2021 Winners

Case Summary

Inbound international tourism contributes over $17 billion to New Zealand’s economy annually. This means that seemingly small shifts of a few percent in key metrics can in reality contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to the country. By 2019, the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign of 20 years was no longer 100% effective. Our Good Morning World global campaign returned the brand to growth after years of stasis, while delivering a significant commercial return on marketing investment to the New Zealand economy.

Case Summary

Against a backdrop of falling donations and economic turbulence, we faced a big challenge: to deliver a stream of new, predictable revenue for Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation (SCHF). We found a dramatic new insight to spearhead our cause: to cure the homesickness suffered by all kids in hospitals. We developed a fundraising initiative involving children’s hospital charities that included the co-creation of an entirely new brand: Coles Mum’s Sauce. In the process, we’ve created a new, long-term, sustainable and accessible revenue stream to help participating hospitals.

Case Summary

Health insurance is a high consumer-inertia and low-relevance category in India. The challenge for ManipalCigna was to grow without the saliency, distribution, or media muscle of leading health insurance brands. The current pandemic would lead one to assume that health insurance would be easily adopted, however we found that the more people took care of their health, the lesser they felt the need to insure. We decided to target those whose health protection efforts were incomplete without health insurance and succeeded in bringing in new consumers and building brand awareness and consideration.

Case Summary

PhonePe, a digital payments platform, needed to change the behaviour of Indians from using cash to using PhonePe. But it’s not for no reason that one of the most seminal books on India is titled – The Argumentative Indian. Despite the convenience, the universal acceptance and the safety assurance, India wasn’t taking to digital payments. PhonePe took the leadership stance, mounting a campaign that went head-on with all the arguments against digital payments, dislodging cash from its plum position and putting PhonePe as the undisputed leader, ahead of the Goliath gPay.

Case Summary

The Japanese have forgotten what it's like to enjoy chocolate purely for its pleasure. That is because the “health-conscious chocolate” trend, such as low-calorie chocolates and chocolates with functional health benefits, is taking Japan by storm. This is a story of how Snickers, a brand that takes pride in sweetness and its fulfilling rich taste, stood up to take back the pleasure of instinctively indulging in chocolate by launching a campaign around movie ads and interactive experiences. Not only that, this tastefully increased its sales as well.

Case Summary

Abu Dhabi is not high on Chinese travellers’ bucket lists, and those who visit only stay an average of 1.5 days. Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism (DCT) had to find a way to increase their Share-Of-Visit, but they knew they wouldn’t become a long-stay destination overnight. So instead of telling them to stay longer, we embarked travellers on a 1-day international mystery where they experienced first-hand the best POI’s in the city—eventually increasing same-day and overnight visits by 582% compared to the same period the year before.

Case Summary

Few categories have exploited the learnings of effective marketing better than FMCG. For a company like Nestle, the ability to build their brands by following best practice has been fundamental to their success. However, the more well-established the principles of effectiveness become, the more risk-averse marketers become, leading to a loss in experimentation. This paper outlines how Nestle rediscovered its appetite to create experimental marketing and in turn, reignited a nation’s desire for an 80-year-old brand.

Case Summary

Toshiba Memory, the inventor of flash memory, relaunched as KIOXIA in 2019. To rebuild their B2B brand awareness, brand power (favorability and consideration), and brand image as an industry leader, we leveraged KIOXIA’s new mission of “uplifting the world with memory” and created the world’s first AI manga. In just one year, we were able to lift brand awareness 20% among semiconductor industry-related professionals and 15% among job-seeking university students, increase brand power, and surpass their largest competitor and market leader, Samsung, in “high-tech” and “reliable” brand image elements.

Case Summary

The average NZ home has over $116,149 worth of contents in it. But 45% of Kiwis don’t believe they have enough stuff to warrant insurance. To help ‘too busy’ Kiwis get a better idea of how much their stuff is worth, we created a ‘reality checker’ tool called Tally. Tally uses a custom data set that generates accurate average values to help people understand the true value of their stuff. State saw the highest contents insurance sales of 2020, with Tally users being 6x more likely to get a quote.

Case Summary

Head & Shoulders, despite being in Vietnam for decades, has one of the lowest brand awareness driven by the brand name being too complex for local consumers to pronounce. We identified an insight that takes the tension away and gives it a positive spin by celebrating the funny mispronunciations to make Head & Shoulders more memorable and drive our brand benefit in a way that Vietnamese consumers would love! This campaign has delivered record-breaking results: Highest-ever unaided brand awareness at 37.7% growing 174% v YA, and highest-ever value share at 10.1% among others.

Case Summary

MILO, the heritage brand slowly losing the interest and share-of-pocket of Filipino households, brought sports and nutrition as hope in the crisis-stricken lives of the different communities that it serves. Activating its brand promise of nourishing success in life despite a fragile economy, pandemic constraints, and confined spaces, MILO overcame barriers to continue its mission. MILO provided sports content with holistic benefits watched over 50 million times, with more than a thousand jobs to sports coaches and grew the business and relevance to consumers despite precarious economic conditions.

Case Summary

UberEats perpetually had an upper hand on Menulog with its tech, integration and scale. Quickly losing ground with youth, Menulog was becoming unfavourably compared to as the “Nokia” of food delivery services. We needed to shift perceptions from ‘meh’ to ‘trending’. Tapping into the return on entertainment, we unleashed the power of music by turning our jingle into a global jam. Leveraging global pop star, Snoop, we went Doggy Style, activating TikTok, NRL and QSR. We got people singing “Did somebody say…” and achieved 104% increase in orders.

