Vote to crown the ultimate Grand Prix winner from the top work in The Drum Awards 2021
Throughout the year, The Drum’s awards program has been celebrating the finest examples of marketing ingenuity and creativity from around the world. Now we want your help to crown the best of the best.
Cast your vote to crown the Grand Prix of Grand Prix winner
For the first time ever, we're introducing a Readers' Choice Grand Prix of Grand Prix Award to celebrate the very best piece of work entered into all of our awards this year so far.
Across our global awards calendar, we celebrate pure unadulterated creativity, recognize the best tech in the business, and reward thought-provoking design work, but as with any competition, the eye is always firmly on the top prize.
At all our shows, The Drum’s Grand Prix honor reigns supreme as the most coveted accolade and acknowledges a campaign that has truly impacted the industry in a meaningful way.
And so to celebrate this highly coveted title The Drum will crown the overall Grand Prix winner, as voted for by our judges alumni along with an extra Readers’ Choice award vote by you, our readers.
All of the Grand Prix-winning work from The Drum's Awards shows is in contention. You can check it out below and then once you've chosen your favorite head on over to our dedicated voting page to have your say.
Voting will end on December 6 at midnight GMT with the overall Judges’ Club and Readers’ Choice Grand Prix of the Grand Prix winner being announced at the 2021 Awards Wrap Party on December 9 at The Drum Labs in London.
KFC - How KFC Pressed Pause On The World’s Most Inappropriate Endline
Overall winner at The Drum Marketing Awards
Company: Mindshare UK, Freuds & Mother
Categories also won: Best Pivot Initiative, Retail and E-Commerce
Summary: 'Finger Lickin’ Good' is one of the world’s best-known and most memorable endlines. And in 2020, perhaps the world’s most inappropriate. Rather than hide from this reality, KFC decided to face it head-on, with our first global campaign announcing the standing down of the famous line until better days.
This was big news. OK, not important news like Covid-19 and various elections, but certainly newsworthy. So KFC treated it like news: big announcement, in public for social proofing, engaging through multiple touchpoints and tying in social and PR. Typically bold creative pixelated the line and crowd-sourced temporary alternatives were suggested.
The fast-food giant used the power of 40 markets (some big, with budgets to match, others small and more tactical) to gain fame in 97. Getting millions of people to quote the ‘inappropriate’ endline, without having to ever say it at all.
And it worked: brand sentiment rose, engagement was high and the campaign contributed to KFC having a much better 2020 than they feared back in the dark days of March.
Vote for 'How KFC Pressed Pause On The World’s Most Inappropriate Endline' to win
The Liberty Guild - 'Redefining The Way Creativity Is Bought and Sold'
Overall winner at The Drum Agency Business Awards
Categories also won: Business Transformation Strategy
Summary: The Liberty Guild redefined the way creativity is bought and sold, but they don’t want you to just take their word for it. In the words of the ex-chief marketing officer of Google Jigsaw: “How do you create the most effective work in the world? Replace client services with technology, let creative and strategic talent work from anywhere, and get consumer feedback every step of the way.” The organization has positioned itself as the first real scaleable alternative to the current advertising agency model.
Vote for 'Redefining The Way Creativity Is Bought and Sold' to win
ihaupstate - 'Caring Gene: Caring is Your Calling'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards B2B
Company: Mower
Categories also won: Best Response to Change
Summary: New York State faced a critical shortage of healthcare workers this year due to the physical and mental toll that the profession can have on people. For some though, care is their calling and they possess unique traits that made them perfect candidates for a career in the care industry.
The Caring Gene 'Caring Is Your Calling' recruitment campaign asked potential candidates to consider whether they possess the instinctive desire to help others and if so, to answer that calling. The design concept channeled the spirit of World War II civilian morale posters – which was fitting given the 'war' against Covid-19.
Vote for 'Caring Gene: Caring is Your Calling' to win
Tommee Tippee - 'The Boob Life'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards Content
Company: Manifest
Categories also won: Best Creative Content Idea Using Video, Most Innovative or Creative Use of Content
Summary: The Boob Life is an unapologetically raw, honest and celebratory global campaign that challenges the unrealistic expectations placed on parents through the lens of infant feeding, standing up for mums in the way they need to be stood up for.
Comprising a brand hero film and six-part digital content series, the campaign is centered around mums instead of babies, showcasing the realities of infant feeding by putting their experiences front and center.
It was timely and relevant content that disrupted how the parenting category speaks to women, broke down deeply entrenched stigmas surrounding infant feeding, and lobbied Facebook to remove its ban on showing breastfeeding. The video pushed the parenting industry to change how it speaks to mums while helping to normalize conversations around infant feeding in the media and society.
Vote for 'The Boob Life' to win
TikTok Thailand - 'TikTok Songkran Stranger'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards Digital Advertising (APAC)
Company: TikTok
Categories also won: Music and Entertainment
Summary: In early 2021, TikTok Thailand set out to increase brand love and likability with a big focus on entertainement and becoming culturally relevant to Thai people.
To rinse away the blues of a Songkran spent at home in lockdown, TikTok created an integrated campaign based around its first-ever interactive film which utilizing the app's unique 'duet' and 'stitch' features, which enabled millions of users nationwide to co-star opposite either one of the film's celebrity leads.
