New covers, new media

The NRMA’s “Cricket Covers” campaign from Initiative was cited by Arnott’s CMO Jenni Dill as a “wish I had done that” idea which saw the insurer fund a new media channel previously untapped by brands – cricket pitch covers. The Defence Force “Ultimate Classroom” TV series via UM was another that was “really exciting” because it brought to life STEM careers in a “really fun way that didn’t involve guns and really heavy machinery”, Dill said in this week’s Mi3 podcast.

“It felt like everyone had to work a lot harder to get the results this year,” Dill says. “So it felt like there had to be a bit smarter, sharper thinking - the budgets didn't look as big as they were in previous years on the case studies that I read through. For me there was, in some cases, daylight between the real standout entries that you just went ‘gee, I wish I'd done that’ and then some of the longer list of entries. There was some big things in the brand impact category that you could really see some innovation coming through, accessing the broader agency village to really make the sum of the whole far greater than the individual components.”

Agency collaboration

Sarah Sorrenson, who judged the MFA Awards in her role at Unilever but started this week as Diageo’s Australian-based Global Head of Media, concurred on the collaboration front but also noted a lack of data-led submissions, despite much talk of data as a key driver for business and industry. 

“It's a long time since I've judged the MFAs – maybe eight years – so there was a big gap,” she says. “One of the things I really noticed this time was the amount of partnerships between agencies, between brands and with publishers and the media. And really that collaboration, in my view, was a critical driver of breakthrough executions and impact. Another takeout for me were some campaigns that really pushed the boundaries of what media is. So a lot of campaigns didn't just have traditional paid media but had really large parts of the campaign that were earned, that created new media touchpoints and really innovated around what media is. Maybe more traditional boundaries or definitions of media are being being challenged.”

Sorrenson called out the Whiskas campaign from EssenceMediacom in audio as something “I wish I’d thought to do.” The cross agency collaboration for Lego from Initiative was another benchmark example, she says.   

Data-led dearth

But Sorrenson was surprised “I didn’t see more data-led entries”, whether using first or third party data as core to campaigns. “I was surprised by that, because it's such a priority across a lot of categories,” she says. “And it's also a big theme for where agencies have been upskilling but it didn't come through, certainly in the categories that I judged. There were only one or two where it had been a critical part of what they've done. And even then it wasn't really central. I didn’t judge Best Use of Data and I’m sure there will be a lot in there.” 

Dill concurred: “What I didn't see were things that were grounded in data as a starting point. There was really good strategic thought about it that might have been grounded in data but any insight was never expressed that way.”

Innovation, risk appetite lineball

Lisa Ronson said the appetite for risk, innovation and creativity was “lineball” compared to previous years but “that’s a good result given the economic conditions. We haven’t regressed which is probably a natural state with all of the uncertainty that’s going on in the world at the moment. Lineball is brave. There was also what I would call really good day job work; really solid work that really delivered and that’s important because that works.”

Ronson also raised a lack of data that proved effectiveness in many entries, which is a perpetual challenge. She also noted some entries “did themselves a disservice by getting a little complicated towards the end and not drawing it back to ‘here’s our KPIs’.

She said the problem often was that many organisations would not share business results because of competitive sensitivities. 

Effectiveness data a challenge

“It's really hard to mask that,” she said. So it's difficult because there are some organisations where they're very transparent, they're able to share all of their data and they’re getting compared to ones that can't share and have to do things like, ‘sales uplifted by three times during this period’. That's really hard when you've got someone saying, ‘we wanted to achieve this at the box office, we achieved this at the box office’, and you go well, that's an open and shut case.”

Sorrenson agrees: “In the Best Integrated category, impact and effectiveness is 40 per cent of the marks so it's absolutely critical that you're able to demonstrate the impact that the campaign had - we had quite a rigorous discussion in our judging panel around the role that media played. It's important that you're able to discount other variables; discount a price promotion that happened at the same time or no other competitive activity or lots of competitive activity. It is important you're able to discount those variables so you can isolate the impact of media.”

Indexing the solution

For all three marketers, the solution was indexing. “The lack of transparency of data shouldn't hold back great thinking, great innovation and submissions for awards,” says Dill. “You've got to find a way of indexing it without giving away any confidential information that can influence markets…can you find a way to index it to talk specifically about the case and isolate as much as you can? Where you can't share actual results, it's the only way I can think of that shows a delta over time without being too specific.”

For a full debrief on the great and good from marketers in this year’s MFA shortlists, listen to the podcast here.

And here’s the shortlisted entries. Winners will be announced on September 21 as part of the MFA EX conference.  

The 2023 MFA Awards finalists are:

 

OUTCOMES 

 

Behaviour Change

Containers for Change (COEX), Turning Trash Into Cash, EssenceMediacom

Leukaemia Foundation, World’s Greatest Shave 2023, OMD

Suncorp Group, AAMI – Crash Index, OMD & Ogilvy

 

Brand Impact 

Campari, Seizing Summer for Aperol Spritz, Mindshare

LEGO, LEGO City Goes NITRO!, Initiative Australia

NRMA Insurance, Cricket Covers, Initiative Australia

 

Business Impact 

LEGO, LEGO City Goes NITRO!, Initiative Australia

Leukaemia Foundation, World’s Greatest Shave 2023, OMD

 

Data-Led Activation – Sponsored by News Corp 

Kayo Sports, Using Data to Win the Game, Mindshare

Suncorp Group, AAMI – Crash Index, OMD & Ogilvy

 

