This year’s nominees, who were required to have 10 years of professional experience or less, have each demonstrated a solid commitment to innovation and delivering results in their respective industries. 

For instance, Stephanie Rufo, senior manager of brand PR and influence at PATRÓN Tequila, is a nominee for Digiday Future Leader in the brand category. She manages relationships with communications and social media agencies, provides counsel to senior leaders, and collaborates with internal teams to develop PR, talent and influencer strategies for every brand activation and campaign. Rufo builds authentic relationships with brand partners to foster a community of advocacy for PATRÓN, including its new prestige portfolio.

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Salesforce and Fortune Brand Studio secured the award for both B2B and B2C Best Branded Content Program categories with their groundbreaking series “The Ecopreneurs.” The 11-part documentary-style series has stunning cinematography and profiles global entrepreneurs driving climate action. The campaign surpassed benchmarks, becoming Salesforce+’s flagship show, leading in viewership and engagement metrics. Notably, it generated significant brand uplift, with double-digit increases in awareness, familiarity, affinity, purchase intent and recommendation intent. “The Ecopreneurs” also drove tangible impacts for featured organizations, including increased awareness, followers, volunteers and monetary investments. This multifaceted success underscores the power of storytelling to drive meaningful change and engagement.

Another company to secure two wins this year is TIME for Content Studio of the Year and Media Brand of the Year, signifying a year of remarkable achievement and innovation. Red Border by TIME’s unparalleled success in driving digital revenue, fostering partnerships and crafting compelling branded content epitomizes excellence. Through initiatives like TIME100 partnerships, the content studio demonstrated a multifaceted approach to engaging audiences and driving brand success, such as driving over 72% of TIME’s digital revenue with a 15% year-over-year increase.

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For instance, in the Best Event category, eBay won for its partnership with Vogue and rapper Ice Spice for the 2023 Met Gala. With the campaign, eBay aimed to put pre-owned and vintage fashion center stage for fashion’s biggest event. For Ice Spice’s first Met Gala, eBay curated a vintage fashion collection for the Gen Z star. During the livestream, millions of viewers could shop her look on eBay’s website in a first-of-its-kind e-commerce integration. Fans also watched Ice Spice get dressed for the after-party in eBay-sourced Prada and Pucci vintage. The campaign drove a 29% increase in brand awareness, more than 29 million video views and $1 million earned social media value.

HelloFresh and Marvel Studios are winners of the Best Product Launch Campaign. HelloFresh teamed up with Marvel Studios around ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ before its cinematic release in May 2023. The partnership launched a limited-edition Guardians Snack Adventure kit and a Guardians Recipe Adventure series inspired by the film. Each recipe was themed to members of the beloved band of galactic misfits and took home cooks on a flavorful adventure. The partnership generated excitement and buzz for the HelloFresh brand, boosted brand awareness by tapping into the massive Guardians audience and strengthened brand perception and affinity via the movie’s halo effect.

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In the Best Use of Emerging Technology category, the NFL and Nickelodeon earned a nomination for their Roblox campaigns supporting Super Bowl LVIII. Ahead of the first Super Bowl alt-cast airing on Nickelodeon, both brands partnered with metaverse game developer and strategist Gamefam to launch a cross-game campaign on Roblox. The partners brought endless Nickelodeon and NFL-themed content, including immersive gameplay, quests and trivia, to Roblox’s more than 70 million daily users across a 29-day brand experience. It became the top brand event on Roblox, with more than 75 million total visits. It also helped drive family audiences to the NFL’s Christmas Day broadcast on Nick and the channel’s Super Bowl alt-cast.

Among the Best Use of Social category finalists is Food Network, which strives to balance its status as a trusted food brand with a quirky, trend-driven approach to its social content strategy. The compelling content shared across Food Network’s platforms includes clips and memes from TV shows, bespoke recipes and tips, behind-the-scenes looks at restaurants and spotlights on the most-visual user-submitted food content on the internet. In addition to featuring Food Network’s all-star chefs, its social platforms also introduce fans to new and up-and-coming culinary talent. Food Network Social has nearly 73 million followers across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.

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With themes spanning social responsibility, personalization, collaborative campaigns with shoppable content and messaging with storytelling and humanization at the core, these finalists are helping brands relate better to their customers and create more impactful campaigns.

Amazon Ads’ groundbreaking film series ‘The Spark’ made waves in 2023, landing the company a top spot for Best Branded Content Series – B2B. The series spotlighted the human stories behind SMB brands. As a departure from typical B2B case studies, the series infused cinematic flair into tales of entrepreneurs from Nyssa, Iya Foods and EQUO. The series was distributed across multiple channels, including strategic events and organic social. As a result, the series exceeded its goals and drove triple the increase in positive perception and traffic to the Amazon Ads website. ‘The Spark’ elevated brand awareness and resonated deeply with audiences, earning acclaim for its innovative approach.

