The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) announced the nominees for the 22nd Annual Webby Awards. Among those recognized this year in the Advertising, Media & PR categories are Fearless Girl (McCann New York), 11 Herbs & Spices (Wieden+Kennedy), Did You Mean (MailChimp), I’m With the Banned (Spotify), Test Kitchen by Taco Bell (Deutsch), IKEA Human Catalogue(BBH), The Most German Supermarket (Jung von Matt AG), and Downtown Records – Live Looper (BBDO New York).
All nominees are eligible to win the Internet industry’s two most prestigious awards: The Webby Award, selected by the Academy, and The Webby People’s Voice Award, voted on by Internet fans around the world. Voting for the Webby People’s Voice Awards is open now until Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 11:59 PM (PT).
BBDO New York leads all agencies with 15 nominations this year, and is joined by McCann New York (13), R/GA (11), Jung von Matt AG (7), TBWAChiatDay (6), and Wieden+Kennedy (5) in primary contention for Webby “Agency of the Year,” presented to the agency that performs best across all Webby Awards categories.
“As the lines between advertising and branded content continue to blur, our Advertising, Media & PR Nominees have raised the bar yet again, bringing an incredible amount of ingenuity, cleverness, and authenticity to the industry this year,” said Claire Graves, executive director of The Webby Awards. “We are honored to recognize the inspiring contributions of all our Nominees and celebrate their many talented achievements.”
Some of the most buzzworthy digital, guerilla, viral, and experiential marketing campaigns this year include Apple “Barbers” (Furlined), Kenzo World (Black Frame), Share a Coke 1,000 Name Challenge (Fitzgerald & Co), A Message from Earth(WeTransfer), Outthink Melanoma (Ogilvy), Scout View (Garbergs), The Blind Photographer (Grabarz & Partner), and Burger King’s shadow Twitter campaign Turning Their Tweets Against Them (MullenLowe).
Media companies and brands continued to explore inspiring new ways to capture the attention of consumers and deliver more specialized advertiser and branded content through Webby-nominated work including C0D3RS (IBM Originals), Creativity In Training (POPSUGAR), Day Zero (Bloomberg Media Studios), Rainbow Lane (Turner Entertainment), Vogue x Estee Lauder: The Night (of Summer) Is Young (Conde Nast Studios), Budweiser: One Last Ride (VaynerMedia), Who Is John Malkovich?(Squarespace), and Truth to Power: The “Inconvenient” Voices Taking on Climate Change (The Washington Post BrandStudio).
Nominees broke new ground this year, incorporating sophisticated virtual reality and augmented reality innovations into their online content to create dynamic and vivid experiences through Webby-Nominated work including Night Sky (iCandi Apps), Surrealist VR (Sotheby’s), The Last Goodbye (Here Be Dragons), A Trip to Mars with Buzz Aldrin (The Foundry @ Meredith Corp), The Long Road Home VR (National Geographic), and the Games of Thrones-inspired Defend the Wall (Framestore).
Revolutionary developments in machine learning, artificial intelligence, voice technology, and bots have paved the way for countless new opportunities for advertisers and brands alike to stand out. This innovative Webby-Nominated work included Silicon Valley’s Not Hotdog (HBO), Bravo Tango Brain Training (360i), Art with Watson: Hidden Portraits (Ogilvy New York), Billion Color Film (R/GA), and Re:Scam: the AI Bot(DDB Group New Zealand).
Relying on creative storytelling and compelling campaigns, Nominees tackled complex issues from sexual harassment and equal pay to the opioid crisis and gun control, capturing the hearts and minds of Internet citizens around the world through powerful advocacy, public service, and cause-related campaigns including Parents Coming Out(Colle McVoy), Google Pride’s #showup (Google Brand Studio), Evert_45 (N=5), Cursing Parrots (Grey New York), Until We All Belong (Clemenger BBDO Melbourne), Black Lives Matters’ Unsafety Check (J. Walter Thompson), Sandy Hook Promise “Tomorrow’s News” (BBDO New York), Everyone is Welcome (m ss ng p eces), and Fans of Love(R/GA).
Academy judges including Alyson Warshaw (Laundry Service), Levi Slavin (Colenso BBDO), Lisa Sherman (The Ad Council), Susan Credle (FCB), Attica Alexis Jaques(Under Armour), Winston Binch (Deutsch), Colleen DeCourcy (Wieden+Kennedy), and Andy Goldberg (GE) select the Webby Winners each year.
Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 28, 2018, and celebrated at a star-studded awards show hosted by comedian Amber Ruffin on Monday, May 14, 2018, at Cipriani Wall Street. Fans can watch the full awards show and all the show highlights, including special performances and hallmark 5-Word Speeches from the night’s big Winners, the next morning, on Tuesday, May 15 at webbyawards.com and on the Webby Awards video channel.
The Webby Awards shattered records this year, receiving more than 13,000 entries from all 50 states and 70 countries worldwide. From the thousands of global entries submitted, fewer than 10% were selected as Nominees.
EY provides vote tabulation consulting for The Webby Awards. For a complete list of nominees and to vote for the People’s Voice Awards, click here.
