New York Festivals® AME Awards®, for the World’s Best Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness™, announced the shortlist for the 2018 competition.
“Since 1994, the AME Awards has honored campaigns from around that globe that are not only creative, but successfully demonstrate innovative solutions to challenging marketing problems. This year’s standout shortlisted entries represent ground-breaking creative work that has achieved measurable results on behalf of the brand,” said Michael Demetriades, president and executive director of the AME Awards.
2018’s shortlisted entries submitted from creative agencies around the globe boosted brand awareness and achieved exemplary results utilizing a robust number of strategies including guerilla marketing, branded entertainment, social marketing, sponsorships and promotions and cause marketing.
Innovative ideas placed brands out front and helped achieve measurable market share including such cutting-edge tactics as a talking store, snow tweets in the Alps, and tattoo ink created from motorcycle burn-out carbon. Brave New World Communications Pvt. Ltd. India’s Shortlisted campaign’s “THE HEART OF THE HIGHWAY–The World’s First Talking Store” for client The Roadster Life Co. featured a talking store, with a unique first-person voice, that reached out to shoppers creating the effect of personal interaction delivered by interactive in-store tech including custom software, digital façade, interactive and multiTaction touch screens, augmented reality green-screen, immersive VR and virtual shopping screens. Results included a 70% revenue spike in high-value apparel categories.
Heimat Werbeagentur GmHB’s “Snowdrawings” for Swisscom, sponsor of the Swiss Ski team, wanted to be more than a logo and create a benefit for ski fans and showcase their extensive network. The telecommunications provider utilized a remote cheering app that allowed fans to send supporting tweets to the ski team and have them written next to the race track in the snowy slopes of the Alps. The tweets were visible for 2 miles and were created using automated snow blower-bots. Results—26 million impressions, 4 million video views and over 20 km of written messages in the snow.
Team One Los Angeles’ “Inking Our Mark on Motorcycle Culture” regained market share for Indian Motorcycles by leveraging a brand-first lifestyle media partnership and the world’s-first tattoo production technique formulated from the burn-out carbon from Motocross legend Carey Hart’s Indian Motorcycle. The process of making the ink and tattooing Carey were presented in a video along with a six-page custom print advertorial for Inked and offering a limited-edition run of Indian Motorcycle Ink™ in select biker-focused tattoo parlors nationwide resulted in the ink being sold out in a week. With zero paid traffic to Indian’s website, the results include 82% new visitors who spent an average 59% more time and visited 7% more pages than other visitors in the same period reinforcing success in generating qualified conquest leads. Indian went from 7th to 2nd most purchased motorcycle brand in the U.S.
Branded Entertainment repositioned brands and increased brand affinity, Shortlisted entries include Zulu Alpha Kilo Canada’s campaign “Common Ground” for their docu-series that followed riders from around the globe on a trip across Canada for Harley-Davidson Canada. Discovery Channel picked up the series as a primetime special, increasing Harley’s market share. PHD China’s “Panamera O2O Brand Repositioning” for client Porsche re-launched the Panamera through an integrated sponsorship with the immensely popular series “Ode to Joy” making it better aligned government and cultural climate and consumer needs and wants. Starcom Saudi Arabia’s “ALJ Toyota After Sales” for client ALJ Toyota created an animated web series for YouTube portraying the day-to-day life of a Saudi citizen. The film showcased ALJ after sale and maintenance services resulting in 94% change in brand perception with 49% increase in service appointments.
HBO Multicultural Marketing’s “The HeLa Project” was launched as a lead up to the premiere of HBO’s film, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” The multi-day, multi-city, multi-media, traveling art installation consisted of a unique, impactful collective of artisans and thought-leaders from the African-American community. Touring activation resulted in 182 million media impressions. Oprah, the film’s star, promoted the film through promotional channels, including her social media accounts, a promotional press tour that included the cover of an Essence cover and hosting a junket for black female journalists (#blackgirlmagic), and show appearances. Over 6,500 guests attended, 77% of guests were more likely to watch “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”.
Campaigns created to raise awareness for causes, or social and civic issues advanced. Shortlisted campaigns include: Dentsu Jayme Syfu Philippines guerilla campaign “Dead Whale” for client Greenpeace. The agency mounted a 73-foot decomposing “Dead Whale” installation on the shores of one of the most polluted cities in the Philippines during the 2017 ASEAN Summit. When examined closer, the whale was made entirely of plastic wastes collected from the ocean. The results—over 100 million impressions internationally and it caught the attention of ASEAN leaders, which put Coastal and Marine Protection in the proposal for the next Summit. Heimat Werbeagentur GmHB Germany’s shortlisted campaign “A New Way of Thinking” for Free Democrats created a game-changing election campaign to reach and activate young voters and bridging the gap between the Liberal party and the voters. The digital campaign resulted in a comeback for the Liberal party.
Entries utilizing sponsorships raised awareness for brands and connected them with target audiences. Shortlisted entries include: QIYI China’s “Rising! Chinese Hip-hop” for client McDonald’s China connected McDonald’s with millennials via food and music creating The Rap of China, the first internet-based hip-hop contest. Havas San Francisco’s “Citrix & Red Bull Racing: This Is How the Future Works” repositioned Citrix as a thought leader in the future of work, leveraging their high-profile partnership with the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team and showcasing what Citrix can bring to any IT customer relationship. GMR Marketing’s “Lincoln Financial Group Presents: The Game Plan” for client Lincoln Financial leveraged their Philadelphia Eagles partnership to showcase best practices for financial planning by following a day in the life of players and illustrating that Lincoln Financial is a partner who will help them take charge of their financial future.
Social platforms created buzz for brands resulting in measurable gains in market share along with shortlist status. Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur GmbH Germany’s “Laughing Horses” Volkswagen showcased the product benefits of the Trailer Assist, illustrating the stress of parking while someone is watching. This funny social video featuring laughing horses mocking a frustrated driver trying to park his trailer became the best performing German Volkswagen video with 40 million views. Other shortlisted entries include: Team One USA’s “Platforms of Expression for a Shareworthy Life” for Lexus IS; TBWA Singapore’s “Justice Bao and The Missing Travel Insurance” for Singapore Tourism Board; Saudi Ministry of Health’s “Diabetes Monster”; McCann New York’s “The Sound of Priceless” for Mastercard; Al Jazeera Qatar’s “#DemandPressFreedom by Al Jazeera” for www.aljazeera.com; Brave New World Communications Pvt. Ltd. India’s “Once Upon a Highway” for The Roadster Life Co.; and Mediacorp PTE Ltd.’s “Letter to My Son” for Mediacorp.
Campaigns for automotive brands drove consumer engagement and gained traction for the brand. Agencies shortlisted include: Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur GmbH’s “Laughing Horse” for Volkswagen; Socialize United Arab Emirates’ “Meet Kamal: The World’s Best Auto Salesman” for Mercedes-Benz; Mirrored Media’s “Road to Coachella” for BMW.
The medal round is underway and AME’s Grand Jury awards Gold, Silver, and Bronze to the highest scoring entries through two rounds of regional judging to ensure scoring accounts for cultural and economic relevance. Gold-winning work from all regions is judged by the full international Grand Jury to determine a Platinum Award for each of the five regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific) and the International Grand AME Award.
To view the complete 2018 AME Awards Shortlist, click here.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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