IAB Creative Showcase winner for June: Mercedes, Nike, Beats by Dr. Dre

Mercedes harnesses dual-screen trend for world’s first Twitter-led TV adMercedes tasked Maxus with launching the new A-class, its most important launch in 60 years, to a new, younger audience. This would mean shifting youthful brand perceptions to make Mercedes interesting and exciting. Aware that young people expect to drive content and conversations and combining this with the trend for dual-screening, Maxus handed viewers the power to drive the world’s first audience-driven TV commercial. Using Twitter, viewers decided the action of a real-time story told over three commercials shown during The X Factor. Twitter and web activity was supported by other buzz-building activity following movie launch conventions.It was a pioneering move that drove staggering results; two months after launch the A-Class represented 6.2 per cent of the total hatchback market, brochure requests soared by 140 per cent after the campaign and 77,000 leads were generated overall. Crucially, the average age of people enquiring about the A-Class was ten years younger than the Mercedes-Benz average.

Second Place: Beats By Dr. Dre, #showyourcolour, R/GA London

Beats wanted the 2012 launch of their new coloured headphones to make a big impact and bring people together. R/GA London identified that the target audience had one thing in common: their cherished individuality. That’s why we set out to create a campaign driven by the self-expression of the fans. Starting with an inspired launch in the midst of the London Games in 2012, and running up until April 2013, we kickstarted a culture around sound and self-expression that took the world by storm.The result was an additional 1.7m fans joining the Beats Army, including a 76 per cent growth in Instagram followers and a 57 per cent increase in YouTube subscribers. Overall, as a result of the campaign, Beats by Dre accounted for 80 per cent of all premium headphone sales in the US during the holiday season in 2012, plus 50 per cent of all headphone sales during the same period. Reaching 180 countries, the #showyourcolor campaign was an astronomical success — making Beats by Dr. Dre the #1 audio brand.The campaign finally wrapped in 2013, with the winners of the #showyourcolor competition featuring a TV ad with Will.I.am that aired in the UK in April 2013.

Third Place: Nike & Tinie Tempah present #blazehunt, AKQA

Youth culture and social media are synonymous. So when we were tasked with generating mass awareness of the Disturbing London Blazer – Nike’s exclusive collaboration with UK superstar Tinie Tempah – we created an authentic social media-led shoe hunt for sneaker-obsessed fans.The strategy was simple – tap into Tinie’s 1.5m Twitter followers and Nike UK’s sneaker addicts by creating a feeding frenzy for fans to have the opportunity to earn themselves a pair of Nike’s most sought-after Blazers.Keeping within a small budget, we were able to push social media interaction and physical activity beyond all expectation.Using Twitter as a springboard to launch the campaign, we drove real world consumer participation and connected Tinie directly with his audience.Consumers told the story through their social media interactions, as they travelled from across the UK to join the #Blazerhunt.When Nike and Tinie Tempah teamed up to create their one-of-a-kind Disturbing London Nike Blazer, it was crucial to embody the iconic status the shoe deserved.Celebrities sparked intrigue, with Rita Ora and Jessie J wearing the exclusive Blazers at major summer festivals in the week before. The Nike Disturbing London Blazer quickly became the most desirable kicks of the summer.Those who managed to hunt down a pair not only got the limited edition shoes, but were also awarded with VIP access to the Nike+ Fuelfest and a private party held at Shoreditch House with Tinie Tempah himself.When the mission dropped, engagement grew at an unprecedented rate.We reached a staggering 10m people across Twitter – generating 20,000 #Blazerhunt mentions on the day alone. We also saw over 500 fans take to the streets to join the hunt.Nike UK’s Twitter account saw an influx of activity and new followers during the campaign and in the days that followed.We utilised the power of social media to deliver a campaign that took consumers on an exhilarating chase to get Nike’s most sought-after Blazers.