202​4 ​Finalists

Case Summary

In 2022, Spotify Asia was faced with a unique problem. How can Spotify (an audio focused app) be competitive in a region which primarily watches their music on YouTube and TikTok? Through primary research, we discovered an unmet need of personalised discovery. Using this insight, we focused on how Spotify’s advanced music recommendation algorithm finds music just for you. This personalised experience gave Gen Zs a reason to listen on Spotify. Moreover, it increased MAUs and consideration, while protecting market share in this battle of the music streamers.

Case Summary

Canadian Club is Australia’s ultimate challenger brand. Built on prompting Aussies to question the cultural obligation to beer, with the question: “Over Beer?”. With no new products, industry-wide production issues limiting supply, and a cost-of-living crisis, CC faced its biggest challenge in 2023. So, we took the fight to the place beer had undisputed cultural monopoly – Australia’s great outdoors. ‘Who made beer king of the campsite?’ recruited record beer drinkers, grew value sales 10.5% YoY, delivered a $1.73 ROI and overtook Jack Daniel’s as Australia’s most loved spirits trademark.

Case Summary

After three-years of growth driven by young, pre-family users, Uber Eats Japan needed to broaden its appeal to families, who currently didn’t consider the brand. Deep-diving into Japan’s nuanced cultural codes revealed the true barriers stopping families using Uber Eats- because moms feel guilty that it’s a lazy option. This insight unlocked a new approach for Uber Eats in Japan that helped moms feel good instead of guilty about using Uber Eats. The resulting campaign over-achieved all KPIs, resulting in a +15% uplift in revenue from family audiences alone.

Case Summary

PARTNERING WITH THE SHANGHAI GOVERNMENT, WE CREATED A DEVELOPMENT MODEL THAT BALANCED ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH SOCIAL NEEDS OF ELDERLY CITIZENS Governments need to juggle commercial growth with community welfare. Especially in Shanghai, where youth-oriented businesses were squeezing out the elderly. Our win-win model threw open the doors of nightlife businesses, to re-open them in the mornings for elderly recreational activities. We recruited over 1,000 venues to re-purpose their under-used morning hours, creating city-wide facilities to serve the needs of Shanghai’s 4 million retirees.

Case Summary

The National Government has yet to address this discrimination, but the Quezon City Government has found a way to make the law become our ally with the Right to Care card. This card takes something that is already accepted by law in the Philippines – a Special Power of Attorney is usually used to protect financial transactions. They repurposed this legal document into a portable proof to grant LGBTQ couples medical decision making rights for each other.

Case Summary

Singapore residents consume nearly twice the recommended daily intake of sodium. This has contributed to the prevalence of high blood pressure nearly doubling since 2010. To spark self-realisation of this overconsumption and resulting health risks, the Health Promotion Board launched the “You Can’t Trust Your Tongue To Taste Excess Salt” campaign to challenge the misconception of being able to self-regulate sodium intake through the sense of taste. The campaign ultimately convinced Singapore residents to re-evaluate their dietary choices to limit sodium intake.

Case Summary

Fire safety customarily employs hard-hitting TVC-heavy campaigns focusing on dire consequences. Instead, ‘You’re Cooked’ highlights the dangers of unattended cooking with a helpful cookbook, leveraging the target’s propensity to cook while inebriated. Its late-night mobile test kitchen activation created content so engaging it achieved a CPV of just $0.05, against the TikTok benchmark of $4.80 - $44.80. Within 4 weeks the perceived risk of cooking whilst drunk or high rose among the ‘Disengaged’, leading to hugely significant reductions in unattended cooking behaviours – results that will almost certainly save lives.

Case Summary

Amidst the struggle for ‘legal recognition’ of ‘same sex’ marriages in India, the concept of ‘family’ began to be redefined as a ‘partnership created in love’ and not a ‘construct limited by law.’ In the ‘law-abiding’ insurance category, the relatively new entrant Future-Generali-Insurance, broadened its own definition of ‘family’ to include ‘same-sex couples’. For the first time in Indian ‘health insurance’ category, 'Family' became a matter of ‘love’ and was unbound by ‘law.’ This is a story of a small shift, yet a lighthouse of inclusivity and representation, reshaping narratives.

Case Summary

You’re the leading Philippine telco. The government has mandated that cellphone users must register their SIMs in six months or get disconnected. But three months in, only 54% of your user base has registered, threatening half your business. Now what? 11 pressure-filled days before the deadline, TNT cracked…jokes! It deployed humor to increase SIM registrations by 25%, swelling daily average registrations by 242%, on a budget 82% cheaper than the previous campaign. In the end, 80% signed up, making TNT the No. 1 telco in successful registrants.

