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Revealed: The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA 2023 winners

By Thomas O'Neill, Managing editor

June 21, 2023 | 7 min read

Storycatchers’ campaign for Network Rail takes multiple awards, including the Grand Prix, while Tin Man is named Agency Team of the Year and Mindshare UK scoops the Chair Award.

Storycatchers for Network Rail took the Grand Prix home

Winners of The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA 2023 were revealed in a show broadcast on The Drum TV earlier today (June 21).

Taking home the Grand Prix this year, as well as winning in the Advertising, Creative, Disruption and Public Sector/Charity/Not-for-Profit categories, is Storycatchers for its work to reduce the number of casualties caused by trespassing on the railway. Working with Network Rail, the British Transport Police, industry partners and the parents of Harrison Ballantyne, the agency made a film telling the story of an 11-year-old boy who was killed by 25,000 volts of electricity at a rail freight depot.

The campaign film generated over 970,000 YouTube views and the campaign received an 11-minute segment on BBC Breakfast, while 92,000 schoolchildren also watched a live assembly from Harrison’s school.

Harrison’s story is the most successful in the ‘You v Train’ trespass campaign series. It led to a 62% decrease in child trespass incidents in campaign target areas. Furthermore, it resulted in a 24% decrease in all trespass incidents in campaign target areas.

Chair of the judges Katie Evans, chief marketing officer at Burger King UK, meanwhile handed her Chair Award to Mindshare UK for its work on Dove’s Self-Esteem Project Toolkit, which offered kids and parents articles and resources to help build better self-esteem.

Mindshare and Dove created a media plan to deliver the downloadable toolkit via a QR code, targeting influencers and celebrity feeds that promoted toxic beauty standards as well as placing the QR codes next to positive beauty influencers. The toolkit was downloaded over 4,000 times while ads within Love Island also drove social conversation, with contestant Georgia Louise Harrison publicly promoting the campaign and using the hashtag #NoDigitalDistortion.

Evans was joined on the judging panel this year by amazing marketers from brands including Adidas, Lego, Heineken, eBay and Aldi.

The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA is the culmination of a three-legged celebration of global marketing that also includes APAC and Americas shows.

Check out all of the EMEA winners below and head to the awards homepage for more information.