Masterclass: How to create an award-winning content campaign

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Masterclass: How to create an award-winning content campaign

This year’s masterclass in storytelling brought together a panel of representatives from the BBC, De Beers and National Geographic to provide insight into what goes into making an award-winning content campaign. Each panellist presented their case study, followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Journey To Ithaca

Alex Beard, a content strategist at BBC Storyworks, began by presenting Hyundai’s ‘Journey To Ithaca’, the winner of this year’s WMA for Social Good. Hyundai approached the BBC to help them publicise their sponsorship of Healthy Seas, an initiative which focuses on cleaning up abandoned ghost gear from the world’s oceans. The goal was to promote the NGO’s work, while showcasing the repurposing of plastic waste in their new Ioniq5 EV.

Okavango Eternal

Chris O’Neill, Senior Manager, Global Brand Partnerships, National Geographic and Letitia Weeks, Brand Manager, Sustainability, De Beers Group presented ‘Okavango Eternal’, winner of the WMA Brand and Media Partnership category. Since 2015, the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project has been working to help secure permanent, sustainable protection for the Okavango Basin. In 2021, De Beers joined the National Geographic Society, providing support and funding to expand and accelerate the work already underway.

The session was chaired by Rachael Adams, Senior Manager, Commercial Content, Reuters, who grilled the panellists about their respective campaigns, and took questions from the live audience. Here are their top three pieces of advice for creating an award-winning content marketing campaign:

  1. Authenticity – what gives you the right to tell your story?

For both campaigns, it was essential to tell the stories in a way that was authentic and true to each brand’s values. As part of the motor industry, which is not generally known for its sustainability or social good credentials, Hyundai were keen to change the narrative. They wanted to reinforce their commitment to driving change at an industrial level and to create a circular economy.

Instead of making the story about the Hyundai brand, their sponsorship of the Healthy Seas initiative allowed them to tell a genuine story of sustainability. Focusing on the ocean clean-up around the island of Ithaca, the story was one of redemption. From environmental disaster to actionable solutions, ending with visible progress and a message of positivity. In order to tell this story authentically, the brand presence had to be minimal. Nonetheless, the connection to Hyundai – ghost nets cleaned up from the ocean and broken down into the material that goes into their cars – was powerful.

De Beers and National Geographic are partnering to help address one of the most critical conservation challenges in Africa: protecting the near-pristine source waters of the Okavango Delta. Located in northern Botswana, the Okavango Delta is one of Africa’s richest places for biodiversity and home to the world’s largest remaining elephant population as well as lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, and hundreds of species of birds.

National Geographic has been joined by De Beers — which has worked with the people of Botswana for over 50 years including through their commitment to Building Forever on education, healthcare, livelihoods, and wildlife conservation — to help secure protection for the Okavango Delta’s headwaters.

It is through these shared commitments, and Nat Geo’s mission to illuminate and protect the wonders of our world, that both organisations have been able to connect authentically with global audiences to tell the tale of this incredible programme.

Top tip: “Ask yourself and your clients: do you have the authority to tell your story? Are there others who you can approach to better tell the story for you?” – Alex Beard, Content Strategist, BBC Storyworks

  1. Trust – choose a partner that reinforces your credibility.

The right partner will encourage the client to tell the story in the best possible way. The client must trust the media partner to tell it effectively, even if that means their own brand is not centre stage. The brand gains credibility from the target audience’s existing trust in the media partner.

Partnering with BBC to produce ‘Journey to Ithaca’, Hyundai benefited from the corporation’s high editorial standard, which requires all claims to be substantiated and demonstrated with the same rigour in commercial productions as in its news and editorial arms. The film was also the BBC’s first piece of short-form content to receive an Albert for sustainably production, adding authority to Hyundai’s desire to change the narrative around sustainability.

According to De Beers’ Letitia Weeks, trust goes both ways. She said having an 18-month preparation period before the start of the Okavango project gave them “the time to prove to National Geographic that we are serious about what we are saying and to build that trust.”

Together, both organisations have been able to leverage collective resources to scale efforts for long-term sustainable protection, working in close collaboration with National Geographic Explorers and hand-in-hand with communities throughout the Okavango.

That, paired with National Geographic’s cast of storytellers, multi-content platforms and vast archive of content, provided a robust framework to explain what the end goal was and demonstrate how they were going to get there together.

Top tip: “Get other voices in a piece, as it’s very much about telling both sides of the story and being balanced. Present it in an editorial or a newsy kind of way, so that it’s of interest to your audience.” – Rachael Adams, Senior Manager, Commercial Content, Reuters

  1. Proof – demonstrate the actual impact of your project

In response to an audience question about greenwashing, the panel discussed the importance of moving away from pledges and promises. Instead, our experts recommended using proof points to demonstrate that a project is more than just a marketing tactic. The Hyundai film was built on factual, quantitative truth that was very tangible to its audience. The National Geographic De Beers project is a five-year partnership, that requires deep engagement with its audience over the longer-term, only possible by showing genuine impact.

The panel were keen to point out that the lessons learned from their case studies apply to both B2C and B2B campaigns in every industry, and not just for big budget creative campaigns. They agreed the key is to find your authentic voice and work out what you have the authority to say. You can then engage your audience by showcasing proof points in a wide variety of compelling ways. Whether that’s an interactive timeline of your company’s history or vox pops of people who add interest to your story, if you are leading with something you have a genuine right to have a stance on, there will be an interesting story to tell.

Top tip: “Audiences can see through corporate narrative. What are you doing and what are those proof points that audiences can quite clearly see when they’re engaging with that content?” – Chris O’Neill, Senior Manager, Global Brand Partnerships, National Geographic

To find out more about why trust and authenticity must be at the heart of any content campaign, head to the World Media Group’s Creative Vault. You can read the full case studies for ‘Journey To Ithaca’, and ‘Okavango Eternal’ along with all our other award-winning entries.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

60 seconds with World Media Group President, Damian Douglas

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60 seconds with World Media Group President, Damian Douglas 

What have been your priorities during your term as president of the World Media Group?