Case Summary

Imagine someone bite into KitKat without snapping a finger at a time, serve a Corona without a wedge of lime. Cringed? That’s the power of strong brand rituals. Now can you imagine a counter-ritual that could beat these ‘famed rituals’? To contest Cadbury-Oreo’s globally popular ritual, we did exactly that to launch JimJam’s new variant, JimJam-Pops ‘JimJam’: A 17-year-old biscuit-brand that was stuck at 1/4th size of Oreo. Despite Oreo spending 5-times more, JimJam’s market-share (value) grew from 5.9% to 8.4% Oreo’s dropped from 26.3% to 24.9% (Apr-Jun’23 vs Oct-Dec’23)

Case Summary

This is a story of how we bridged McDonald's unglamorous employment perception with Malaysian Gen Z's content-hungry nature. By crafting a series of short, engaging episodes, 'Kau Sundaeku' (You’re My Sundae) seamlessly blended entertainment and career insights. Outcomes? Stellar. A whopping 7.5 million youths reached, 33 million Instagram video views, 32.7 million TikTok views, a -25% turnover rate, and an extraordinary 110% hiring rate. These outcomes directly confronted McDonald's high turnover rate, reaffirming its 2026 vision. By cleverly tapping into Gen Z's media habits, the campaign revitalised its brand image.

Case Summary

L&P is New Zealand’s (unofficial) National Drink. Light, lemony and deeply nostalgic. But being a symbol of traditional Kiwi culture doesn’t get you very far when the audience you need to win over is the notoriously hard-to-reach Gen Z. To find cultural credibility with this generation, L&P added brand acts to their brand ads. Specifically, a pair of over-designed swim shorts. Reclaiming the brand’s place in pop culture and galvanising youth to grow value and win back share of throat.

Case Summary

Indians care about brands that make their home exteriors and interiors flashy, neglecting the importance of brands for behind-the-walls. Astral, an Indian homegrown maker of pipes, decided to change this! In a first-of-its-kind campaign, Astral used the Sindhi-community as a symbol for a behaviour, every Indian deep-down was guilty of: spending on what’s visible while cutting corners for things behind-the-wall. The video was in Sindhi, a language spoken by just 1% of Indians. The cut through resonated and delivered growth: Revenue by 51%, profitability by 169%, share price by 28%.

Case Summary

People want loans. Many don’t have documents. Other institutions shut their doors on them. Piramal launches loans, given without documents. We had to advertise. So, what’s difficult? This is a unique case. Not about getting customers. But of attracting the right kind. Read on to see how we developed a spanking brand platform for a greenhorn finance company. How an unclaimed human virtue, difficult to explain in English, became a bedrock of communications that grew disbursals by 95%, branch-productivity by 36%, profitability by 125% and lowered default rates by 14%.

Case Summary

This is a case of how distinct assets can help ME-TOO products win against category giants. Our distinct asset of a ‘spiritual-guru’ who encouraged everyone to live in the moment helped Pure Magic (a me-too) win against Dark Fantasy! Where? In South India, which contributes to 50% of all chocolate-filled cookie sales in India, where Dark Fantasy held a mammoth 72.5% share and Pure Magic was at just 11.6%. Despite Pure Magic’s media spending being almost half that of Dark Fantasy, our market share grew from 11.6% to 15.3% (Jan-Dec’23 vs Jan-Dec’22).

Case Summary

In 2021, Virgin Australia (VA) had just come out of voluntary administration. We were tasked with reviving the brand. Specifically, reposition it for commercial success, and relaunch it with impact. Critically this meant starting at the point that normally gets relegated to the too hard basket-the airline experience itself. And it was worth it. The brand relaunched with experience innovation at the heart, shifting the conversation from administration uncertainty to positive momentum. All short-term revenue, growth, and brand health goals were achieved within a single quarter of launch.

Case Summary

When New Zealand’s newly elected conservative government announced the removal of the $7,000 clean car discount, an EV-discounting craze swept the automotive market. In a category saturated with price-off offers, Volkswagen NZ responded with The Electric Trade-In. It reframed a discount amount into a trade-in value, inviting customers to exchange old electrical appliances for money off a shiny new one, the Volkswagen ID.4 or ID.5. Using a financial incentive that was at parity with competitors, this highly distinctive and sustainably-minded brand promotion drove triple-digit sales growth for VW’s electric range.

