A celebration of our global creativity in 2020

Awards
nathan.mcdonald

Even though the last few months have been a challenge for all of us, I’m really proud of our teams for making some of our best ever work. As we look ahead to the second half of 2020, I wanted to pause to reflect on the year so far.

We’ve made LGBT+ focused initiatives for IKEA and written a love letter from Guinness to the Six Nations. We caused a stir by bringing Global Pride to Animal Crossing. Have taken Audi fans on a four-hour-long soothing road trip from the comfort of their own home (named by The Drum as one of the most popular ads created during lockdown). And even helped Uber Eats celebrate Twitch stars (big and small) who #BringIt every single day.

Our team in Milan has told an empowering story of hope and rebirth through a docufilm for Lavazza, entitled ‘Coffee Defenders: a Path from Coca to Coffee’, which is available now on Amazon Prime Video. While in Sydney, we helped ride-app DiDi spread some love and offer healthcare workers discounted rides during the pandemic, and have even created the Samsung SanctuARy AR experience to raise awareness of Thailand’s most endangered animals.

We’ve also seen our R&I and Strategy teams around the world go into overdrive to help brands understand how they can adapt to our fast-changing world and continue to do the right thing. As part of this, we spoke to Creators in a Crisis and considered how, and if, our behaviours have changed in Unprecedented? ways, with many markets In Lockdown. 

Along with this, some of our greatest hits from last year have been recognised. A few months ago we were delighted to have been named Campaign Magazine’s EMEA Digital Innovation Network of the Year. An honour which truly reflects the hard work of all the talented teams in EMEA (and beyond) who continue to produce the amazing work. The win follows the humbling experience of being named the ‘Most Respected Agency of the Year’ back in October as part of eConsultancy’s Top 100 Digital Agencies ranking.

In Paris, the team’s #NoBuildChallenge for WWF France has continued to gain praise across the industry, both locally and internationally, earning three trophies at this year’s Shorty Awards, a Grand Prix Strategies du Digital Award in the Experiences: Advergames category, and three One Show Awards across Social Media and Branded Entertainment.

The team also picked up a Grand Prix Strategies du Digital Award in the Video category for their #PerfectMoment campaign for Lotus and on in the Experiences: Events category for #FreeToBe for Zalando and one in. The #FreeToBe campaign also won in the Social category at the Nuit des Rois awards.

In New York, the team also scooped three prizes at this year’s Shorty Awards, taking home trophies in the Pinterest and Mid-Range Media Buying Strategy categories for their Adobe for Education activation. 

Earlier this year, our team in Shanghai won a iF Design Award for their work on Acer Predator’s ‘PredatorVerse 2019: Summon Your Strength’, as well as a bronze in the Product and Services | Electronics category of this year’s New York Festivals AME Awards. And, more recently, has even received a prestigious Red Dot award for their Creativity Decoded campaign for the brand.

And last but by no means least, a special mention must go to a few members of our team whose continued great work and contribution to the industry has recently earned them some great recognition. 

In London, our Head of R&I Paul Greenwood was named among the Strategists and Consultants in this year’s BIMA 100. While in Dubai, Senior Account Manager Rhia Samuel, Account Manager Shivani Kulshrestha, and Senior Account Manager Umar Achraf were named as part of Campaign Magazine’s Faces To Watch for 2020. And in Munich, our Chief Digital Officer Roberto Collazos Garcia was highlighted as one of W&V’s ‘100 heads’ of digital. 

In Milan, Creative Lorenzo Canazza and Art Director Giulia De Chirico also ranked second place in this year’s Young Lions competition.

I could not be prouder of the continued effort and great work which all our teams are delivering for clients every day, even as we’ve been adapting to the challenges of 2020. We’ve also been busy pitching and I can’t wait to announce some of the amazing new clients we’re working with.

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Nathan McDonald is Co-Founder and Group CEO of We Are Social.