Over the last 12 months my role has been to support the World Media Group’s strategy to dial back into the power of our journalism. This is the unique aspect that brings the World Media Brands together, and the world has never needed journalism that our brands stand for like it does today.

What trends are you currently seeing? 

We’re all trending towards content. Our brands are content-rich from an editorial perspective. The brands we work with from a commercial perspective equally have a very unique point of view on the world today, and how the world is evolving. Brands are dialling back into their purpose and trying to understand how their purpose marries with societal good as we look towards driving a more progressive future for everybody. I think that’s been one of the unique aspects over the last 12 to 18 months.

How can brands, agencies and publishers work together to achieve the best results? 

It’s essential to be aligned on what the objective is. Brands, as well as publishers, are content-rich, but understanding that differentiated position and a unique perspective on their own purpose and their own value, then understanding what the positive outcomes look like by communicating that, is crucially important.  Greater communication between all three is needed: understanding what success looks like, and then understanding where you take it next. Because this isn’t a three month or six month conversation. Brands are going to play a big significant part in how we evolve as societies, how our economies evolve, and they play a significant part in solving many of the challenges we face.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

My Media Life – Ella Solomon

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/Fv8hiQONxBQ”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]ELLA SOLOMON IN CONVERSATION WITH THE WORLD MEDIA GROUP’S BELINDA BARKER

Welcome to My Media Life, where we chat with the movers and shakers in the worlds of business and marketing to find out what the media industry means to them. They share their advice for those starting out today and personal insights into their sources of inspiration and motivations.

This month, we’re delighted to be joined by Ella Solomon, Growth Director at Initiative Media and the recipient of our very first World Media Award for the Rising Star of the industry.

Below are extracts from our conversation – you can watch the full interview in the video above or listen to the podcast here.

Why did you join the media industry? What was your motivation?

I studied biochemistry at university but finished knowing that I didn’t want to work in that field. A lot of it is very technical and very in-depth and I knew that I liked to speak to people rather than sit in a lab all day.

I worked in recruitment and recruited somebody into a media agency. They loved it and told me a bit about the culture, then I got a job at a media agency myself! I went into a trading role – some companies called it investment. I did that for three years, before moving over to a global growth role. I’ve always worked in global or regional business. And then recently, I joined Initiative as an EMEA Growth Director – I’m in my fifth week now. We help drive new business pitches or retention pitches.

What does the media industry mean to you?

I think it’s the timeline of how society has evolved. It provides landmarks for us to look back on and show how society has developed.

A good example of that is when the Queen died a few weeks ago. Within minutes of the BBC releasing that she had passed away everyone across the globe knew, and that was due to the power of social media that probably wouldn’t have been there 20 years ago. I thought that was really interesting.

It’s also interesting to see how everybody – I think it’s something crazy, like 37 million people in the UK – tuned in on TV to watch the Queen’s funeral. It shows the power of the old media types, as well as the newer media channels, and it’s a good way to see how society has evolved.

What’s the one piece of advice that’s helped you in your career?

Sometimes I get a bit consumed in my work, so somebody once said to me, “Remember, there is a life outside of work.” And for anybody that’s young and ambitious, I think that’s really important.

Sometimes I get frustrated with small things; you need to look at the bigger picture and realise that sometimes that’s not a huge deal in the context of the world. It’s also true, I think, that to be good at your job, you need to stay creative in your thinking. And you need to be at your most productive. Don’t feel resentment towards your role.

To do that, it’s important to make sure that you’re doing things outside of your job that you absolutely love and don’t spend all of your time working. Especially as we’re in the post-Covid world where home and work life have really blurred, and people are contactable 24 hours a day.

How are you finding that work/life balance now we’re coming out of Covid?

Everybody’s used to doing their washing or going to the post office on their lunch break. You have to do that at the weekend now. I used to get more free time at the weekend than now that I’m going into the office two or three days a week.

At Initiative we have a 50 percent rule that people are trying to adhere to. I think it’s a difficult transition, but if we can go from being in the office five days a week to working at home for years, I think this is easier than the other way around, where we just went cold turkey and had to work at home 100 percent of the time. It wasn’t what I was used to or what any of the world were used to.

What is your favourite thing about where you are at now in your career?

One of the main reasons that I moved over to Initiative is because I really believe in their proposal in helping clients create cultural velocity with their key audiences, which is essentially connecting with people based on their cultural behaviours rather than just their demographics, which I find super interesting.

And they’ve also had a great amount of growth over the last few years. But when I think about my role in general, as a growth person, the thing I love most about growth is that you see the best and you see the worst of people.

You learn so much about different cultures working in a global regional role. You get to meet the most incredible people and find out about the whole business. You don’t just work in one small area – you literally touch every single part of the business, which I find super interesting.

You’re coming across quite a people person. Has the move back into the office worked to your strengths?

Yes, in building relationships, which is completely vital to my role, and especially as a new starter. When I managed new starters in my previous role at Wavemaker, onboarding them during Covid was really challenging because they didn’t know anybody. When I joined Initiative, for my first two weeks I went in every day. I tried to meet as many new people as possible because you need to meet in person to get a real feel for what they’re like..

What would you say your personal secret talent is?

This question really made me laugh. I feel like if it’s personal, it’s a secret – I definitely shouldn’t tell you!

You’re being a little modest. One of the reasons you were made a Rising Star was for the sustainability project in your previous role, which says a lot about you. Perhaps you could describe how that came about and the context of it.

It started off as a grassroots project with me asking why we were using plastic cutlery in the office and snowballed from there. I started helping out on some sustainability events. I was quite lucky that my manager at the time allowed me to pursue my passion because I feel like not everyone does get that opportunity. I ended up being the main person that would speak to clients about sustainability.

We had a great lead who would help ensure that everything we were doing on sustainability actually fed into clients as well. And I ended up developing the internal and external offering for Wavemaker on sustainability with the help of some amazing people at GroupM.

GroupM have recently released an immediate decarbonisation programme that I helped work on. A lot of support from the network enabled me to do that. And I also did a course on business sustainability management that meant I could get all my crazy thoughts and focus them a bit more towards the business.

