Deadpool and Old Navy snap up top accolades at The Drum Digital Advertising Awards US 2019

20th Century Fox put to Assembly Media to create a buzzworthy, relevant PR moment around Deadpool 2 to help them surpass the record box office sales set by the original motion picture.

The campaign saw Cameos on Google utilized for the first time with Deadpool as himself, answering not only questions about himself but also some of the most popular generic and out of the box Googled questions out there.

On why they chose this campaign for the Grand Prix and Best Video Campaign, the judging panel said: “This was a unique execution and a brilliantly creative way to use search. It’s a great combination of bringing Deadpool 2 to a somewhat new version of Google search results... everything old is new again, but more fun and interactive!”

As chair of the judging panel, Marc Mallet, vice president, performance advertising Disney Advertising Sales awarded PMG the Chair Award for its work with Old Navy.

The brand took to the skies of America to authentically represent its commitment to gender equality by sky typing inspiring messages over Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City.

The Sky’s the Limit campaign encouraged women and girls to look up and be inspired, not only on International Women’s Day, but every day with empowering phrases in the clouds including “Shatter the Ceiling,” “Women’s Day Every Day,” and “The Future is Fearless,” among others. To maximize impact, PMG integrated influencer marketing, social amplification and digital editorial extensions.

On why he chose this as his winner, which also won Best Paid Social Campaign and Best Cross Platform Campaign, Mallet explained: “This campaign struck me for its innovation and varied use of creative tactics in making a strong statement on 2019’s International Women’s Day. From influencer marketing to social amplification to the decidedly old media tactic of skywriting it is a truly unique campaign that stood above the rest.”

Another top win of the evening comes from AdsWizz, who were awarded Best Overall Technology for Programmatic Trading and Most Effective Programmatic Media Partnership.

On the former, the agency won for its AdsWizz Digital Audio Advertising Platform, which powers the digital audio advertising ecosystem. The end-to-end platform has become the industry standard for digital audio advertising for both major ad agencies and leading audio publishers.

"They had already cornered the audio market and pushed innovation to the top of their agenda," said the jury. "They have also proven success for advertisers, users and media owners and as audio grows in popularity, their full suite offering and innovative formats will stand out."

Full list of winners:

Grand Prix/ Best Video Campaign

Assembly Media for 20th Century Fox / Deadpool 2

Chair Award/ Best Paid Social Campaign/ Best Cross Platform Campaign

PMG for Old Navy

Most Effective Media Agency

m/SIX North America

Best Trading Team/Desk

Mindshare for Unilever

Best Use of Creativity

PadSquad, Cadreon for Hulu

Best Mobile Campaign

AdColony for Toyota

Best use of Performance

Cramer-Krasselt for T. Marzetti/Marzetti Veggie Dips

Best Search Campaign

PMG

Best Attribution Solution

Flashtalking

Best Branding Campaign

PadSquad, Cadreon for Hulu

Most Effective use of Data

January Digital for David's Bridal

Best Overall Technology for Programmatic Trading

AdsWizz

Best Campaign Optimization

Wpromote for The Honest Company

Best Creative Optimization

Aarki for Mobilityware

Most Effective Programmatic Media Partnership

AdsWizz for Cox Media

The Drum Advertising Awards US took place at the Edison Ballroom, New York on Wednesday 13 November. To register your interest for 2020, click here.