Case Summary

Toshiba Memory, the inventor of flash memory, relaunched as KIOXIA in 2019. To rebuild their B2B brand awareness, brand power (favorability and consideration), and brand image as an industry leader, we leveraged KIOXIA’s new mission of “uplifting the world with memory” and created the world’s first AI manga. In just one year, we were able to lift brand awareness 20% among semiconductor industry-related professionals and 15% among job-seeking university students, increase brand power, and surpass their largest competitor and market leader, Samsung, in “high-tech” and “reliable” brand image elements.

Case Summary

For marketers in Covid’s 2020, seasonal celebrations were not just a collapsing sales nightmare, but also a minefield in pitching their brands right, to mark the occasion without being either invisible or tone-deaf. So, in the run-up to India’s sales-critical Diwali season, most brands went for unseasonably muted shows of corporate empathy and moral support. #NotJustACadburyAd turned to data and martech instead: combining brand purpose, commercial creativity and martech innovation to reinvent what gifting could mean in this traumatised Diwali season.

Case Summary

UberEats perpetually had an upper hand on Menulog with its tech, integration and scale. Quickly losing ground with youth, Menulog was becoming unfavourably compared to as the “Nokia” of food delivery services. We needed to shift perceptions from ‘meh’ to ‘trending’. Tapping into the return on entertainment, we unleashed the power of music by turning our jingle into a global jam. Leveraging global pop star, Snoop, we went Doggy Style, activating TikTok, NRL and QSR. We got people singing “Did somebody say…” and achieved 104% increase in orders.

Case Summary

For Whitelion to continue to rehabilitate at-risk youth, they needed to drive donations during 2020. However, with the worst bushfire season since 1938, COVID-19 at our shores and the worst unemployment rates in decades, Australia's generosity was understandably hindered. In light of this, we needed to change Whitelion's traditional approach to fundraising—so we pitched to a myriad of household brands, asking for them to donate their “home address" for 24 hours, re-skinning it to become a donations portal for Whitelion.

Case Summary

This is a story about how you should always reach higher, even when you think you've reached your peak. For the very first time in 2020, Lotto's annual 'Imagine' brand campaign went a step further than previous campaigns to bring viewers closer to the thrill of winning Lotto. Future-proofing the longevity of Lotto, while retaining the spirit of what makes Lotto so special to Kiwis. Marking a new chapter for a much-loved brand. And in doing so, increasing the amount of money Lotto could give back to NZ communities.

Case Summary

11.11 is China's biggest shopping event—but before becoming a commercial celebration, it was originally meant to celebrate singles. Singles, especially women, are seen as ‘incomplete’ or disrespectful to their parents. A shame that causes over 200 million people each year to hide their status. This makes breaking up particularly hard to do. So on Singles Day, Pantene opened the doors to the Breakup Salon and helped China embrace breakups as breakthroughs, leading to a 37% growth in year-on-years sales; faster than all other hair care brands and the category.

Case Summary

This is a comforting example of how ground-breaking creativity can and should be deployed to achieve any business objective. Even something as dry and transactional as data acquisition. KFC Australia grew their database via a branded experiential approach, injecting an extra dose of branded excitement into a unique moment within Australia’s favourite sport, and making it summer’s most irresistible data acquisition magnet. Cricket and data acquisition would appear unlikely bedfellows, yet the KFC Bucket Ball campaign proves that great creativity can hit every objective out of the park. Literally!

Case Summary

New Zealand’s closest neighbour—Australia, is NZ’s single most important tourism market and the largest contributor of annual international visitors. But by 2019, visitors from Australia had plateaued. TNZ’s “100% Pure New Zealand” campaign was no longer 100% effective. Our approach needed reinvigoration. Our Good Morning World global campaign returned the brand to growth in Australia, delivering an immediate, short-term ROMI of 13:1 and did so with an ambitious gesture of welcome and an idea that was as hardworking and pragmatic as it was creative and original.

Case Summary

For Whitelion to continue to rehabilitate at-risk youth, they needed to drive donations during 2020. However, with the worst bushfire season since 1938, COVID-19 at our shores and the worst unemployment rates in decades, Australia's generosity was understandably hindered. In light of this, we needed to change Whitelion's traditional approach to fundraising—so we pitched to a myriad of household brands, asking for them to donate their “home address" for 24 hours, re-skinning it to become a donations portal for Whitelion.

Case Summary

Few categories have exploited the learnings of effective marketing better than FMCG. For a company like Nestle, the ability to build their brands by following best practice has been fundamental to their success. However, the more well-established the principles of effectiveness become, the more risk-averse marketers become, leading to a loss in experimentation. This paper outlines how Nestle rediscovered its appetite to create experimental marketing and in turn, reignited a nation’s desire for an 80-year-old brand.

Case Summary

Thermos is a manufacturer of flasks, but it seemed distant to the Japanese. Throughout the years, it kept focusing on what is true to life, in the form of a mini docuseries featuring a diversity of Japanese craftspeople working under extreme weathers, soothed by a mouthful of drink at its best temperature—celebrating the simple richness in life enabled by its revolutionary technology. The brand has evolved from being known to being loved, not only in the flask segment, but it also made a significant debut in kitchenware in welcoming its next stage.

Case Summary

How does a fizzy drink that’s fizzling out, with no positive sentiment among drinkers in a shrinking soft drinks category, go to bat against goliath Coca-Cola during a global pandemic? By embodying the zeitgeist of its Gen. Z drinker: “Whatever.” Results? RC Cola reversed the sales decline caused by the government’s sugar tax, increased sales of flagship RC Cola Mega by 67%, and raised positive sentiment about the brand by 25% during a pandemic—when Filipinos had no reason to be drinking a celebratory soda.