It was great to work on and is something that I’m also doing at Initiative. We are working on lots of different sustainability projects and bringing them all together to take to our clients, and also to make sure that we are being as sustainable as possible.

What media is important to you and where do you get your daily news from?

I think we live in a world of misinformation. And as Heinrich Böll quoted – I think in it was in the 1970s – I also believe that you need to read at least five sources of news / media before getting a well-rounded answer and actually understanding what the truth is. This book was published pre-internet but I still think that’s completely true in this day and age.

The standard place I get my news from, like a lot of people in the UK, is the BBC. But then I try to make sure I’m fact checking it with as many other things as possible.

Even going to the likes of Twitter to see what people are saying I think is actually quite important to make sure that you can make your own judgment on certain things.

And thinking about media brands, which are the most important to you?

I think it’d be wrong as a millennial to say anything apart from a social platform! So, Instagram’s the platform that I use the most. Potentially not the most educational, but definitely the one that I find myself aimlessly scrolling, or finding house inspo, or talking to my friends on.

I’ve also recently got into a new platform that doesn’t take advertising yet. I’m hoping they’re going to start taking it. It’s called Be Real. The idea is that you take a photo of yourself face-on from your front camera, and then it also shows what’s in front of you, It asks you to do that once a day. There are no filters – it’s meant to be real; that’s the whole idea of it. I think it’s quite nice to see a snippet of people’s real life and often mine is, “Oh, I’m working again,” But it’s quite interesting to see it more honest and natural.

What do you do to switch off?

This is something I found really difficult during a massive pitch. But more recently, I’ve got a lot better. I think it’s something a lot of people do find difficult, especially if you’re an ambitious person.

It sounds quite cliché but things like exercising – I absolutely love boxing and I love spinning. They’re so difficult, they just take me into another world that really helps me relax. And then I love a good podcast. I listen to one called “My Therapist Ghosted Me” by Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally and they’re just hilarious. They just chat about life and stuff that’s not important. I love them – I’ll find myself laughing down the street and looking slightly strange, but it’s that’s the kind of thing that really makes me switch off from work.

Who or what inspires you?

There are so many inspirational people in the media industry. Professionally, there are many people I’ve worked with that I’ve absolutely loved and people I haven’t worked with and just read about. However, I think my mum’s the person that’s inspired me the most and has given me the drive that I have today.

She was an absolute superwoman and a hero. She has three children all quite young and she was a single mom. She completed her PhD in that time. She also had a terminal illness and worked full time. She just did everything you could ever imagine.

She really taught me and my other siblings how to handle stress and never to give up. For my job today especially, having tenacity is absolutely everything. That’s definitely something I learned from my mum.

Your mum sounds like an awesome woman. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and time with us. We can’t wait to watch what you do in the rest of your career. Watch out Sir Martin Sorrell here comes Ella![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Inclusion & Trust in the Commercial Side of the Media Sector

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Inclusion & Trust in the Commercial Side of the Media Sector

One of the objectives of the World Media Group’s working group on Trust & Engagement is to develop a better understanding of the perception of our brands within the wider media / advertising industry. Together with The Third Culture and the Brixton Finishing School, we recently conducted our first-ever survey on Inclusion & Trust in the commercial side of the media sector.

We conducted almost 300 interviews with media agencies, creative agencies and media companies, with a particular focus on the younger end of the industry. The survey examined organisational culture and inclusion practices and looked at the perceptions about what was important commercially.

D&I products and services have more commercial impact than policies

Overall, respondents placed a higher value on D&I products and services and how they impact on commercial decisions than D&I policies.

Almost half of the respondents (44%) agreed that providing insight and data that captures a diverse range of audiences was important. Thirty one percent thought an organisation should provide products and services for more inclusive advertising, and 23% wanted to see organisations demonstrating commitment to fully inclusive advertising.

Respondents considered D&I policies to have less of an impact on commercial decision-making. Thirteen percent of respondents thought it was important for organisations to integrate inclusion principles into mission/vision/values. The same number felt organisations should have special programmes that support underrepresented groups. Ten percent felt it was important that the people who worked at an organisation are representative.

Agency vs media perceptions on D&I differ

Having a representative group of people from various backgrounds on teams is already becoming standard during the agency pitch process, and there’s an expectation that a company will have an ERG programme to support underrepresented groups. However, when we drill down into the agency vs media perceptions of how diversity and representation impact commercial decisions, there is a dramatic difference of opinion.

Those working in media place a much higher value on D&I policies and practices than their agency counterparts. This is likely to be because established media outlets are brands in their own right. Implementing broader cultural policies is important to their business to the extent that not having a diverse staff may have a negative impact on sales.

For agencies, there’s less concern about a media partner having diverse staff as long as they have the ability to show insight into diverse audiences and demonstrate inclusive advertising and content.

The research, which has been shared with WMG members, has provided interesting insights for our media brands to consider. This includes the need for clearer articulation of the diverse editorial content that already exists across the World Media Group’s brands. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming months.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”21681″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Interview with the 2022 Content & Innovation Award leader, Khaled Alshehhi, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication, UAE Government Media Office

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Working for a government department, are there any restrictions you’ve come up against that limit what you can do with your content marketing campaigns? If so, how have you combatted that?

The only limits are those we place ourselves, when we limit our own creativity or imagination. Of course, there are technical limitations or financial boundaries we can’t cross but these only limit our ability to execute the ideas in the way we initially intended. There’s nothing stopping us from executing them differently.

When you look at what we’ve produced over the past few years, the scale, innovation and ambition we’ve demonstrated, you clearly see we live and breathe our country’s motto: Impossible is Possible. We thrive on these three words.

 

Why do you think there’s been a growth in content-led advertising campaigns over the last few years?

Capturing and retaining people’s attention, when there is an avalanche of messages and sources of distraction, is the real battle for marketers. This is particularly poignant when attention spans are dropping to levels below those of a goldfish, at around eight seconds today. There is also a deficit of trust in a lot of institutions. Traditional messages, interruptive ads or communications are no longer cutting through the way they once did.

