More than 100 judges have chosen 51 finalists from 16 agencies to go head to head for the honour of winning an MFA Award on 17 October.

PHD has secured the highest number of finalists with 10, while OMD came in second with seven finalists, followed by Mindshare with six. Initiative and Bohemia each secured five finalists, followed by Wavemaker with three. Zenith, AFFINITY, UM, Havas, Starcom, Carat, Spark, Innocean, The Media Store and News Corp round off the finalists list.

The judges, drawn from agencies, client side, industry bodies and MFA Awards sponsors, assessed entries online before a round of live judging. The winners were chosen by silent vote, with judges having to wait until the awards night to find out who won – along with the rest of us.

The MFA Awards, which return this year after a pause in 2018, are focused on effectiveness; recognising and rewarding work that has delivered tangible brand and business results for clients in the short and long term.

The categories are split into three pillars – Outcomes, Execution and People and Community – and cover Brand Impact, Business Impact, Behaviour Change, Bravery and Long-Term Results, among others.

A Grand Prix (presented by Seven Media), and awards for NGEN, Industry Contribution and Hall of Fame will also be awarded at the MFA Awards 2019 presentation event on Thursday 17 October at Carriageworks Sydney. The awards will follow on from an all-day effectiveness expo, MFA EX: Media For All, held for the first time this year. In an Australian-first, Sydney media agencies will participate in an agency shutdown to attend MFA EX.

MFA CEO Sophie Madden said: “The aim of the MFA Awards has always been to recognise the most creative and effective media thinking in Australia. Following widespread consultation across the industry, the revamped awards now have a greater emphasis on media effectiveness, applying a minimum 50% weighting to demonstration of effectiveness.”

Joe Lunn, Chief Strategy Officer of Mindshare and MFA Awards Chair added: “It’s been incredibly encouraging to see the quality of strategic thinking and innovative solutions being deployed by the Australian media agency industry in delivering tangible, long-lasting results for clients. We can’t wait to celebrate with the worthy winners on 17 October.”

The 2019 MFA Awards finalists are:

Agency Talent & Culture

• The Media Store
• PHD Media
• OMD Australia
• Initiative Australia

Behaviour Change

• Fox Sports: Monty’s Wicket Warnings, Mindshare, Foxtel
• Maccas 30 Days 30 Deals: Get the “daily” with MyMaccas, OMD, McDonald’s
• Complacency Kills, Wavemaker, South Australian Country Fire Service

Brand Impact – Presented by SBS Media

• Get back to your Asian adventure, Bohemia Group, Aspen Pharmacare
• GSK Children’s Panadol: First Timers, PHD, GSK Panadol Australia
• From Couch to Coast: Using media as an intelligence tool for the Central Coast, AFFINITY, Tourism Central Coast
• Thrush The Musical, PHD, Bayer
• Omtanke: Rethinking Volvo, Mindshare 

Bravery

• Leveraging scars as a media channel: Pay with pain, Bohemia Group, Ozmosis / Rip Curl
• Thrush The Musical, PHD, Bayer

Business Impact – Presented by Google

• GSK Children’s Panadol: First Timers, PHD, GSK Panadol Australia
• Omtanke: Rethinking Volvo, Mindshare, Volvo Australia
• The Test Experts, Initiative Australia, Specsavers
• Pet Search, UM Australia, RACQ
• The DNA of shared milestones, OMD Sydney, AncenstryDNA

Content – Presented by Ad Standards

• Find your true north, Havas Media, Emirates
• Thrush The Musical, PHD, Bayer
• Bond: Founders University, Wavemaker, Bond University
• From IT to the boardroom, Starcom, Samsung Australia
• The DNA of shared milestones, OMD Sydney, AncenstryDNA

Data & Analytics – Presented by OzTAM

• GSK Children’s Panadol: First Timers, PHD, GSK Panadol Australia
• From Couch to Coast: Using media as an intelligence tool for the Central Coast, AFFINITY, Tourism Central Coast
• From cookies to consoles: how Carat helped Xbox measure the un-measurable, Carat, Microsoft
• Setting a new benchmark for effective media measurement, OMD, Coles
• Securing the road forward for NRMA, Spark Foundry, NRMA

Innovation in Media – Presented by OMA

• Leveraging scars as a media channel: Pay with pain, Bohemia Group, Ozmosis / Rip Curl
• Bacardi #MojitoMoment, OMD Australia, Bacardi-Martini Australia
• Fox Sports: Monty's Wicket Warnings, Mindshare, Foxtel

Long-term results

• Creating Travel FOMO drives long-term growth for Gastro-Stop, Bohemia Group, Aspen Pharmacare
• Driving Australia to hybrid, The Media Store, Toyota Motor Corporation Australia
• The Australian Open 2017-2019: Hitting the Winning Serve, Zenith, Tennis Australia
• Make Bigger Things Happen, Initiative Australia, Officeworks

Partnerships

• Breaking records by getting mean: invigorating a barely known brand in a plummeting market, Innocean Worldwide, Kia Motors Australia
• The Test Experts, Initiative Australia, Specsavers
• Pepsi MAX: MAX Your Summer, PHD, PepsiCo
• Coles & Taste Partnership, News Corp, Coles Group

Pro Bono/Cause Marketing Incentive – In recognition of Pam Lane

• AIME: the Hooded Hustle, Initiative Australia
• ALDI Mamia & Tresillian: an alignment of values to benefit families, Zenith Media
• OMDonate continues!, OMD Australia
• The Koala Museum EST. 2050, Starcom

Real-time Marketing

• The news in colour, Bohemia Group, News Corp
• Fox Sports: Monty’s Wicket Warnings, Mindshare, Foxtel
• More than a chatbot, Zenith, Heineken

Technology

• GSK Children’s Panadol: First Timers, PHD, GSK Panadol Australia
• VOTE, PHD
• Fox Sports: Monty’s Wicket Warnings, Mindshare, Foxtel
• All Eye Want For Christmas, Wavemaker, Jetstar

The MFA would like to thank our sponsors for the 2019 MFA Awards:

Grand Prix Sponsor: Seven Media

Major Sponsors: Ad Standards, Facebook, Google, OMA, OzTAM, SBS Media

Activation Sponsor: IAB Australia

Supporting Sponsors: ARN, Nielsen, UnLtd

Tickets are on sale via the MFA website.