Results revealed at The Drum Awards for Digital Industries 2023

Taking home the top prize, the Grand Prix, is VMLY&R Commerce for its work with SBS & Asociación de Alzheimer de Puerto Rico.

‘Jingle Therapy’ is the result of a 2022 study by the University of Miami indicating that people in Puerto Rico have a higher propensity for Alzheimer’s and that part of the reason could be a genetic variant they have uncovered, making this disease the fourth leading cause of death in people over 65 with a four-time increase in the last 20 years.

Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), the owner of the most important radio stations that have been part of the lives of Puerto Ricans for over 80 years, has a long-standing relationship with the Puerto Rican Alzheimer’s Association to support the almost 100,000 people living with the condition on the island. SBS came to VMLY&R Commerce with a brief to create not only awareness but also a way to improve their lives.

The agency turned famous jingles from previous decades into a new non-pharmacological therapy to help people with Alzheimer’s. Studies have shown music may reduce agitation and improve behavioral issues that are common in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s. That’s why VMLY&R Commerce used its more than 80 years of radio archive to identify the most famous advertising jingles to create a palliative therapy for patients.

Those songs created to be remembered are a time stamp living in our collective memory that has never been played again, compared with regular songs. Caregivers could create personalized jingle playlists based on their patient’s birthdate and play them several times during the day as part of the therapy to bring back memories of their youth.

The recipient of the Chair’s Award, meanwhile, as chosen by head judges Phil Jones of Podge Events and Gah-Yee Won of Intuit, is The Kitchen for its campaign that sparked a global conversation about Heinz Tomato Ketchup with a single tweet.

With competition from own-brand alternatives growing due to the cost of living crisis, Heinz Tomato Ketchup had to reinforce its icon status – and a disruptive social stunt from The Kitchen did just that, reigniting the nation’s love for the classic condiment and reminding them that, when it comes to ketchup, it has to be Heinz.

Recognizing that the British love a good debate, the agency decided to settle the age-old question of whether you should store your ketchup in the fridge or cupboard and so partnered with the popular No Context Brits account to disrupt Twitter feeds with a simple message: “FYI: Ketchup. goes. in. the. Fridge!!!”

Not only did this trigger a nationwide conversation around Heinz across social platforms, but it ignited a global frenzy with news coverage from around the world.

Jones and Won were joined on the judging panel this year by senior marketers from top brands, including Danone, Greene King, WeTransfer and Clarks.

Among the other big winners of the night are MG OMD for its work with Specsavers, Code and Theory for its work with Yeti and Ogilvy UK for its work with Argos.

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: VMLY&R Commerce for SBS & Asociación de Alzheimer de Puerto Rico

• Chair Award: The Kitchen for Heinz

• AI or Machine Learning: Tipico and Code and Theory

• AR/VR: Trouble Maker for Asahi Super Dry

• Audio: VMLY&R Commerce

• Automotive: Adform, Scope3 and PHD Media for Audi

• B2B: Nucco for UBS Management

• Consumer Goods: VMLY&R Commerce

• Content: Ogilvy UK for Argos

• Data and Insights: DDB México for Gahr We Capital (México)

• Digital Transformation: Tangent for UK Power Networks

• Food and Drink: The Kitchen for Heinz

• Healthcare and Pharma: VMLY&R Commerce for SBS & Asociación de Alzheimer de Puerto Rico

• Media Strategy: Little Dot Studios for Girls Day School Trust

• Metaverse Activation: Clarks Shoes

• Non for profit, charity and government: Vyde, OmniGov and MGOMD for the UK Government

• Organic search: Reddico for Auto Trader

• Paid search: MG OMD for Specsavers

• Platform of the year: Niantic

• Programmatic: SmartHub White Label Programmatic Solutions for Toucan Ads

• Retail: Enjoy Digital for Sherwin-Williams

• Social media: The Kitchen for Heinz

• Technical Innovation: VMLY&R Commerce and VMLY&R UAE for The Coca-Cola Company

• Travel, Leisure and Sport: The Guardian and EssenceMediaComX for Google Pixel

• UX: Code and Theory for Yeti

• Brand/In-house team of the year: Linkedin

• Leader of the year: Benedict Hobson and Wai Shin Li, co-CEOs, Dezeen

• Agency team of the year: VMLY&R Commerce

The Drum Awards for Digital Industries 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.