While personalisation helps, if done sensibly, what really gets through to people is content-based communications. Content gets you found, liked and, where applicable, bought. It builds awareness and credibility in a far less intrusive way than traditional advertising. What’s more, it’s shareable. It doesn’t matter if you don’t become viral, you will still expand your audience when people share your content with their friends and followers.

Brands are thinking and acting more and more as publishers. If they put their audience’s needs first, they stand to get levels of trust, affinity, attention, and preference ad campaigns can only dream of.

 

What are the biggest changes you’ve noticed in content over the last five years and what sort of trends do you expect to see in the future?

Like most things, content has moved from print to digital platforms. We’re therefore focusing more and more on audio-visual and, interestingly, voice, with podcasts. While social media has led to the bitesizification (wish I could trademark this) of content, I do believe there is also a place for long-form. Look at the performance of documentaries.

Obviously, while content is largely used to build a brand and its affinity, including by championing causes or promoting social responsibility, marketers still want it to generate leads or sales. We’re probably going to see more efforts in this direction.

Another aspect is the deprecation of third-party cookies on Chrome and the focus on first-party data it will eventually generate. Marketing to a database of known consumers or visitors will heavily rely on content to push people down the funnel and rely on its shareability to contribute to audience expansion.

 

With a recession potentially on the horizon, do you think now is the right time for brands to invest more heavily in marketing or will we see the industry cutting back?

Typically, with any signs of economic contraction and lower revenues, most businesses respond with cost-cutting measures. Some will go further and reduce or delay investments. What appears to be financial prudence could actually be the corporate equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to marketing.

With every crisis or downturn marketers go through the same debate, should we/shouldn’t we, with agencies and industry associations trying to convince the others about what course to take. There is ample evidence that short-term budget-cutting reactions are never as effective as long-term investments for brands – or the economy. Brands that keep on investing through a crisis bounce back better and maintain or grow their share better than those that cut budgets

A downturn also presents opportunities to invest in your brands with better commercial conditions and less competitive pressure. I am not advocating recklessness of course, just looking outside the box and a bit of bravery. Call it a leap of faith.

 

What do you think the specific challenges will be for your sector in the year ahead?

Besides a general contraction in revenues and therefore budgets, possibly, we’re likely to see a lower appetite for international investments and possibly tourism, with inflation cutting into budgets. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before though, and certainly not as unexpected as the pandemic. We have a built-in resilience, I feel, in our economy. Every time, we’re returning to pre-crisis levels faster than the previous downturn. We may get bruised, but we don’t get scars, which is a good thing.

In terms of communications, as tech makes everything immediate and accessible, government communications need to become much more two-way, fast and effective. This is particularly true for Gen Z consumers. Rather than campaign-based, we’re adopting always-on more and more.

 

One of the reasons you were nominated for the award was because of the transformative way you approach communications, behaving more like a brand than an institution. What’s the one piece of advice you would give to your peers in other government institutions?

Creativity is not just for commercial brands but also for public sector brands, which often have a greater purpose to fulfil. From nation-building to branding, from philanthropy to public diplomacy, from small trips to interstellar missions, we’ve transformed the way the UAE Government communicates. And it’s won multiple awards at some of the most prestigious festivals. How did we achieve this? We went All Out.

First, we OutEmphathised: we became people-centric to always humanise our communications and ensure they are meaningful. Second, we decided to OutThink: we became bold, unique, distinctive and brave enough to test, experiment and dare to truly innovate and capture attention. We also OutCared: we found and pushed a greater purpose in our work. Finally, we OutCollaborated: we developed many collaborations with partners, not suppliers, who share your vision and contribute multiple perspectives for better results.

At the UAE Government Media Office, we ensure the strategic communication needs of the government are met, helping it communicate with its domestic and international audiences on a broad range of challenges and initiatives. This includes working on the Emirates’ nation brand. We’re particularly focused on soft power and public diplomacy strategies, managing the visual media identity, and managing media campaigns for strategic national projects and official events. At the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, we ensure the success of philanthropic and developmental campaigns through smart media ideas and activations.

 

Finally, what campaign are you most proud of and why?

I have a soft spot for the World’s Tallest Donation Box. The idea was to sell each LED light on the façade of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, to raise money for the 10 Million Meals campaign. We gamified the humanitarian campaign by putting the Burj Khalifa on sale. Each one of the 1.2 million lights was sold, providing 1.2 million meals to people directly or indirectly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak across the country. This shining display of social solidarity and cohesion brought hope and smiles to people who needed it the most.

Institutions, companies and the general public bought one or more lights for 10 AED ($2.7) each. One light would provide one meal. The skyscraper’s 1.2 million lights turned it into a beacon of generosity. This got global attention and the media around the world featured the story and images of Burj Khalifa powered by kindness. This is marketing as a force for good.

This campaign has been a massive success, providing meals for the needy, positive PR for the UAE, contributing to building the nation brand, and gaining an impressive number of awards (70 in total). More importantly, it helped the 10 Million Meals campaign exceed its goal by over 50%, raising enough funds to provide 15.3 million meals to low-income families and individuals impacted by the pandemic.

 

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A showcase of the best campaigns entered into the World Media Awards

Brands including Accenture, Citi, De Beers, Forbes, Hyundai, Lombard Odier, Mærsk, Reuters, Samsung / Samsung Galaxy, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Visit Sweden and Volkswagen were amongst those receiving accolades for their impressive category entries this year during the awards celebration at the Ham Yard Hotel in London.

The full case studies for this year’s winning entries, along with the winners of previous years, are available to read in the World Media Group’s Creative Vault here.

Johnnie Walker strides past the competition at the 2022 World Media Awards

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‘The Ones Who… Keep Walking’ campaign wins this year’s Grand Prix

The 2022 World Media Awards Ceremony last night was shadowed by the sad news of the death of Her Majesty The Queen. WMG President Damian Douglas began the event by offering condolences on behalf of the World Media Group and invited the audience to take part in a minute’s silence to reflect on the news.

Despite the difficult circumstances, we felt it was important to celebrate the amazing work of all our finalists, and we are pleased to announce Johnnie Walker as the Grand Prix winner of the 2022 World Media Awards.