Case Summary

Most sustainable packaging is ‘less bad’ for the environment, but Better Packaging Co. created a product that is actually good for it; their latest range POLLAST!C is made from recycled ocean-bound plastic pollution. One major problem… plastic isn’t considered sustainable. So, to raise the profile of POLLAST!C as a credible sustainable packaging solution for businesses, we plopped a four-metre-high plastic turd on a popular beach. The provocative campaign made national headlines, put POLLAST!C on the radar of Kiwi businesses, and generated significant sales leads. Pretty impressive sh!t.

Case Summary

Challenge: In a highly cluttered category, drive awareness and build GenZ’s preference for 'Taste of Japan' menu. Insight: Indonesians love Japanese culture, adopting elements even without understanding the meaning or language behind it Idea: ‘McDonald’s The Untranslated Ad’: A camouflaged advertisement where people unknowingly fell for a hard-selling product jingle disguised as a Japanese song. Execution: Collaborating with an Indonesian-Japanese singer Icha Zahara, we created pop music history with just a product jingle Result: +111% sales impact, 3MN+ views, ranked the Artist’s #1 top Spotify song

Case Summary

99.99% of Grab’s ride-hailing trips have zero safety incidents. The problem is: Safety rarely sells. Especially when something is so safe… nothing actually happens. For International Women’s Day 2023, Grab decided to emphasize the underrated importance of being boringly eventful. By providing THE most boring way to move, Grab helps millions of women move around more freely, independently, and safely than ever before. The ‘Most Boring Campaign’ drove increased growth in organic searches about Grab Safety, reinforced Grab’s safety credentials, and helped to uplift overall public love and trust.

Case Summary

Unpredictable climate change has led to Indian farmers losing $5.1Bn worth of crops since agri-practices traditionally follow predictable seasonal patterns. This includes Lay’s farmers who lose 20% of their crop every year despite following best practices, creating supply-chain inefficiencies detrimental to farmers and businesses. To make farms climate-resilient, we developed ‘Smart Farm’, a real-time monitoring system to generate early warnings and actionables before a climate crisis hits. Successfully digitising crops at a pixel level, we are empowering farmers with predictive intelligence amidst unpredictable climate change with 92.5% accuracy and bolstering financial stability by +$55/acre.

Case Summary

This campaign is dedicated to highlighting and correcting the bias that makes sportswomen’s achievements invisible in the place we all go to find them: the internet. Many of the world’s biggest sporting records are held by women. However, when asked ‘who has scored the most goals in international football?’, search engines incorrectly favour sportsmen. ‘Correct the Internet’ is an initiative that created a firestorm around this issue, uniting the women’s sporting community, supercharging Team Heroine’s profile, and influencing search giants to change how they report on women’s sports.

Case Summary

This year, Ariel #ShareTheLoad added another page in a successful case study of purpose-led performance marketing targeting gender inequality in the household. We coined the term ‘silent separation’ to name an unspoken truth – women start withdrawing silently from relationships over time because of the unequal sharing of household chores. We created conversation through a short film, using social media, cinema, print, influencers, national TV, and on- ground activation. We moved brand penetration to 20% and consideration to 81%. In 2015, 79% of men believed that laundry is only a woman’s job. It is 26% today.

Case Summary

KFC’s market share was slipping due to growing “healthy” chicken offerings in the category and existing competitors diversifying their product range. So, KFC turned to the leaders in taste – the fashion industry. They crafted an extravagant merch line displayed on an up-market catwalk during fashion week to see if putting a brand in the spotlight elevated taste credentials. And it did. As a result, KFC Australia garnered a reach of 704 million, improved KFC’s taste perceptions, and delivered 168 million in incremental revenue.

Case Summary

Campaigns focus on customer adoption for digital payments, but merchant acceptance is crucial for growth. Small merchants resist due to the simplicity of cash over complex digital processes. Paytm’s solution – the Soundbox – introduces India’s first voice-based instant payment confirmation system. By making money talk, it made digital payments carry the emotional reassurance and simplicity of cash. Selling at a rate of one every 6 seconds, the Soundbox transforms how small merchants receive payments.

