‘Brilliant Sound at Intersections of Culture and Cool’ Wins this Year’s Grand Prix

London, Thursday 10th September 2020 – The World Media Group is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 World Media Awards.Top brands including Astana International Financial Centre, Electronic Arts, Levi’s, Samsung, Shell, Sonos, Tech Mahindra, Tourism Australia and Volkswagen were amongst those receiving accolades for their impressive entries this year. Hosted by the World Media Group*, the World Media Awards, now in their fifth 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.

Sonos was the biggest winner this year taking away the WMA Grand Prix, as well as scooping up the Technology & Telecommunications prize for its innovative multiplatform campaign, ‘Brilliant Sound at Intersections of Culture and Cool’. In a currently over-crowded smart speaker market, Sonos’s challenge was to cut through the noise of its competitors to deliver a brand message about greater sound quality to an audience who may never have even heard of them before.

“Sonos edged out the competition with an entry that succeeded on every level – they outlined a clear challenge, addressed it with a multiplatform, wide-reaching creative approach and backed it up with fantastic results that demonstrated brand lift and revenue growth,” said Christoph Woermann, WMA Judge and CMO Corporate Bank, Deutsche Bank. “Brilliant Sound demonstrates all the attributes of an award-winning content campaign and is well-deserving of this year’s Grand Prix award.”

Alex Delamain, President of the World Media Group and SVP Global Client Partner at The Economist said, “As the World Media Awards celebrates its fifth year, the bar has been raised yet again. Not only did we have a record number of entries from all over the world – up by 100 percent on last year – the quality of the shortlisted campaigns was exceptionally high. Creating authentic content through creative storytelling that crosses multiple platforms and borders is at the heart of what the World Media Group does. In my second year as President, I have been surprised and delighted by the fresh perspectives and new approaches in content marketing; I’m excited that the WMG is able to highlight and celebrate this great work.”

A panel of 30 senior jurors from leading international advertisers, agencies and publishers co-chaired by Woermann and Josh Krichefski, CEO, EMEA at Mediacom, were tasked with selecting the eight category winners and the Grand Prix winner from the many global submissions. The full list of judges can be seen here.

For more information on the World Media Awards and to see the winning entries in fullvisit: http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/2020-winners/

 The winners of the World Media Awards 2020, along with comments from the judges, are as follows: 

Automotive

Winner –Volkswagen: For the Many, Not the Few – The ID.3
Entered by: PHD Global Business
Credits: DDB Berlin

“This campaign provided a great solution around the democratisation of new electronic vehicle technology to make the Volkswagen ID.3 synonymous with e-mobility.”

Brand & Media Owner Partnership

Winner – Samsung: TV is Making History Again
Entered by: Starcom
Credits: CNN, Leo Burnett, Adam & Eve/DDB

“If you’re going to do a media partnership, this is the way you do it! This immersive experience into space showed how you could bring out the product benefits of technology by using a really visual entity.”

Highly Commended – Astana International Financial Centre: My Kazakhstan
Entered by: Astana International Financial Centre
Credits: Bloomberg Media, Bloomberg Media Studios

“A well-considered media partnership that made fantastic use of Bloomberg’s content bringing to life the entrepreneurial spirit of Kazakhstan through storytelling.”

Corporate Influencer

Winner –Tech Mahindra: In the Future
Entered by: The Trust: The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group

“A well-adapted, creative and focused campaign that drove real business results.”

Highly Commended – Shell: The Great Travel Hack
Entered by: Mediacom
Credits: Vayner Media, Wunderman Thompson, Edelman, UEG Worldwide

“A very engaging campaign with a brave creative approach.”

Financial Services

Winner – Astana International Financial Centre: My Kazakhstan
Entered by: Astana International Financial Centre
Credits: Bloomberg Media, Bloomberg Media Studios

“This ambitious ‘country rebrand’ demonstrated some beautiful character profiles that brought to life the entrepreneurial spirit of Kazakhstan. It successfully presented a country that, as an investor, you’d want to back, and achieved impressive business results.”

Highly Commended – UBS: Are You Investing in What Matters to You?
Entered by: Spark Foundry
Credits: The New York Times, T Brand Studio

“This excellent multimedia story with a personalised CTA challenged readers to think about sustainable investments and learn more about how they could make a difference with their portfolio.”