The awards, supported by Smartology this year, are the only global awards to recognise brands, agencies and media partners who, together, create the most effective cross platform, cross border, content-driven advertising campaigns.

Brands including Accenture, Citi, De Beers, Forbes, Hyundai, Lombard Odier, Mærsk, Reuters, Samsung / Samsung Galaxy, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Visit Sweden and Volkswagen were amongst those receiving accolades for their impressive category entries this year during the awards celebration at the Ham Yard Hotel in London.

The Grand Prix-winning campaign from Johnnie Walker, which also won the Luxury & Lifestyle category, was built around a feature documentary directed by Amarachi Nwosu, which sets out to explore what the spirit of Keep Walking means for creative and change makers in Africa. The film features more than 20 defiantly optimistic voices from the artists, designers and musicians shaping the cultural scene in Africa today. It delivers an insight into how fresh creative energy, sheer determination, and a pioneering spirit is bringing authentic African expression to the world.

“Despite a raft of strong contenders, the judges were unanimous when it came to voting for the Grand Prix. This disruptive campaign demonstrates the power of storytelling through content-driven advertising in the right media environment,” said Belinda Barker, Chief Executive of the World Media Group.  “It uses storytelling to reimagine how we see Africa and the creative renaissance taking place there, highlighting those who embody the spirit of Keep Walking by igniting collective progress across Africa.”

A panel of 37 senior jurors from leading international advertisers, agencies and publishers co-chaired by Hamish Goulding, Head of Global Brand Strategy for HSBC and Ritu Lakhanpal, Managing Partner, IPG MEDIA BRAND, were tasked with selecting winners from the many global submissions. The full list of judges can be seen here.

The full case studies for this year’s winning entries, along with the winners of previous years, are available to read in the World Media Group’s Creative Vault here.

The winners of the World Media Awards 2022 are as follows:

 

AUTOMOTIVE  

Winner – The New Polo Challenger Series: Conquering New Stadiums
Brand: Volkswagen
Entered by: PHD Germany
Credits: Twitch, DDB/Voltage

Judges’ comments: The campaign addresses the issue of ad-blocking by its target market by going to where the younger audience is concentrated; the product is at the heart of the campaign.

CORPORATE INFLUENCER

Winner – The Upside Of Integrated Logistics
Brand: A.P. Moller – Mærsk,
Entered by: Havas Business
Credits: Creative Agency: &Co.

Judges’ comments: A creative use of media, beautifully integrated with an elegant internal and external application. The campaign demonstrates humour in a potentially dry category and achieves excellent results.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Winner – Revealing The Unexpected Value Of Nature
Brand: Lombard Odier Group
Entered by: Banque Lombard Odier & Cie SA
Credits: VMLY&R, Wavemaker, RS Solutions

Judges’ comments: A nice concept brought to life making the financial services category beautiful and interesting. The campaign stands out in the sea of the sameness; the choice of media highlighted the campaign and delivered results.

Highly Commended – Treasury & Turbulence – Sanctions: The Makers & The Breakers
Brand: Citi
Entered by: Euromoney Institutional Investor  

Judges’ comments: This campaign creates emerging content for a niche audience but transferable to others and leveraged audio as distribution strategy.  

LUXURY & LIFESTYLE  

Winner – The Ones Who… Keep Walking
Brand: Johnnie Walker
Entered by: OMG Africa

Judges’ comments: A meaningful and disruptive campaign; a smart way to navigate regularity challenges and a strong brand alignment.

MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT   Winner – The Source
Brand: Reuters
Entered by: Reuters
Credits: VMLY&R

Judges’ comments: A highly competitive strategy. A strong sense of authenticity, a smart media mix based on strategy, using simple visuals, propelling the brand into the future.

Highly Commended – Spider-Man Swings To Global Success
Brand: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Entered by: OMD EMEA   Judges’ comments: A strong targeted strategy with a clear impressive result of being the most viewed trailer.

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMS

Winner – The Phone Of The Year Captures The Man Of The Year
Brand: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Entered by: Starcom Worldwide
Credits: Conde Nast, Edelman

Judges’ comments: Smart integration of premium editorial and premium commercial strategy; strong distribution across all platforms.

Highly Commended – Creating Sustainably
Brand: Samsung
Entered by: T Brand, the content studio of New York Times Advertising

Judges’ comments: They found a unique angle to launch the campaign. A robust audience strategy as the backbone of the campaign and smart use of targeting.

TRAVEL & TOURISM

Winner – Discover The Originals
Brand: Visit Sweden
Entered by: Mindshare
Credits: Forsman & Bodenfors, Hill+Knowlton, B-Reel Films, Ljudbyrån

Judges’ comments: A clever device that made people engage, comment and amplify the campaign, and possibly add Sweden to the bucket list! A real crowd pleaser and perfectly on brand.

GRAND PRIX

Winner – The Ones Who… Keep Walking Brand: Johnnie Walker
Entered by: OMG Africa

SPECIAL CATEGORIES:

BRAND & MEDIA OWNER PARTNERSHIP  

Winner – Okavango Eternal
Brand: De Beers Group
Entered by: National Geographic Judges’ comments: Brave and innovative way to talk about addressing brand perception head on, potentially a controversial issue. Highlights a new topic and is educational. Played to strong sustainability.  

Highly Commended – Accenture Exchange Series And Partner Content
Brand: Accenture
Entered by: Financial Times
Credits: UM

Judges’ comments: A thoughtful insight-led, multiplatform strategy with longevity.  

SOCIAL GOOD

Winner – Journey To Ithaca
Brand: Hyundai
Entered by: BBC Studios (BBC StoryWorks)
Credits: Havas Media Germany, Innocean Worldwide

Judges’ comments: A well-considered, well-executed campaign that generated a genuine positive and demonstratable impact for Hyundai and Ithaca. The project paves the standard for sustainable short-form content production at the BBC.

Highly Commended – State Of Black Entrepreneurship
Brand: For(bes) the Culture
Entered by: Forbes

Judges’ comments: The project is highly commended for its ambition to rewrite history through the use of media today and going forwards.  