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For instance, in the Best Ad Tech Innovation category, PepsiCo won for using enhanced in-scene advertising to insert its brands into influencer video content. PepsiCo beverage brands Starry and bubly worked with AI tech company Rembrand to appear in creator videos in a programmatic and non-interruptive way. Rembrand strategically placed Starry and bubly with creators whose content aligned with each brand’s personality, as selected by PepsiCo, with cans appearing on natural surfaces in most videos. YouTube retargeting ads were then exclusively shown to individuals who saw creator videos with in-scene advertising. In the first three months, the campaign surpassed expectations with more than 12.5 million global views, across 14 content creators on YouTube and TikTok.

Innovid is being recognized in the new Best Measurement Tool category. Its solution, InnovidXP, is built for global and cross-platform TV ad measurement. Innovid serves over 1.2 billion ads and collects 6 billion data points daily to fuel powerful insights. With InnovidXP’s instant optimization tool, the platform lets advertisers close the measurement-action gap and continuously activate against those insights. Certified by 1,050 publishers and used by thousands of advertisers worldwide, InnovidXP provides a broad view of the CTV landscape and helps advertisers across both the buy- and sell-side solve challenges facing the industry.

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In the new Best Use of AI category, home security leader Ring used AI to enhance its marketing strategy, particularly in search, amid growing competition. Facing resource restraints, the brand leveraged ChatGPT early, refining its capabilities well before the AI marketing trend gained steam. Overall, Ring experienced a 40% reduction in time spent ideating new ad copy, which enabled more time for strategic campaign optimization that helped improve overall performance. Its Memorial Day campaign saw impressive results, including a 172% increase in click-through rate, a 73% decrease in cost-per-click and 32% more direct-to-consumer unit sales year-over-year. The brand’s innovative approach also contributed to Ring’s success during Amazon Prime Day, further cementing AI’s role in its marketing.

For the new Best Emerging Technology Campaign category, specialty retailer Party City and agency partner 22squared are winners for their new PartyAI solution. Party City was at risk of becoming a last resort due to increased competition from Amazon, Target and Walmart. Enter PartyAI, a planning tool aimed to transform the customer experience, offering personalized recommendations and reducing planning fatigue. Customers complete a brief quiz to indicate the party occasion and their product preferences, then receive a set of personalized activity and merchandise recommendations integrated with Party City’s product catalog. A three-week pilot successfully engaged users, helping the retailer reclaim its positioning as a destination for party essentials.

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Adobe emerged as a top finalist for Best Connected TV Platform, showcasing innovative strategies through Adobe Acrobat’s Performance CTV campaign. The campaign achieved remarkable results by leveraging Adobe Advertising DSP’s unique capabilities, including Adobe Analytics for CTV tracking and self-serve AI-powered custom goals. The company even exceeded its internal goals — reaching hundreds of thousands of households weekly while maintaining efficient costs — and achieved a 4X improvement in return on media spend and a 3X increase in ROAS. The approach focused on incremental unique reach and full-funnel CTV measurement, which exemplified Adobe’s commitment to driving impactful digital experiences and empowering marketers with actionable insights.

The next standout nominee is Barkley for Best Use of YouTube with its innovative approach to promoting Motel 6. Barkley leveraged Motel 6’s iconic voice, Tom Bodett, to craft engaging 6-second spots that humorously highlight Motel 6’s key offerings. Despite the time constraint, Barkley cleverly utilized humor to capture the audience’s attention and increase brand awareness. With an impressive average VCR rate of 94%, the strategy proved highly effective in ensuring Motel 6 remained top of mind during the peak travel season, showcasing the power of concise storytelling on YouTube.

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A standout for one of several new categories this year — Best Agency Partner — is Digitas. Digitas and CVS combined forces into one total search team and crafted a bespoke search trends tool, leveraging machine learning to drive insights and stay ahead of changing consumer behaviors. The results were impressive, from the highest marketing mix modeling ROAS of any CVS marketing channel to 40 million store visits and a 20% surge in website traffic. This partnership underscores a commitment to delivering efficient, forward-thinking strategies that provide CVS competitive advantages in the healthcare industry.

Wpromote emerged as a Best Use of Data finalist for its collaboration with Intuit QuickBooks. The company demonstrated a meticulous approach to optimizing non-brand paid search. By establishing a comprehensive geo test and data analysis, Wpromote proved the incremental value of non-brand spend, leading to strategic budget reallocation and impressive results. Notably, non-brand conversions surged by 33%, revenue increased by 77% and ROAS improved by 2%. This innovative, data-driven strategy enhanced paid search campaigns and transformed QuickBooks’ overall digital marketing approach, showcasing the power of precise data utilization in driving sustainable business growth.

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Themes across the 2023 winners centered on maximizing the use of social media, amplifying brand engagement with tech and establishing synergistic brand partnerships. 

