The WARC Awards 2019 - Effective Social Strategy winners announced

Grand Prix campaign - The People's Seat
Grey London wins Grand Prix for The United Nations' global campaign 'The People's Seat'

LONDON, May 29, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Campaigns for Burger King, M&M's, Singapore Tourism Board, Starbucks and Vans are among the winners of the Effective Social Strategy category of the WARC Awards, a global search for next-generation marketing effectiveness.

Fifteen campaigns from around the world - one Grand Prix, three Golds, seven Silvers and four Bronzes - have been selected as winners in the Effective Social Strategy category, which links social strategy to business success.

A campaign by Grey London for The United Nations has won the Grand Prix as well at the Live Award, one of three special awards recognising specific areas of excellence. 'The People's Seat' used social media to drive a global campaign that let the people of the world have their say on climate change at the COP24. It developed a Facebook Messenger bot for people to interact with the UN and got Sir David Attenborough to deliver a speech through a livestream on Facebook. The campaign reached more than 1.3 billion people.

Commenting on the Grand Prix winner, jury member Mark Carroll, Senior Creative Strategist, Snap Inc, said: "It was punchy and ambitious. They had so much to work with and had access to such amazing resources, and they did a lot with it, not just the obvious. Everything they put out was very strong and nicely executed from multiple dimensions."

Starcom and MRY won a Gold and the Path-to-Purchase Award with a campaign for footwear and clothing brand Vans. The 'Not Just One Creator' campaign used influencers to successfully broaden its appeal among teens and young adults in the US, generating revenue and brand awareness.

'Closer Than You Think', by Wunderman Antwerp, won a Gold and the Smart Spender Award. In Belgium, Child Focus, a centre for missing children, used findings from a social experiment to inspire Belgian citizens to actively contribute to the cause of finding missing children.

Christine Xu, Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's China, chaired the esteemed jury (http://bit.ly/2KacaoN) of 13 agency and client-side industry professionals. Together, they selected the following winners:

Grand Prix:

The People's Seat - The United Nations - Grey London - Global + Live Award

Gold:

Closer Than You Think - Child Focus - Wunderman Antwerp - Belgium + Smart Spender Award
Save the Cows - Puck - Arla Foods - FP7 McCann Dubai - Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
Not Just One Creator - Vans - VF Corporation - Starcom, MRY - United States + Path-to-Purchase Award

Silver:

Turning their tweets against them - Burger King - MullenLowe US - North America
Change Has a Taste - Coca-Cola - FP7 McCann Dubai - Saudi Arabia
How Starbucks created the fourth place in coffee culture - Starbucks UK - Manning Gottlieb OMD - United Kingdom
Get Packing! - JetBlue - MullenLowe US - North America
While You Wait... - Emirates NBD - FP7 McCann Dubai - United Arab Emirates
The Mud Soldier - Flanders Fields 14-18 - Visit Flanders - Ogilvy SocialLab - Europe, North America, Australia
Chairman - Heineken - Nigerian Breweries Limited - Insight Publicis - Nigeria

Bronze:

The Burger Wars - KFC - QSR Stores Sdn Bhd - Reprise - Malaysia
Sponsor of Losers - McDonald's - FP7 McCann Beirut - Lebanon
Mix - M&M's - Mars Wrigley Confectionery - AMV BBDO, MediaCom - United Kingdom
Why Gamble With Your Holiday? - Singapore Tourism Board - TBWA\Singapore - Singapore

View on http://bit.ly/2JKOXKh the winning case studies in the Effective Social Strategy category, alongside the winners of the Effective Innovation category (http://bit.ly/2Kc7EpV). The winners of the remaining categories - Effective Content Strategy and Effective Use of Brand Purpose - will be announced shortly. The Grand Prix and Special Awards winners across the four categories of the WARC Awards share a $40,000 prize fund.

About WARC

- your global authority on advertising and media effectiveness

WARC provides the latest evidence, expertise and guidance to make marketers more effective. WARC's mission is to save the world from ineffective marketing.

WARC's clients include the world's largest brands, advertising and media agencies, media owners, research companies and universities. They rely on WARC for rigorous, unbiased information and advice on almost any advertising and marketing issue, which WARC delivers via best practice guides, case studies, research papers, special reports and advertising trend data, as well as via webinars, awards, events and advisory services.

WARC collaborates with more than 50 respected industry organisations globally including: The Advertising Research Foundation, Cannes Lions, Effie Worldwide, Association of National Advertisers, ESOMAR, 4A's, IPA and DMA.

WARC was founded in 1985, and has offices in the UK, US and Singapore. In July 2018, WARC became part of Ascential plc, the global specialist information company.

Contact:
Amanda Benfell Head of PR & Press +44 20 7467 8125 amanda.benfell@warc.com

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