RISING STAR

Winner – Ella Solomon
Wavemaker

Judges’ comments: Ella really impressed us with her entrepreneurial and sustainable efforts. She behaves as a leader in her agency and community. As such, we are keen to see where this takes her and expect Ella to help our industry progress on her net zero agenda.  

Highly Commended –  

Aimee Carpenter
Carat UK

Cristina Correa POLITICO Europe

Georgina Marshall
BBC Studios (BBC Global News Advertising Sales)

Judges’ comments: All highly competent and an asset to their organisations. We fully expect to hear more about all over the next few years.  

CONTENT LEADERSHIP & INNOVATION  

This award is for the individual recognised by peers for their talent in creating exemplary content-driven campaigns with brand bravery, creativity and innovation.

Winner – Khaled AlShehhi, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication for the UAE Government Media Office

#ENDS#

About The World Media Group – Championing International Trusted Journalism

The World Media Group is an alliance of leading global media organisations united in providing trusted and renowned journalism. Its members include The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, Insider, National Geographic, Politico Europe, Reuters, The New York Times Company, The Smithsonian, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and associate member Euromoney, and partners Permutive and Smartology. To find out more about the World Media Group, please visit www.world-media-group.com.

 

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My Media Life – Ally Owen

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/xbnbRGb9K7I”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]ALLY OWEN IN CONVERSATION WITH THE WORLD MEDIA GROUP’S BELINDA BARKER

Welcome to My Media Life, where we chat with the movers and shakers in the worlds of business and marketing to find out what the media industry means to them. They share their advice for those starting out today and personal insights into their sources of inspiration and motivations.

This month, we’re thrilled to be joined by Ally Owen, the founder of ADcademy and the Brixton Finishing School, which provides programmes for talent from communities currently underrepresented by employers in the adverting industry.

Below are extracts from our conversation – you can watch the full interview in the video above or listen to the podcast here.

What does the media industry mean to you?

I find it fascinating. It’s like a repository for the world’s opinions, thoughts, feelings and positions. It’s all humanity’s views on the world in one place and, how that all connects, and how it all mixes together, and how ideas and concepts can travel within that massive ecosystem. I’ve just loved it since I fell into it nearly 30 years ago.

What’s the one piece of advice that’s helped you in your career?

Give less fucks, especially as a female. When I was younger, I used to give far too much credence to being concerned about what other people thought of me, trying to keep the peace. Classic people pleasing!

I would say I’ve been a lot more successful, well, a lot more relentlessly unstoppable, since I just focused on the thing I needed to do, which is to make change, make the industry more equitable, and stopped listening or concerning myself with stuff out of my control.

You can’t control what people think of you. Obviously not being a twat is an important part of that, but if you’ve done your best every day to be the least twatty human you can be, that’s pretty much as good as it’s going to get. People are going to think what they’re going to think anyway.

What do you enjoy most about your current job?

What’s my favourite thing about the dream job I’ve created for myself? Well, in a real Oscar-winning way, I’m going to say I can’t thank all the bits of my job enough, because they’re all equal for me. It’s just the fact that I’m part of something bigger than myself that’s working.

I’ve always been really passionate about equity, and change, and talent reaching its potential. And now we’ve got this amazing alliance of partners like yourselves, and talent, and it’s just this big change-making engine. And every day you actually feel as if you are doing something worthwhile.

We’re very lucky in the sense that we see the fruits of our labours all around us in the industry now. I had a lovely chat with my community manager this morning and she’s just been doing some work in our mentorship area. And she said the best bit about mentorship is she gets to actually see where she makes a difference.

She came through our programme, but she gets to see in quite a short term, that she’s had a positive effect – hopefully positive – on that person’s outcome. That’s just gold dust.

Was there a single light bulb that started the Brixton Finishing School?

It was in 2016 (but the first Brixton was in 2018) and I was at a very big media company. And they employed a right-wing agitator. Nothing wrong with being right wing – politics has nothing to do with it – but not being nice to people and deliberately being hating towards certain communities pisses me off.

You’ve got your right to an opinion, but you haven’t got a right to put other people down. And this particular commentator – it was Katie Hopkins – because of the work I was doing, I was contributing towards paying her salary through my labours. A strongly opinionated person who doesn’t like the communities I care for. This was not a personal crusade, but she doesn’t even like ginger babies!  So, thanks Katie. Thanks for making me angry, because out of that anger came this wonderful thing!

I just had a moment where I was like, if I’m going to work this hard – and I am, as we say relentless – then I want to put all my talent, all my relentlessness into something that makes the world a more equitable place and improves the industry.

I love the industry. It’s fed me. It’s clothed me. It’s kept me interested for the three decades, but it’s never really involved all the voices we need to make it as brilliant as it could be. We tend to be very lopsided. And this was the kind of touch paper – I just thought, no, not again. We’re not going to have somebody who always gets breaks, getting a break. Why can’t we hear other people’s points of view? Why is it always just one type of person?

What piece of advice you would give somebody considering entering this industry today?

Probably from a safety point of view, I would let them know that they’re going to be a pioneer if they come from communities that aren’t well represented. I think it’s really important that we let our talent know that it is going to be challenging coming into spaces where they aren’t represented.

And interestingly, the people we work with, aren’t actually a minority. They are the majority of people in the UK, is just, they’re a minority in our spaces. Our spaces are actually run by a minority. We’re very unrepresentative. It’s really interesting that we, the majority, are not the majority in places that communicate to the mass market.

And that could be anything. It could be age, it could be race, it could be ability. It could be location. It could be neurodiversity. Class is a massive one. There are so many intersections. It could be that you’re a carer or a parent.

I think [it’s important to] recognise that half the time, it’s not you, it’s the system that’s stopped you succeeding. The system is designed very carefully to let certain people succeed and certain people to support those people to succeed. And it’s going to take a while for us to all work together to make it an equitable system.

We know that’s the best thing that could happen because from a profiteering point of view, as well as a social justice point of view, we would be a lot more shipshape and make a lot more money if we include everybody in the system.

What is your secret talent?

