2019 New York Festivals AME Awards Announces Finalists

Cristina Blanaru Creativity, Festivals & Awards

AME Awards  for the World’s Best Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness has announced the Finalists for the 2019 competition. The 2019 AME Grand Jury, representing 5 regions from around the globe, evaluated entries to select this year’s Finalists from entries submitted from 26 countries.

With an impressive 20% increase in entries this year, entries moving on to the medal round drove engagement for brands and achieved market share via a variety of strategies. Campaigns achieving Finalist status employed user-generated content, crowd-sourcing, branded entertainment, experiential engagement, technology, cause marketing, public responsibility and event marketing. A complete list of the 2019 Finalists is available here.

For 2019 AME launched numerous new categories and including a new Category Group, Creativity for Positive Impact. Finalists within the new Category Group include: “Save the Food – Phase Two” (Environment and Sustainability) Publicis Sapient for the Ad Council; “share” (Philanthropic appeals) created for and by share GmbH; “Disgusting Stories” (Promotion of Health & Human Services)  TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno for Bahay Tuluyan; “Uber Mom’s” (Collaboration/Partnerships) Zulu Alpha Kilo for Uber Canada; “Human Rights Campaign” (Promotion of Peace/Human Rights) Havas Champagne Company Ltd. for Human Rights Cambodia; “Pink Triangle Issue” (Civic/Social Education) Serviceplan Group for Vangardist; “Responsible Drinking Campaign – Lost and Found Museum” (Civic/Social Education) BBH Shanghai for Harbin Beer;  and “BlindMeters” (Promotion of Health & Human Services) Happiness / An FCB alliance for OVK / PEVR (Parents of Road Victims).

Innovative ideas engaged consumers while delivering quantifiable results, Finalists include: ADK Taiwan’s “Rhythm of Love Wall” for 7-Eleven Taiwan encouraged consumer to donate spare change via an interactive installation wall with 12 pairs of realistic hands capable of creating 200,000 continuous rhythms to applaud donations. Donations were also collected via the mobile website, consumers created their own clapping rhythm online and the user-generated content was transmitted back to the installation and heard in store. Results—donations raised up 200%, hitting a record-breaking high and earning $9,680,000 in media impressions.

Kamp Grizzly’s “Kamp Grizzly – adidas 747 Warehouse St.” for adidas created an immersive brand experience during NBA Allstar week. The two-day unified brand event showcased basketball culture, and fashion for streetwear natives. Installations and interactive content resulted in over 1.5 million registered consumers at event landing page, 25,000 consumer sign-ups, 18,000 attendees over the course of two days, 94,815 product-raffle scans and over $850,000 in merchandize sales

Branded Content/Entertainment raised awareness and increased brand affinity, Finalists include:

  • “Cheer Up Losers” FP7/BEY for McDonald’s captured market share during World Cup by targeting the losers after each game with gifts, offers and cheering them up with mascot, Mr. Cheers.
  • “MOVIE DEW-OVERS” Viacom Media Networks for MTV and TV Movie Awards amplified the launch of Mountain Dew Ice by utilizing star power with Winston Duke (Black Panther) in a movie parody-themed content series.
  • “The Away Game” Zulu Alpha Kilo for client Tim Horton demonstrated the chain’s love for ice hockey. To reinforce the brands credentials as a champion of hockey in Canada they brought the Ice Lions, Kenya’s only hockey team, to Canada to play the game of their lives.

Prominent brands employed technology to achieve marketing goals. “Oreo Box” Inspire Communications Group utilized AR to turn every Oreo into a virtual game. Oreo went viral with a push from music celebrity Wang Yuan. “The McDelivery Pin” Leo Burnett Manila erected a 14-foot landmark linked to the McDelivery app allowing customers to order food online with the Pin as the delivery point. “VW China | Play Share Connect” Beijing DDB Needham Advertising (Shanghai Branch) Co., Ltd for VW employed gamification to engage young Chinese mobile users to showcase VW’s new features.

Social Media/Social Video campaigns amplified brand engagement, entries advancing include: “For every bachelor and bachelorette: How we shifted the narrative around the marriage equality plebiscite” Leo Burnett for Australian Marriage Equality; “Singapore Tourism Board (STB) – Why Gamble with Your Holiday?” TBWA\ Singapore for Singapore Tourism Board; and “Kamp Grizzly – adidas P.O.D. System” Kamp Grizzly for adidas.

Campaigns for automotive brands gained traction and achieved Finalist status including “A Micra Revolution – Smashing conventions and European sales, how a bespoke Irish campaign rescued a brand” In the Company of Huskies for client Micra; “Road to Coachella” Mirrored Media for BMW; “The Shortcut Billboards” Serviceplan Group for MINIOmnicom Media Group for ŠOKDA’; and “Honda” CyberAgent, Inc. for Honda.

Travel & Tourism focused campaigns increased positive sentiment and garnered positive results. “#CoverTheProgress” Ketchum Inc for Discover Puerto Rico aimed to influencer the influencer on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, the campaign demanded fair and forward-looking media coverage of Puerto Rico’s tourism industry. Results include Puerto Rico was named the #1 place to go in 2019 by The New York Times (“52 Places to Go in 2019” – Jan. 10). Additional Finalists include: “The Arrivals” &Co. for SAS and “Making Every Journey Personal” TBWA\ Singapore for Singapore Airlines.

Inventive Healthcare campaigns effectively solved problems and potentially saved lives, Finalists include: “Washable Book” McCann Health Japan for SAVE SOAP PROJECT, employed a low-tech innovation that transformed reading into physical learning and inspired behavioral change to prevent disease. “Mental Health is Health” Alpha Zulu Kilo for CAMH challenged challenge deep-seated beliefs about mental illness via a branded content series. “RX Prescription Stickers” The Classic Partnership for Dubai Health Authority devised a cost-effective sticker system to eliminate issues with dosage and the risk of medication overdose by blue-collar workers and other illiterate immigrants residing in Dubai.

Creative partnerships equaled results. Finalists include: “Adoptify” Serviceplan Germany for client Tierschutzverein Muenchen e.V.  Pet adoptions spiked when Spotify partnered with a Munich-based animal shelter to match pets with owners based on their taste in music. The campaign achieved earned media of 6.5 million Euros, a 340% rise in adoption requests and saw animal shelters worldwide adopt the campaign. “Hornbach Werkstück Edition” Heimat Werbeagentur Berlin for HORNBACH Baumarkt Hornbach recruited Danish architect Sigurd Larsen for the WERKSTÜCK Edition. Larsen’s Lounge Chair couldn’t be bought, it must be built from scratch. Results—design-conscious HORNBACH customers increased by an unprecedented degree. (+12%).

Founded in 1994, the AME Awards honors international work that demonstrates ground-breaking solutions to challenging marketing problems. To earn a coveted AME® Award, an entry must exhibit specific marketing goals and objectives accomplished through creative execution and strategic planning. Entries are judged by an international panel of top interactive and multidisciplinary marketers, media planners, strategy directors, social media experts, and creative directors.