More than a campaign, 'Songkran Stranger' was an invitation to all of Thailand to enjoy their holiday season through an innovative entertainment experience exclusively on TikTok.
In six days, the film generated over 94 million views and 92,000 user-generated content participation. Likeability for non-users increased 17%. Downloads peaked with TikTok the number one app during Songkran.
Vote for 'TikTok Songkran Stranger' to win
HomeEquity Bank / Royal Canadian Legion - 'World’s Oldest e-Sports Team'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards Digital Industries (DADI) and The Drum Digital Advertising (Global)
Company: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Categories also won: Best Digital Media Strategy, Best Use of Gaming
Summary: This campaign brought together young video game influencers who stream on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Live with a group of World War II veterans, all over 90 years of age. In the live-streamed meeting between the two was a powerful reminder that war is not a game. The streamers reflected on how video games can glorify war and asked their followers to remember the debt we owe our veterans
Vote for 'World’s Oldest e-Sports Team' to win
PlayStation - 'PlayStation 5 Launch: TfL Takeover'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards Out of Home, The Drum Roses Awards, The Drum Design Awards
Company: MediaCom/ TfL, Red Consultancy and Diva Agency / AJ Wells / Links Signs
Categories also won: Disruptive (OOH), Spectacular (OOH) Most Talked About (OOH) Experiential/Ambient/Installation (OOH) Outdoor Campaign (Roses) Unusual Size or Special Build (Roses) Ambient Media/Stunts (Roses)
Summary: The launch of PlayStation 5 required something spectacular. An idea that created a genuine cultural cut through, despite all the noise around Covid-19 and Brexit. A local media activation that made a global impact.
The team took over the world-famous London Underground Roundels in a fashion that had never been done before: entirely changed its shape. They paired the signs with PlayStation brand iconography, creating a surprise for Londoners and a buzz that went far beyond London, and far beyond the UK.
It resulted in 9 million organic impressions for the image reveal alone and helped PS5 on its way to becoming the most successful UK console launch of all time.
Vote for 'PlayStation 5 Launch: TfL Takeover' to win
New German Media Makers/Neue Deutsche Medienmacher*innen - '#WeatherCorrection'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards PR
Company: Ketchum Publico with Go & Try
Categories also won: Most Effective Use of Earned Media, Small Budget
Summary: One-third of the population in Germany, Austria and Switzerland come from an immigrant background. But immigrants rarely see themselves in the media. Diversity topics are barely covered. New German Media Makers (NdM) wanted to show the region the disparity, and how they were ignoring a growing percentage of German society. Since anyone can buy the rights to name a German weather system, they bought the first 13 – giving them immigrant names instead of traditional German names, to get everyone’s attention. During the first storm, they hijacked the news and put NdM’s call for a 30% diversity quota at the epicenter.
Vote for '#WeatherCorrection' to win
Aldi UK - '#FreeCuthbert'
Overall winner at The Drum Awards Social Media
Company: McCann Manchester
Categories also won: Best Viral Campaign, Most Innovative Use of Social
Summary: Over a period of a few days in April 2021, McCann Manchester's #FreeCuthbert campaign for Aldi UK gripped the nation on Twitter. The reactive posts were a shrewd response to the news that rival retailer Marks & Spencer had filed legal action against Aldi for copyright infringement. They alleged Aldi’s caterpillar cake, Cuthbert, looked too alike to their caterpillar cake, Colin.
From a single tweet lampooning M&S’s famous tagline, the campaign grew into Aldi’s biggest news story ever, becoming one of Twitter’s biggest viral events of the year: ‘The Caterpillar Wars of 2021’
Vote for '#FreeCuthbert' to win
Mixmag - 'Mixmag Blackout Week & Investigation revealing superstar DJ Erick Morillo's 28-year history of sexual abuse and harassment'
Overall winner at The Drum Online Media Awards
Company: Mixmag
Categories also won: Editorial Campaign of the Year, Best Campaigning / Investigative Journalism
Summary: In 2021, Mixmag aimed to create an editorial campaign that showed solidarity with Black Lives Matter and place the movement in the context of dance music, club culture and the wider music industry. The campaign educated their audience on the Black roots of dance music and the challenges faced by Black people working in the music industry, as well as bringing the music community together to celebrate the work of Black artists and musicians.
In a world exclusive investigation, it was revealed that superstar DJ Erick Morillo was a serial sexual abuser with a 28-year history of harassment and abuse. Investigation supplemented by campaign journalism advocated to make the music industry safer and more gender-equal, as well as documenting the industry’s current #MeToo movement.
Mermaids - 'Re-educating Google'
Overall winner at The Drum Search Awards
Company: Rapp
Categories also won: SEO - Most Effective Use of Content
Summary: Transgender children are twice as likely to contemplate suicide if their parents don’t accept them when they come out. Sadly, a lot of parents aren’t equipped to handle this life-changing moment. With nowhere to turn they look to Google for advice – and can often run straight into misleading, transphobic content instead of the support they desperately need to help them protect their children.
Mermaid and Rapp's had two objectives, first was to make sure that parents had access to the honest information they needed when they searched for help, rather than hateful misinformation.
Secondly, it aimed to help them reach Mermaids UK (the UK’s leading charity for trans children). To ensure both these outcomes happened, they took on the algorithm of the world’s biggest search engine.