Being ginger! It’s not very secret, but I think being born ginger gives you a series of natural advantages and disadvantages in life. You can never hide. You get a lot of attention, and you very quickly learn to stand your ground. I’m used to being the only one in a room. It’s very rare but yesterday, I think I saw three people that looked like me in the street and I was really excited that I’d passed somebody a bit like me. You’re memorable, so I think you have an innate advantage, I’m going to always stand out whether I wish to, or not. And you get mistaken for other people! My worst fear is to get mistaken for another redhead who’s committed a serious crime!

Where do you get your daily news from?

I’m careful about what I read. I think I’ve got ADHD so I can get really over-interested in stuff. That’s not necessarily going to help me to get into what I need to do that day. So, I have some rules around when and how I consume my news.

I read a bit of The Guardian, but I did this thing that was recommended after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which was to have a multiple system of news sources. So, I have a Muslim news channel that I read every day. And I’ve signed up to a black news channel in the States, which is really interesting. It’s called The Root. I don’t know who the celebrities are but it’s given me such a better understanding of a massive part of the world’s population’s news and views that I as a white female from Britain would never have. So that’s really interesting.

And I hate to say it, but a bit of Vice and Refinery 29. I’m not going to lie. And I do like a bit of Love Island news, which is really embarrassing.

Although I love Forbes. I love The New York Times. I love a bit of a meaty article as well, so I do have some of your partners on my list. I tend to avoid anything too sensationalist apart from Love Island.

That’s the beauty of the media. On one tablet or phone, I can literally be a thousand different versions of myself. And I think that’s what the internet has gifted us. I used to work in print, and I still love print, but the ability for me to have so many different voices in one place, from different parts of the world and with really different views – I think that’s an incredible richness that we can have as a daily media consumption, if we choose to be that varied.

And I would say to anybody, please fiddle with your settings, go find some stuff you don’t normally listen to. You never know – you may like it!

What other media do you consume?

My daughter and me are true crime fans. If you’ve got a teenage girl, that is true crime territory. I also love docudramas. I’ve been really into the BBC – Crypto Currency; The Heiress That Disappeared; all that kind of stuff.

In terms of news podcasts, because the current news agenda is really depressing for the audiences I care about, I have to be careful how much of that I take on board, so it doesn’t knock the optimism out of me at the beginning of the day. So, I’ll say, today I’m just going to get on with the work rather than listen to yet more austerity measures, because it just brings you down.

I’m on a mission to try and improve people’s outcomes and try and level people up. And obviously the news is a lot about policies and experiences which are narrowing people’s potential, or even the ability to feed themselves in this country. I find it quite stressing.

If you were stuck on a desert island and had to pick two or three media brands, what would they be?

I’m going to go with The Guardian. I worked there for seven years, so it’s Stockholm Syndrome! And also because it’s a nice mix of everything and it’s independently owned. It’s supposed to be a balance of views.

I’m also going to go with Refinery 29 and Vice, because even though I’m 50 next week, in my head I’m still 27, and it’s really nice to see the trends. There’s something really optimistic and hopeful about all the progress that generation are making.

When I think about when I was their age and even things like genders, LGBTQA progress – obviously there’s lots of parts of the world where that’s not happening, but I do feel there’s just so much nice, hopeful, equitable stuff in that generation.

How do you switch off?

I would say I’m either on, off, or in the gym. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of in between. I do a lot of physical stuff to switch my brain off. And I do a lot of lying very still, looking at a tree or a bird or a flower. It’s kind of like all out, then the battery runs down and I’m like, ugh, no more humans for a while please, I’m done for a couple of hours.

I’ll go somewhere quiet and I’ll just look at nature or I’ll do something really physical like box or lift something heavy. And that generally will switch off the doing bit. I’m yet to perfect the art of relaxing. Maybe when I’m 60 or 75, I’ll finally get the idea of downtime right!

Who or what inspires you?  

I mean, there’s a lot of people that have really inspired me in the industry. There are amazing females, and I think as I’ve got older and as we’ve all woken up a bit more to the fact we need to change the stuff around us, the women that have come together in groups, the other activists I work with, especially a lot of the black females I work with, that’s a constant inspiration.

Certainly, I felt from a white female class perspective, I was having a bit of a crap time at points. That is nothing in comparison to my black female colleagues. People like Maria McDowell who runs Lollipop Mentoring, which is a black female mentorship programme that’s amazing and Caroline Forbes at Clear Channel.

There’s a whole list of people that I’m constantly amazed at – how they’ve managed to be so successful. They deserve to be successful obviously, because they were more than talented. But they have not only done that but have brought their own brand of change-making within the industry to put the ladder down and also help everybody better understand what it is we need to move forward on.

I’m very lucky that a lot of people have partnered with us, and I get to spend time with brilliant people all the time. My trustee, Jenna Osler at Meta, my female trustees; my male trustees – they’re major and they’re all brilliant. My trustees are my most inspirational people.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Sustainability, Collaboration and Data: Themes dominating this year’s WMA Shortlist

Although the World Media Awards are now in their seventh year, I never fail to be surprised by the increasing quality and creativity of the submissions every time we begin the shortlisting process. Our panel of 39 judges spent hours poring over the entries to select this year’s finalists, whose campaigns represent the very best in international content-driven, cross-border advertising.

As we’ve all adjusted to life after Covid, priorities have changed, and so has the popularity of certain categories this year. Entries doubled in both the Automotive and Social Good categories, while Technology & Telecoms submissions increased by 175% compared to the previous year. The judges also noticed some clear themes emerging across all categories.

Read the full article here

My Media Life – Alison Tyrrell

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ALISON TYRRELL IN CONVERSATION WITH THE WORLD MEDIA GROUP’S BELINDA BARKER

Welcome to My Media Life, where we chat with the movers and shakers in the worlds of business and marketing to find out what the media industry means to them, their advice for those starting out today, and personal insights into their sources of inspiration and motivations.

This month, we’re thrilled to be joined by Alison Tyrrell, global head of marketing at SilverCloud Health, a digital mental health business breaking down barriers to enable more access to mental health support. Below are extracts from our conversation – you can listen to the podcast here.

What does the media industry mean to you as an individual?

