June 5, 2024 – Following an in-depth analysis of the 46 shortlisted, Gold, Silver and Bronze winning campaigns of the WARC Awards 2024 – North America, honoring marketing and strategic effectiveness, WARC has today published an insights report outlining themes and successful marketing trends for the region.
The most successful entries built campaigns on a deep, respectful understanding of human behavior and cultural context. That consumer connection influenced behavioral changes that delivered sales or societal shifts.
Many award winners tapped into people’s enthusiasm and invited them to participate in an event, extend a viral moment, or promoted inclusion with their participation. And brands gave back in a meaningful way. Importantly, some of the best examples were marketing campaigns that solved strategic business problems with clear objectives, elegant solutions and excellent execution.
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC, and author of the report, says: “Marketing leaders eagerly look for evidence of how their efforts bring value to their organizations. This group of winning campaigns has plenty of examples that demonstrate just that. The brands and agencies that were this year’s winners at the regional WARC Awards North America showcase how upstream business challenges can be addressed with smart, effective campaigns.”
Yusuf Chuku, EVP, Strategic Planning & Commercial Impact, NBCUniversal, USA, and jury chair of the Channel Integration, Channel Pioneer, Partnerships & Sponsorships, Path to Purchase, Use of Data categories, added: “Several years ago, brands recognized that consumers were a little bit more cynical about brands, and some of the work was knowingly self-aware … But a lot of that’s gone away now, and you sensed more optimism or an absence of cynicism. It felt like more joy, and that humanity piece is one I felt more this year than I have in previous years.”
Key themes outlined in ‘Insights from the WARC Awards North America regional awards’ are:
- Brands find new routes to growth by tapping new audiences and markets
As brands seek to find opportunities for growth, especially in a challenging economic year, several of the North American regional winners were able to deliver thanks to clear objectives and rethinking which audiences to speak to, be it by appealing to a new demographic group or collaborating with other brands, partners or influencers.
Award-winning examples include gold winner Arm & Hammer, a household cleaning brand. Its masterbrand campaign shifted from product-centric to audience-centric marketing to grow revenue and market share. Doordash launched a nationwide auction giving children in the US buying power for Mother’s Day in its gold-winning campaign Kid currency. In Canada, Dove launched the #KeepTheGrey campaign to raise awareness around grey hair discrimination in the workplace, winning silver.
- Brands create their own moment through participation, action, and building community
With a fractured media landscape, creating truly memorable experiences or associations often requires a big moment nowadays. Winners used experiences, events and new, unexpected product extensions to ensure their brands were noticed by consumers likely to buy or be persuaded to buy again.
Gold winning campaign Perdue beer can chicken beer saw poultry brand Perdue partner with brewery Torch & Crown to get consumers to further explore their interest in beer can chicken. Winning a silver, Lululemon’s Dupe swap campaign re-established quality by inviting women to trade in their off-brand dupes for legitimate Align leggings over a weekend at LA’s Century City Mall.
- Fostering a sense of unity
This year’s work featured less polarization. Many messages focused on how people and communities can come together. Winners from North America used true and relevant human insights to earn an emotional reaction, and by deploying empathy and cultural context, they successfully drove outcomes for their businesses, and strengthened connections with their audience.
To help reduce gun deaths of kids, for its gold-winning campaign Doesn’t kill to ask, Northwell Health partnered with health systems in 48 states to offer practical “ways in” for starting a conversation about unlocked guns at home. Gold winner Tear the Paper Ceiling for non-profit Opportunity@Work partnered with LinkedIn to create a positive behavior change by sparking a public conversation that would lead to the erosion of degree discrimination. Silver winner Rising Voices created 1,600 jobs by enlisting the help of top filmmakers to launch the careers of talented Black/Indigenous/People of color (BIPOC) directors by connecting them with access to funding and the right mentorship.
Overall, building brand equity as a campaign objective increased 14 percentage points year-over-year, while awareness slipped to second place. The use of partnerships as a creative strategy increased significantly in 2024 compared to 2023. Television & connected TV remain the most common lead media among North American campaigns, but social media is only a few percentage points behind.
A complimentary sample report is available here. The report includes winning case studies, data analysis and key observations.
The six gold winning campaigns from North America have now progressed to compete at a Global level where a super-jury made up of all the regional jury chairs from Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, North America will award the coveted WARC Grands Prix, to be announced on 13 June via the Effectiveness Show part one on warc.com. The Effectiveness Show part two will include interviews and insights from the Grand Prix winners.
More information about the WARC Awards here