Luxury, lifestyle &Fashion

Winner – Levi’s: What Does Performance Mean to You?
Entered by:OMD EMEA
Credits: TCO London (Huck Mag)

“This partnership redefined masculinity for a brand that’s synonymous with dusty pick-ups and ruggedness, prioritised storytelling over product and delivered significant bottom line uplift.”

Highly Commended – Essity: Viva La Vulva
Entered by: Zenith
Credits: Poke, AMV BBDO, Ketchum

“One of those campaigns that is likely to be written into media folklore for many years to come. It tackled a very delicate topic with respect and humour to effect real cultural change.” 

Media & Entertainment

Winner –Electronic Arts: FIFA20 Play Wrong
Entered by:m/SIX
Credits: Copa90

“A brave and fresh approach to the category. Strong storytelling with authentic content that also had local resonance, and a partnership that played out well across all of the creative concept.”

Technology & Telecommunications

Winner& Grand Prix Winner –Sonos: Brilliant Sound at Intersections of Culture and Cool
Entered by: Vizeum & 360i, Dentsu Group
Credits: ACAST, Amazon, WeTransfer, Anomaly

“The campaign leveraged smart insights into the audience and their passion for their subjects. It combined OOH in cities around the world with great digital, podcasts and innovative Amazon placements, resulting in a really well-integrated campaign.”

Travel & Tourism

Winner –Tourism Australia: From Country to Company
Entered by: UM Australia

“This campaign was developed from having genuine empathy for the needs of their target audience and demonstrated a fantastic use of partnerships.”

Highly Commended – Narok County Government: Moments of Wonder
Entered by: Reuters Plus

“A stunning campaign that really brought the beauty of the country to life.”

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 – Johan Jervoe, Chief Marketing Officer, UBS

 #ENDS#

Media contact: Charlotte Panther, M: 07834431206, E: charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

*About The World Media Group
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of leading international media organisations that connects brands with highly engaged, influential audiences in the context of trusted and renowned journalism. Its members include The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times Company, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and associate members: Moat and The Smithsonian.

 

Yesterday was the Judging Day for the fifth annual World Media Awards and, as you might expect, 2020 was unlike any other year. Our team of international judges, led by Josh Krichefski, CEO, EMEA at Mediacom and Cristoph Woermann, Global Head, Marketing Corporate Bank, Deutsche Bank, came together on Zoom for the day to review the shortlisted entries and determine the winners for the WMA2020.

Not only did we have a record number of entries this year (up by 100% on 2019), according to the judging panel, the quality of all the shortlisted campaigns was exceptionally high, making their job tougher than ever.

Shortlisted entrants were invited to join the Zoom call live for a 3-minute pitch in front of the panel or could submit a pre-recorded video of the same length. At the end of each category, the judges entered a lively debate to discuss the strengths of each campaign. This was followed by a knock-out vote until they reached a clear decision.

Surprising departures from type

The panel was particularly surprised by the innovation demonstrated in what one judge described as “the more difficult categories, with a limited toolbox”. The campaigns that stood out showed a clear departure from the norm for their sector, pushing boundaries, taking risks and allowing storytelling to uncover another side of their business.

Results are everything

Shortlisted entrants had already impressed the judges with their creative approach to storytelling and media strategy, so when it came to choosing the final winners for each category, it was invariably the campaign results that determined success.

The judges’ discussions often centred around the following criteria when considering a campaign’s achievements:

  • Was the campaign based on strong insights to ensure they were hitting the right audiences?
  • Was there a clear strategy and did every element feel part of one cohesive whole?
  • Did the campaign set clear KPIs and then demonstrate positive business results to back them up?

 

In a year of outstanding content campaigns, it was those entries that demonstrated the strongest tangible results that edged out the competition.

After an intense but successful day of Zooming, the judges’ final task was to choose the Grand Prix recipient. The competition was fierce, and it took a few rounds of discussion before a clear winner emerged. Who could it be? All will be revealed next week. Sadly, we can’t host a live event this year, but we’ll be announcing the winners through the World Media Group social media channels on Thursday 10th September from 1pm BST onwards.