BBDO China wins Grand Prix for McDonald’s “Full-heart Support for Gaokao” campaign in 2018 WARC Awards Effective Social Strategy category
A campaign by BBDO China for McDonald’s has won the Grand Prix in the Effective Social Strategy category of the WARC Awards, a global search for next-generation marketing effectiveness.
Looking for a way to engage with people during the run-up to Gaokao, the Chinese exam season, McDonald’s stood out with its ‘Full-heart support during Gaokao’ campaign by taking a different approach. Rather than promising to help students do better, the fast food chain encouraged older people to share their experience of Gaokao, showing that the results did not determine their future. This messaging proved popular, leading to a 428% increase in sales of McDonald’s hero Gaokao product.
The campaign also won the Path-to-Purchase special award for a social strategy that successfully drove sales.
Havas Worldwide India has picked up Silver for Durex Jeans as does BBDO Japan for Snickers. Bronze winners are Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, MSL Group Vietnam for Pampers and TBWA\Singapore · Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand for Playstation.
A further four Golds, five Silvers and four Bronzes and two more special awards have won in the Effective Social Strategy category, a search for marketing initiatives that link social strategy to business success. Campaigns for brands including, Addict’Aide, Gas-X, OMO, Pampers, PlayStation and Snickers are among the winners from around the world.
Elizabeth Windram, VP, Marketing, JetBlue, chair of the Effective Social Strategy jury, commented: “The winners all demonstrated the best of what marketing can do with a strong insight and an ownable way in to solving business problems. The cases were inspiring to read.”
The winners are:
Grand Prix
Full-heart support during Gaokao · McDonald’s · BBDO China · China + Path-to-Purchase Award
Gold
Like my addiction · Addict’Aide · BETC · France + Smart Spender Award
Not another Tide ad. But probably, the dullest content in history for the least active kids in history · OMO · Unilever · FP7/DXB · Middle East + Live Award
#InMyFamilyWeSay · Hépar · Nestlé Waters · Marcel · France
GeoStories: How Instagram turned millennials onto geology · Geological Survey of Canada History Committee · McMillan · Canada
Silver
Office Souvenirs · JetBlue · MullenLowe US · United States
Crossing The Line · Fleggaard · UncleGrey · Denmark
Condom or Denim? · Durex Jeans · Reckitt Benckiser · Havas Worldwide India · India
For the sake of M&M’s, do not watch Game of Thrones! · M&M’s · Mars · ALMAP BBDO · Brazil
#HUNGEREPLY · Snickers · Mars · BBDO Japan · Japan
Bronze
It’s not cricket, it’s the ashes · BT Sport · BT · AMVBBDO · United Kingdom
Finding the Female Gaze in Fart Jokes · Gas-X · GSK · Weber Shandwick NY · United States
Positive · Pampers · Procter & Gamble · Leo Burnett Vietnam, Saatchi & Saatchi Vietnam, MSL Group Vietnam · Vietnam
Play Everything · PlayStation · Sony Interactive Entertainment Singapore · TBWA\Singapore · Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
View here the winning case studies in the Effective Social Strategy category as well as the winners of the Innovation and Brand Purpose categories. The Effective Content Strategy winners will be announced next week.
The annual WARC Awards are free to enter with the Grand Prix and Special Award winners across all four categories – Effective Social Strategy, Effective Content Strategy, Effective Innovation, Effective Use of Brand Purpose – sharing a $40,000 prize fund.