Long-Term Results

Care Pharmaceuticals, From Sick Days to Every Day: How we doubled the size of Hydralyte by making rehydration more relevant, This Is Flow

Lotterywest, Ethical Econometrics, Initiative Australia

Tourism Whitsundays, Siri-ously in Need of a Holiday?, Wavemaker

 

EXECUTION

 

Best Content Strategy 

Defence Force Recruiting, Ultimate Classroom, UM Australia

Netflix, Stranger Things 4 Launch, Wavemaker

Prime Video,  Taking Aussies Back to ’07, Initiative Australia

 

Best Integrated Campaign

LEGO, LEGO City Goes NITRO!, Initiative Australia

McDonald’s, Macca’s Monopoly – Seeing is Believing, OMD

Sprite The Coca-Cola Company, Zesty Pep Talks by Sprite Lemon+, EssenceMediacom

 

Best Use of Small Budget

Amazon Prime Video AUNZ, Terminal Tournament Takeover, Initiative Australia

LEGO, LEGO City Goes NITRO!, Initiative Australia

Roadshow Films, FALL: How a Little Movie Gave Australia a Big Feeling of Vertigo, OMD

Universal Sony Home Entertainment, How a Small Budget Was Key to Driving Greater Media Value and Effectiveness for Universal Sony Home Entertainment’s Bullet Train, Slingshot Media

 

Environmental, Social & Governance Award – sponsored by SBS Media

Alienware by Dell, Levelling the Playing Field in Gaming, EssenceMediacom & POPSUGAR

Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation, Take a Step, Media Precinct

Suncorp Group, AAMI – Crash Index, OMD & Ogilvy

 

Innovation in Media 

Digital Sustainability Initiative, GroupM

NRMA Insurance, Cricket Covers, Initiative Australia

Samsung Australia, Flipvertising, CHEP Network

 

Media For Good

Digital Sustainability Initiative, GroupM
Taking Responsibility: The Media Responsibility Index Changing Media and Marketing for the Better, Mediabrands

Alienware by Dell, Levelling the Playing Field in Gaming, EssenceMediacom & POPSUGAR

 

Partnership Awards

Alienware by Dell, Levelling the Playing Field in Gaming, EssenceMediacom & POPSUGAR

Amazon Prime Video AUNZ, Terminal Tournament Takeover, Initiative Australia

LEGO, LEGO City Goes NITRO!, Initiative Australia

 

CHANNEL EXCELLENCE

 

Best Use of Audio

LEGO, How to Build a Human, Initiative Australia & Mamamia

Mars Petcare, WHISKAS Audio Purrs, EssenceMediacom

Paramount+, The ART of Drag, Wavemaker

 

Best Use of Outdoor – sponsored by Outdoor Media Association (OMA)

Campari, Spritzing the Yarra with Aperol, Mindshare

NRMA Insurance, Cricket Covers, Initiative Australia

 

Best Use of Retail

IAG, Point of Purchase Protection, Initiative Australia

Universal Sony Home Entertainment, How Universal Sony Home Entertainment’s Bullet Train Created a Media-First Retail Partnership to Drive Results, Slingshot Media

 

Best Use of Screens

Amazon Prime Video AUNZ, Terminal Tournament Takeover, Initiative Australia

NRMA Insurance, Proud Helpers of Australian Cricket, Initiative Australia

Suncorp Group, AAMI – Grand Clanger Rescue, OMD 

Tourism Australia, How Screens Powered Australia’s Invite to the World to Come and Say G’Day, UM Australia

 

Best Use of Search

Care For Kids Group, Finding The Right Local Childcare, Intender

Cash Converters, Evolving SEM to an Automated Dynamic Ecommerce Model via Value-Based Bidding, Carat

 

Best Use of Social

Colgate-Palmolive Australia, Colgate Sound of a Smile, Wavemaker

KFC, Modern Menu, EssenceMediacom & GroupM Nexus

Netflix, Welcome to the Upside Down Under, Wavemaker

Tourism New Zealand, If You Seek, Mindshare

 

Best Use of Technology

Containers for Change (COEX), Turning Trash Into Cash, EssenceMediacom, Sightline & Finecast

Samsung Australia, Flipvertising, CHEP Network

Virgin Australia, Flight Deck, PHD Australia

 

Events & Experiential
Campari, Spritzing the Yarra with Aperol, Mindshare

Dell, Dell XPS: Choose your own Youniverse, EssenceMediacom

LEGO, LEGO City Goes NITRO!, Initiative Australia

 

PEOPLE & CULTURE 

Agency Talent & Culture – Less than 100 employees

Match & Wood

Ryvalmedia

The Media Store

This is Flow

 

Agency Talent & Culture – More than 100 employees

GroupM

Initiative Australia

OMG Australia

Wavemaker

 

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

UnLTD & Radio Lollipop, Helping children’s charity radio grow its reach, Match & Wood

Kindness Factory, Supporting communities in need, Wavemaker
 

NGEN Award

Rebecca Cramer & Lara Wainwright, Rufus Powered by Initiative Australia

Ellie Begg, PHD Australia & Sophie Mateer, Initiative Australia 

Tania Teurquetil & Janice Tsang, Havas Media

Kate O’Loughlin & Summer Treseder, Initiative Australia

 

The 2023 MFA Awards sponsors are:

Grand Prix Sponsor: Seven Network

Platinum Sponsors: News Corp Australia, Outdoor Media Association, SBS Media

Gold Sponsors: Ad Standards, Meta, Nine

Silver Sponsors: Foxtel Media, Lion, OzTAM, Yahoo!