The WARC Awards 2017: DigitasLBi US, BBH UK and Ensemble Worldwide/UM Malaysia win Grands Prix

DigitasLBi US, BBH UK and Ensemble Worldwide, UM Malaysia are the three Grands Prix winners for their work for Whirlpool and KFC at the first global WARC Awards, recognising next-generation marketing effectiveness.

DigitasLBi US was the winner of two top awards – the Best Use of Brand Purpose Grand Prix as well as the Partnership Special Award for Whirlpool’s ‘Care Counts’ campaign which saw the US appliances manufacturer install washers and dryers in schools to give disadvantaged students access to laundry facilities and boost attendance rates.

Jury chair Jim Stengel, President and CEO, The Jim Stengel Company commented on the campaign: “It is a brand that’s trying to be in a different place, behind purpose, and I applaud them for that.”

The Effective Social Strategy Grand Prix was won by BBH London for the ‘Dirty Louisiana: Don’t make dirty good, make clean bad’ campaign for KFC in which the fast food brand created a humorous fake ‘clean eating’ campaign shared on social media, YouTube and blogs to successfully launch its newest product in the UK.

Jury member Barry Krause, Founder and CEO, Suite (LiveLab) said, “This campaign goes for the super heavy QSR user as that’s where the volumes are. This is a brilliant strategy, they slaughtered it and it’s really funny.”

Ensemble Worldwide, UM Malaysia are winners of the Effective Use of Content Strategy Grand Prix for their KFC campaign ‘Stealing a burger-march on McDonald’s using real-time data’ for which they employed programmatic technology to create and distribute content to millennials to launch its Hot and Cheezy burger in Malaysia.

Commenting, judge Charles Baker, Strategy Director, BBDO Hearts & Science, said, “McDonald’s is the king of burgers so for KFC to make something enduring that could be fun for kids is smart. This is all about building preference and repeat visits.”

The winners of the three Grands Prix and nine Special Awards, which share a prize fund of $30,000, were presented with their trophies at The WARC Awards event held today in London during which attendees had the opportunity to hear from jury members and winners alike who shared their thoughts and strategies behind the winning campaigns.

Summing up the inaugural WARC Awards, Lucy Aitken, Case Study Editor, WARC, said, “We’ve had a great response from the industry to the new global WARC Awards. More importantly, the outcome from our 45-strong international jury panel brings together a collection of campaigns from around the world that are leading the industry forward by mastering new techniques and delivering business results for clients.”

For more information on all The WARC Award winners visit here