If I look at my career, the media industry has taught me the most about uncovering what matters to an audience – ensuring you create value, knowledge exchange, the importance of context, trust and authority on topics. And the art of storytelling.

I’m looking at it from two perspectives, one from a career perspective, and then a personal perspective. From a societal view, quality journalism creates a knowledge-filled nation that can hold those who run our democracies accountable and drive awareness to help dismantle any systemic injustices. It can quite literally influence the zeitgeist.

That said, when talking about quality journalism, it’s becoming what feels like few and far between, whether it’s [because of] a questionable alliance of a publication to a government body or to a politician or to some billionaire, or whether you’re looking at social media journalism. Therefore, I think it’s so important that we’re contributing to our trusted brands; getting those subscriptions and keeping them running.

Do you miss any of that now that you’re in a broader client role?

I miss what I was able to learn from my peers from a media perspective. A lot of the people that I had the honour to work with at some of these amazing publications – they’re extremely intelligent people. They were coming to us with an editorial lens as to what was happening.

My clients as well – working with some amazing brands – they had a perspective on what their audiences perceived of some of these media agencies. So I was able to learn a lot more about the landscape. Now I’m [coming from] from a brand perspective, which is a little bit more laser focussed. I miss that element of education: just by having a meeting with them, you’re learning and absorbing so much information that you wouldn’t usually in your day-to-day.

What one piece of advice has helped you in your career?

This is so cliché because you hear it so much, but it’s so true: It’s asking why. Why are we creating a certain campaign or why are we creating a certain piece of content or why should our audience care? I think that’s probably one of the whys we forget to ask. Why are we executing this strategy on a particular format or a particular channel? Because when we stop asking ‘why?’ we lose the power to cut through and to actually be effective. And we become very samey, which I think a lot of brands can be guilty of.

What do you love about your current role?

We work in digital mental health. It’s so rare in any job that you get the opportunity to have purpose. We used to have a funny saying in nearly every job I’ve had: “We’re not saving lives, don’t worry about it.” We’re not saving lives. I now feel like I am.

Everything that we’re doing around campaigns is quite literally working with the likes of the NHS or the HSC, or US health systems to help them see more patients or to get better outcomes for patients, or to let the general public know that they can get this for free. The purpose behind it is the thing that I love the most about the job that I’m in now.

If you were trying to get into media and marketing today, what advice would you give to your younger self?

This is interesting. I don’t think I’d do anything differently because every job I’ve had, every leader I’ve had, every mistake I’ve made has got me to where I am today, but I would probably encourage myself, or anybody entering into the industry now, to really absorb themselves in the psychology or the behavioural economics and the culture of the audience.

I’m really passionate about anthropology for the reason of understanding people, understanding why we make choices, why we make the decisions we make and how culture plays a role in that. Because if you understand your audience to a better degree, you’re going to make a more intelligent campaign that means more to them, but also, creates better results. So rather than just going and listening to the same old marketing gurus, who I feel just say a lot of jargon and say the same thing over and over again, try and understand people, because essentially marketing is understanding people. So that would be my advice.

Do you have a secret talent?

I don’t know if it’s a secret, but I’d say that I’m a creative problem-solver. When I think of being creative – painting or being amazing at guitar – none of those things I can do. But if you said to me, “You know, Alison, we need to get from A to B and we cannot see a way through it, that’s when I can shine. That’s when I come to life. So, yes, I’d say creative problem-solving is my secret talent.

What’s your daily media diet?

Currently, it would be the Irish Times, I enjoy the Atlantic, I enjoy my subscription of The Economist – they would be my current [outlets] for daily news.

I hadn’t heard of The Atlantic prior to working in media – it was working a lot with UBS, and the sheer expertise that they have for their audience. We were doing a lot of research and strategy around what their audience, which would be very intelligent people – would be consuming and The Atlantic came up time and time again.

As part of my job, I need to understand the journalism. I need to understand the narratives of each [publication]. So, I was delving in deep to understand it better for myself and I really enjoyed The Atlantic. I became a subscriber myself and the journalism of that say versus, the others that I’d read like the Irish Times or The Economist, feels to me personally, a lot more ‘lean back and enjoy it’. It’s real storytelling.

I enjoy it so much that I share it with my father who also loves it. And when we were getting paper copies, as soon as I’d finished it cover to cover, I’d give it to him, and then we’d talk about all the different articles. I actively enjoyed reading, as opposed to reading it to understand what was going on in the world.

What media brands are important to you?

I probably listen to podcasts more than I do any other type of media. I have been for many years now, but it seems to have become the standout media format for me. I like it because, you can have traditional brands on there, like The New York Times have The Daily, the FT have the News Briefing, The Economist, like a lot, have their own, which is great. And they’re a slightly different take on the publication. There’s a lot of independence as well and you get a different perspective from them in that they’re not being fuelled by any sort of advertising. But they’re also bringing in subject matter experts. You’re still getting a sense of expertise as opposed to finger to the wind opinions.

I really enjoy podcast for that reason recreationally as well. I’m borderline obsessed with The Armchair Expert at the moment. They have mini SOS within their series, so the variety is huge but there’s an expert on something all the time. The hosts are asking questions that nobody would want to ask, so it’s great. You feel like you are listening into a conversation with friends. Now I’ll listen to it on a long car journey or on a run or on a walk.

What else do you do to switch off?

I haven’t quite mastered the switching off, but during lockdown, myself and a group of friends committed to doing a daily practice of meditation. And we got through nearly a year and a half every single day doing it together and keeping each other accountable. Now, admittedly, that’s fallen off my radar a little bit, but I do try and take five minutes every now and again, whether it’s a meditation or some breath work. It’s something that I definitely need to put more attention on.

Who or what inspires you?

The story of entrepreneurs and how they hack through their success and find opportunities for themselves outside of the standard template of success.

I’m also finding a lot of inspiration in the little things. I spend a lot of time in nature or hiking, or just discussions with friends. A good hike could help me unlock the solution to an issue I’m having, whether it’s in work or in my personal life. And, again, a good podcast – they fuel a lot of my ideas.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]