Jungle Creations & Spark Foundry for Taco Bell – Let’s Not Taco ‘Bout Christmas
Moburst – Redefine Meat European Launch
RocketMill & HomeServe – Getting the house in order: Increasing brand demand through video
tails.com
The Premier League & Team Whistle – ‘Uncut’

Brand of the Year
Economist Impact

Most Effective/Measurable Campaign
Circus PPC & UK Radiators – PPC On Heat
Lane Media for Fairfax & Favor
MediaGroup Worldwide & Sax Lift – B2B company’s digital marketing transformation yields 2300% ROAS
MG OMD – Fashion at John Lewis
OneFifty & Mazda UK – Beautiful Is On The Horizon
Xaxis & Ford – Driving Real-World Outcomes for Ford through Programmatic