Bloomberg Media secured the award for Best Custom Advertising for its campaign with UBS. UBS sought to expose high-level business executives to Bloomberg’s authority and thought leadership in sustainable investing, aiming to address how the world can reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Bloomberg Media supplemented UBS’ climate intelligence with its robust data and reporting to create an immersive special report, ‘Taking the Journey to Net Zero.’ The report showed higher-than-average engagement with Bloomberg’s Technology and Green verticals among the UBS targets of HNWIs, affluent millennials and institutional and private investors. 

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For example, Pepsi MAX secured a nomination for Best Use of Video for its campaign to get U.K. football (soccer) fans 18–34 to see the brand as the ultimate refreshing beverage. The brand partnered with food icon Big Zuu to provide meal inspirations, pairing Pepsi MAX with simple recipes that can be made quickly during the 15-minute halftime. Those who clicked on the brand’s videos via digital platforms were directed to a shoppable Amazon recipe hub to buy the ingredients, watch other recipe episodes and have the full recipe delivered by Amazon Fresh with a free sample of Pepsi MAX. The Pepsi MAX recipe inspiration received a 99% positive sentiment rate. 

A standout in the Best Digital Product Innovation category was MiQ for its Deliveroo Automation Suite. Deliveroo, an award-winning online food delivery company connecting customers with best-loved restaurants and grocery partners, needed a bespoke solution to reach audiences in niche geographic U.K. areas. MiQ automated Deliveroo’s intricate programmatic forecasting, setup and quality assurance processes to transform Deliveroo’s hyperlocal media structure. An innovative Forecasting Tool helped reduce 3-hour tasks to 30 minutes, and MiQ’s Hyperlocal Campaign Creator tailored each campaign to its unique locale, cutting tens of hours of manual work to just hours.

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Diversity, inclusion, connection, recognition and social responsibility were just some of the major themes found throughout the multicultural marketing industry’s best campaigns, companies and people this year.

One entrant focused on inclusion and social responsibility was The Weather Channel en Español, which won Best Use of Video. Its network, TWCE, is the first 24-hour Spanish-language free streaming weather news network in the U.S., covering the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition to live broadcasts, TWCE features original content featuring exciting and unexpected views on weather, climate change and more. For example, it produced a special about Puerto Rico, taking an in-depth look at the erosion of beaches, the extinction of some species and the impact on fishing and tourism. 

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This year, there was an emphasis on social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. Companies are prioritizing investment in the well-being and development of local communities in which they operate. Another trend gaining momentum is investing in disability awareness as businesses recognize the importance of serving diverse customer bases.

Sustainability has been top of mind for many companies, but one industry that’s been increasingly focusing on it is health and beauty. This year, Dermalogica’s innovations in skin care packaging earned it the Sustainability award. To help make a positive impact on the environment, Dermalogica launched a first-to-market recyclable pump for its best-selling cleansers to reduce waste and make it easy to recycle both the bottle and pump as a single unit. The new pump is also lighter and utilizes less virgin plastic, decreasing demand for a non-renewable resource. As the first major skincare brand to launch recyclable, mono-material pumps, Dermalogica is putting pressure on other brands to follow suit and innovate on behalf of the planet. 

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For instance, automaker BMW Canada earned a nomination in the Sustainability category for a campaign in support of its new electric vehicle, the iX xDrive50. The campaign aimed to increase awareness of BMW’s commitment to the environment, particularly as a leader in electric vehicles. BMW Canada worked with the agency Media Experts and the CBC to create a branded content series exploring the stories of innovators in green technology, subtly integrating the iX xDrive 50 into the campaign. BMW and Media Experts also worked with the omnichannel supply-side platform Sharethrough to fund carbon offsetting projects to compensate for the carbon emissions generated by the campaign. By leveraging Sharethrough’s GreenPMPs, BMW compensated for 685,535 grams of CO2 — the equivalent of fully charging 89,000 smartphones. 

In the World Hunger category, Soylent is shortlisted, a complete meal replacement that offers a practical and cost-effective solution for individuals facing barriers to nutritious foods. Through partnerships with charitable organizations, Soylent donates its products to food banks, shelters and communities facing food insecurity. As part of its #SoylentForGood efforts, the brand donated an estimated $2.4 million worth of product in 2022 alone.

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One program that touches upon all these themes won Best In-Game Advertising Strategy — Twitch and Adobe’s ‘Co-Op Drops’ campaign. Adobe wanted to showcase the power of its Creative Cloud in a way that could connect the university student gaming community via a first-to-market strategy.

To do so, it partnered with Twitch to reframe the Creative Cloud as practical and accessible. It created a custom Drops extension inspired by the Creative Cloud that Twitch streamers could use where their audience could decide the colors, textures and patterns of in-game items dropped. At its peak, tens of thousands of viewers simultaneously controlled a single Adobe project file, bringing fans and the games closer than before.

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