Case Summary

This case is a masterclass in massive reputation recovery for a telecom network. Lapses during post-merger integration had left people deeply prejudiced against Vi. We decided to overturn this from the city up, prioritising markets by business. We started with Mumbai, but we could not rely on 3rd party network experts to help, as they had lost all credibility. Hence, we tied up with the Six-Sigma-rated human network of Dabbawalas. They worked with our engineers to restore our network and restore our reputation, leading to a turnaround in business.

Case Summary

Online scams victimized 71% of Filipinos in 2022, prompting the government to enact SIM Registration for protection. Globe's customers were slow to comply, giving competitors an opening to wrest mobile leadership. Our insight: people don't think they'll fall victim to scams. To raise urgency, Globe brought danger closer to the public. Leveraging influencers Kuya Kim and Kiray Celis, Globe staged identity heists — using comedians to mimic scams online. Registrations surged by 10,855%, propelling Globe ahead of its competitors before the deadline and cementing itself as the Philippines' mobile leader.

Case Summary

By 2022, COVID had become ‘old news’. Handwashing was regressing from ‘KEY SURVIVAL TOOL’ to ‘OPTIONAL’. Consequently, the liquid handwash category was in free-fall. Savlon, a distant No. 3 hygiene brand in India, was declining even faster. The only way to grow was to make hands and handwashing matter again. This is the story of how Savlon brought the focus back to hands by unveiling the World's First Hand Ambassador. Reaching 1.5 Billion people and Earning US $ 4.5 Million in PR, it brought Handwashing back in the news.

Case Summary

How might Cadbury Celebrations, a festive-gifting brand, expand its relevance to all-year-round gifting? Birthdays signalled an occasion with the highest gifting intent, but a box of assorted Cadbury chocolates felt pretty ‘cookie cutter’ in a culture of show-and-tell birthday gifting. Cadbury disrupted birthdays with a personalised touch that enabled gifters to create over 1.2 million unique birthday songs through a magical symphony of three Gen AI tools. This experience made birthday wishes unforgettable, pushing consideration by 85% and lifting non-festive sales by a solid 10%.

Case Summary

This case is the perfect example of how an experiential installation brought to life a brand’s world so beautifully that it enabled our consumers to immerse themselves in the combination of classical music, the monsoons, and a steaming cup of Taj-Mahal-Tea. Demonstrating the power of harnessing nature in a manner that created a symphony so compelling, it succeeded in favourably reversing brand equity trends and resulted in penetration and market share growth that cemented Taj-Mahal-Tea’s popularity in the hearts and minds of our consumers in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

Case Summary

PARTNERING WITH THE SHANGHAI GOVERNMENT, WE CREATED A DEVELOPMENT MODEL THAT BALANCED ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH SOCIAL NEEDS OF ELDERLY CITIZENS. Governments need to juggle commercial growth with community welfare. Especially in Shanghai, where youth-oriented businesses were squeezing out the elderly. Our win-win model threw open the doors of nightlife businesses, to re-open them in the mornings for elderly recreational activities. We recruited over 1,000 venues to re-purpose their under-used morning hours, creating city-wide facilities to serve the needs of Shanghai’s 4 million retirees.

Case Summary

The rivalry between New Zealand and Australia is legendary. Think USA v Russia. Argentina v Brazil. Ireland v England. Now imagine that rival having the power to decide your country’s future. That’s what happened to New Zealand when ‘Every Kiwi Vote Counts’ asked their rival Australia to cast the deciding votes in their 2023 election. This tongue-in-cheek campaign urged the thousands of Australian voters to ‘sway the outcome’. It generated millions in earned media, the highest voter turnout on record and the largest shifts in electoral seats since 1999.

Case Summary

Summer is a QSR battleground. When the rest of the category was in a “pay to play” fight for attention, McDonald’s took an opposite approach. Instead of outspending rivals we leveraged our 1.8 million-strong fanbase to generate a voice louder than money could buy. We sparked a national conversation and fuelled a regional debate by controversially naming our iconic Aussie side the “Potato Scallop”. This approach saw 163.7 million in earned reach, stole 70% of QSR conversations and surpassed sales goals by selling out two weeks ahead of schedule.

Case Summary

This year, Ariel #ShareTheLoad added another page in a successful case study of purpose-led performance marketing targeting gender inequality in the household. We coined the term ‘silent separation’ to name an unspoken truth – women start withdrawing silently from relationships over time because of the unequal sharing of household chores. We created conversation through a short film, using social media, cinema, print, influencers, national TV, and on- ground activation. We moved brand penetration to 20% and consideration to 81%. In 2015, 79% of men believed that laundry is only a woman’s job. It is 26% today.