Winners announced at The Drum Awards for Experience 2023

Taking home the top prize, the Grand Prix, is Amplify and Adam&EveDDB for their work with Sony Interactive Entertainment – a global campaign that saw them reignite hype for experiences on PS5 (the campaign also won in the Consumer Goods, Integrated, Product Relaunch and Breakthrough categories).

Immediately following the original launch of PS5 in 2020, it very quickly became difficult to get your hands on a console. In 2023, however, as more PlayStation 5 consoles hit shelves around the world, there was a need to reignite hype around the brand, the console and the worlds that PS5 unlocks.

‘Live From PS5’ was designed to mimic a real news network, featuring journalists from around the world reporting on the captivating happenings within the various PS5 worlds. This innovative concept brought the console’s unique experiences to life. The execution of the mixed-media campaign was both ambitious and comprehensive. The campaign spanned 51 markets and ran in 32 languages, with journalists reporting real-time news updates. Over 600 assets were deployed across multiple channels, including television, social media, out-of-home advertising, digital displays and high-impact special-builds, all within a four-week period.

The results of this creative campaign were nothing short of remarkable. Sony sold 19.1m PlayStation 5 consoles in the financial year, beating its own forecast of 18m. That was up from 11.5m PS5 units sold in the previous fiscal year when Sony was facing supply chain issues – which demonstrates a 66% increase.

The recipient of the Chair’s Award, meanwhile, as chosen by head judges Judy Lee, global director of experiential at Pinterest, and Jonathan Emmins, founder and global chief executive at Amplify, is Rethink for its ‘Made for downtown living’ work with Ikea Canada (the campaign also won in the Retail category).

This campaign addressed the fact that for decades, Torontonians have had to venture outside of the downtown area to get to an Ikea store. Until now, the brand experience was a ‘pilgrimage’ out to Etobicoke, Burlington, Vaughan or North York. This resulted in many would-be customers opting out of the hassle of the Ikea trip in favor of more easily accessible options.

To grab attention from an always-busy big city media landscape and to prove to Torontonians that Ikea truly is “made for downtown living,” it set out to do something that had never been done before. It made living ads out of the city itself – using real homes (with real people in them) and turning them into instantly recognizable Ikea ‘billboards.’ It leaned on its iconic Ikea brand assets, like its logo and price call-outs from the world-famous catalog, and the homes instantly felt reminiscent of the iconic in-store showrooms. Except these were real, living windows into the world of potential that Ikea could unlock in the homes of Torontonians.

From there, it surrounded the city with an urban-inspired OOH campaign with directional and Toronto-specific messaging like ‘Come in on your commute’ and ‘Go TO Ikea’ that encouraged consumers to head over to the new store. Placements were seen on routes of travel (TTC station takeovers, TSAs, Gardiner Expressway), within walking distance of the store (Yonge & Dundas Square) and in spaces where people were actively shopping (Yonge & Dundas Square, College Park).

Lee and Emmins were joined on the judging panel this year by senior marketers from top brands and agencies, including General Motors, Bumble, Pepsico and BBH.

Among the other big winners of the night are Octagon and Wink for their work with Budweiser, Mosaic for its work with Michelob Ultra and Bearded Kitten for its work with Battersea Power Station.

You can read the full list of winners below and read the stories behind the winning work over on our Case Studies hub.

• Grand Prix: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Amplify, and Adam&EveDDB for Sony Interactive Entertainment

• Chair Award: Rethink for Ikea Canada

• Agency Team of the Year: Cheerful Twentyfirst

• Automotive: Collaborate Global for Hyundai N

• B2B: Amplify for Pinterest

• Breakthrough: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Amplify, and Adam&EveDDB for Sony Interactive Entertainment

• Consumer Goods: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Amplify, and Adam&EveDDB for Sony Interactive Entertainment

• Consumer Services: Amplify for Klarna

• Event Production: Bearded Kitten for Battersea Power Station

• Experience For Good: The Park for Football Beyond Borders and GoFundMe

• Food and Drink: Rethink for Kraft Heinz North America

• Healthcare and Pharma: 23andMe

• In-Person (250+): Mosaic North America for Michelob Ultra in partnership with Netflix

• Integrated: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Amplify, and Adam&EveDDB for Sony Interactive Entertainment

• Large Scale Activation: Octagon & Wink for Budweiser/AB InBev

• Leader of the Year: Louisa O’Connor, Seen Presents

• Media and Entertainment: Netflix

• Open Air: Twofold for Flick & Flavour GmbH

• Product Launch or Relaunch: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Amplify, and Adam&EveDDB for Sony Interactive Entertainment

• Production Team of the Year: Tool

• Retail: Rethink for Ikea Canada

• Travel, Leisure and Sport: Liverpool City Council

The Drum Awards for Experience took place at The Drum Labs, our very own bar, event and film studio in central London. You can rewatch all of our Awards shows so far over on The Drum TV.