Editor's choice: The Drum Advertising Awards 2019 entries open
Back for its second year, The Drum Advertising Awards are here to give creativity and advertising the recognition it deserves, looking for the best of the best in the industry and identifying creative and innovative work.
In 2018, Ladbible, Libresse/Bodyform, Habito and Lionsgate were among the many well-deserved winners. Editor of The Drum's Creative Works, Kyle O'Brien tells us what he liked about these innovative campaigns.
AMVBBDO and Libresse/Bodyform: Bloodnormal
One of 2018's most talked about campaigns was Bloodnormal, winning various awards, including the Grand Prix at The Drum Advertising Awards.
Bodyform and its Scandinavian equivalent, Libresse released a stylised film reworking the tropes of sanitary towel commercials. The ad began with something never before seen on a women's sanitary commercial before, real red blood.
This was in aid of debunking the stigma that society created where women felt disgusting about their periods and men disgusted hearing about them. Through an integrated campaign which tackled dozens of taboos around periods, for the first time, the full experience of periods was acknowledged openly and honestly.
O'Brien said: "Essity, through its Bodyform and Libresse brands, isn’t afraid of showing what it really means to be a woman, and in doing so strips away outdated stigmas and taboos.
"The Bloodnormal campaign helps ‘normalize’ a woman’s period (which still causes women to be shunned in some areas of the globe) because it is normal and shouldn’t carry any stigma whatsoever. This campaign helps promote the fact that women should never have to ‘hide’ their periods in a very real and frank fashion."
LADbible: Trash Isles
Another innovative campaign from last year was Trash Isles. LADbible Group, AMV BBDO and The Plastic Oceans Foundation launched this major social responsibility campaign to empower young people to lobby the United Nations to acknowledge the plastic in the oceans as a country, in order to force the issue to be addressed.
"While there have been several campaigns calling attention to plastics in the
oceans of the world, Trash Isles took the messaging to the next level," says O'Brien.
"When the Plastic Oceans Foundation declared The Trash Isles a separate country
and then named Al Gore as the ‘Trash Isles’ first honorary citizen, Dame Judi
Dench as the Queen, and John Cena as the minister of defence, the organization called attention to a problem most of us would rather not think about. It brought global recognition to the problem and shouted it out in a smart way that made everyone pay attention."
Habito: Hell or Habito
Habito is a free online mortgage broker service founded out of frustration with the way mortgages are usually bought. It provides an easier and less stressful experience. Although people loved the product, brand awareness remained low. The Uncommon Creative Studio helped them stand out in a sea of financial services sameness and assert their challenger credentials.
O'Brien says: "Rather than talking about the confusion, cost, time and stress many people go through when trying to get a mortgage, online mortgage broker Habito decided to let Uncommon go wild with the concept and the result was a graphic R. Crumb-style hellscape of greedy and murderous zombie hands.
"As the hapless mortgage hopeful is robbed and disemboweled, he’s saved by a set of keys after punching the Habito site and reversing his trip to mortgage hell. The wild animation sets the brand way apart from the usual stock mortgage lender spots."
Lionsgate: Jigsaw
In October 2017, The Hook were tasked with helping Lionsgate and the Saw Franchise ‘take back’ Halloween with the film Jigsaw. They created a series of three original videos and utilised influencers and real movie assets. This saw The Hook dominate Facebook conversations for Lionsgate, helping Jigsaw claim the number one spot at the UK and US box offices.
"How do you best reach horror film fans?" asks O'Brien. "Scare the pants off of them. That’s what the Hook Group did for Lionsgate’s Jigsaw film, and boy did they do it with frightening effect.
"By utilizing the puppet Billy from the film and taking him into the real world, they effectively broke the fourth wall with fear. The fact that the puppet became an online social celebrity in the process influenced plenty of fans and immersed them into the Jigsaw world to create seriously deserved buzz."
The Drum Advertising Awards are now open for submissions. The awards are open to ad agencies, design consultancies, digital agencies, direct mail companies, production companies, marketing agencies, PR consultancies, in-house creative teams, in-house marketing teams, media buying agencies etc.
Get your entries in before August 14 and receive a discounted rate on your application.