The WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2023 in association with LIONS, are launched and open for entries. Now in their third year, this competition shines a light on the best marketing ideas from around the world that deliver commercial impact.
A global marketing effectiveness benchmark like no other, the Awards are judged using the Creative Effectiveness Ladder and the B2B Effectiveness Ladder – universal frameworks for planning effective marketing communications to drive specific Business-to-Consumer and Business-to-Business outcomes.
Paul Coxhill, CEO, WARC, said: “Brand marketers, media owners and agencies are under pressure to create campaigns that deliver commercial success. The global WARC Awards for Effectiveness provide the ideal platform to showcase the best of this work, and help drive the industry to imbed a culture of effective marketing.”
“To lead the judging process for our biggest awards to date, I’m delighted to welcome all our esteemed jury chairs, who represent some of the world’s biggest brands. With almost double the amount of categories this year, they will be guided by the Ladders, which will provide a consistent approach and global standard for effectiveness,” he added.
This year, the WARC Awards for Effectiveness are bigger than ever following the incorporation of the former WARC Awards for Media. The number of categories for entry submissions has grown from six to 11, creating a comprehensive view of effectiveness across different techniques and campaign types.
Each category will be judged by a high-calibre panel, including senior marketers from some of the world’s biggest brands and top agency professionals from around the globe. For each category, the panel will award Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades.
Wendy Walker, VP Marketing Asia, Salesforce will chair the Business-to-Business category, awarding effective campaigns from one business targeting another.
Jennifer Healan, VP, US Marketing, Brand Content & Engagement, McDonald’s, is appointed chair of both the Customer Experience category, honouring new ways of engaging with consumers and innovative experiences created to connect and immerse on the path to commercial success, and the Cultural Impact category, rewarding strategies and instances of brands entering or impacting on culture that can demonstrate a business outcome.
Chiradeep Gupta, VP, Personal Care Head of Media and Global Integrated Media Strategy Lead, Unilever, is chair of the Brand Purpose category, awarding marketing initiatives that have successfully embraced a brand purpose and achieved commercial success as well as benefit for the wider community.
Vasileios Kourakis, Global Director, Marketing effectiveness (ROI) and Media, Consumer Products Division, L’Oréal, will lead both the Long-Term Growth category, awarding campaigns that have invested in building a brand over time (12 months or more), and the Instant Impact category, awarding short-term campaigns (with a duration of six months or less) that led directly to a sales increase.
Beatrice Boue, Global Head of Media, De Beers, will chair two categories: Use of Data (new), recognising the role of data in an effective communications strategy, and Channel Pioneer (new), rewarding pioneering media practices, including the leveraging of emerging platforms, innovative uses of existing media, and efforts to invest in a conscious approach to media.
Simon Peel, VP Global media, Haleon, will preside over the Partnerships & Sponsorships (new) category recognising how collaborations with third parties, including native advertising, sponsorships and influencer marketing, have helped brands meet business goals.
Ross Sergeant, Global Head of Media and Touchpoints, Asahi Europe and International, will lead the Best Path-to-Purchase (new) category, honouring how brands have used omnichannel strategies to optimise the customer journey across the funnel, and the Channel Integration (new) category, rewarding entries that can show how sophisticated communications architecture and cross- channel planning have helped to boost campaign effectiveness.
The Awards are global, open to all, the entry fee is waived, and the process to enter is straightforward. The juries will follow their guidelines to help identify any damaging content. And new to this year, whilst not required for judging purposes, entrants can opt to include campaign sustainability actions in their submission as the industry comes together to tackle the climate crisis.
For each category the juries will award Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades. Entries will be accepted until 29 March 2023. The winners will be announced at Cannes Lions in June.
