40 South African finalists announced for 2018 Midas Awards

The Midas Awards grand jury, comprised of international executives from financial and creative marketing disciplines, selected an unprecedented 317 entries as finalists. With an impressive 12% increase this year, many prominent brands and international agencies recognised the importance of being honoured for creative excellence by the Midas Awards.

Bar-raising entries

“Great work demands attention,” said Scott Rose, executive director, Midas Awards. “and this year’s class of disruptive, entertaining, bar-raising entries did just that.

The grand jury was fully engaged and the comments they left were filled with praise and admiration. Attention sought. Attention earned. I applaud these innovative campaigns and look forward to the executive jury laying their expert eyes upon them.

International agencies competed for the top spot on the prestigious Midas Report. The following agencies are top contenders for the 2018 annual ranking report:

McCann New York with a record-breaking 65 entries advancing, McCann XBC with 20 entries moving on to the trophy round, Grey Group Hong Kong with 17, FCB Africa with 16, Mortimer Harvey with 12, Mullen Lowe with 10, CJ Worx with 9. King James Group Johannesburg and Publicis Istanbul each saw 8 entries achieving finalist status and Publicis, Havas Worldwide Chicago and Groupe Connect each moved forward with 6.

Event marketing and promotions

Global agencies employed event marketing and promotions to champion causes and boost market share. Campaigns achieving finalist status include Mastercard’s “Tap for Your Town” McCann Sydney. Mastercard brought rugby legend Ritchie McCaw out of retirement for one last game. The campaign created a town rivalry to boost use of Mastercard’s tap technology resulting in the town with the most taps hosted the game.

“Charlie’s Perfect Pitch” McCann New York for client Mastercard moved on to the trophy round. The campaign featured American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth demonstrating his perfect pitch by identifying the notes from sounds from different cities before an exclusive JetBlue Card cardmember Priceless concert, encouraging viewers to find inspiration wherever they're travelling next.

McCann New York’s campaign “Stand Up to Cancer with Mindy Kaling” for Mastercard invited everyone to dine out using their Mastercard on October 10th and Mastercard would donate to Stand Up to Cancer to help support cancer research. “Friend’s Again” campaign by Group Connect USA for Bank of America declared that 17 October 2017 would be the first-ever “Pay Back a Friend Day” – a national holiday rallying everyone to grab the Bank of America app, settle debts and be friends again.

Strategic sponsorships and integrated campaigns

Campaigns utilising strategic sponsorships provided opportunities to increase brand awareness and engage consumers. Campaigns advancing to the trophy round include:

“A Mascot for the Red Devil” ING Belgium for Mortierbrigade; “Bank next: Swamp or Lolla” R/GA Sao Paulo for Banco Bradesco; Basketball Sponsorship "We apologise" TVC Publicis Istanbul for ING Turkey; “Can't Judge a Book” McCann New York for Mastercard;” Forbes Women’s Summit” McCann XBX USA for OppenheimerFunds; “Nuveen: DISC09 Sponsorship” MullenLowe for client Nuveen; “Listening Room” McCann Erickson for Mastercard.

Integrated campaigns dominated with 22 entries in all moving on to the trophy round including: “I Want to Make That” Mortimer Harvey South Africa for Absa Corporate and Investment Banking. The campaign features a little girl with big dreams and the way she sees the world culminating in her adult version, showing she still has the bravery to imagine, and the will to make her visions a reality-defining the meaning of Africanacity for CIB.”

Other Integrated finalists include: “Zombie Spending at Halloween” Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, St. George Bank; “HI-SA-TI Brand” CJ WORX, Krungthai Bank; “Security & Fraud Solutions 2018 Brand Awareness Campaign” Atomic Wash for Security & Fraud Solutions Division of First Data; “ESG Primer Consolidated Integrated Campaign” Bank of America, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; “Built For Adventure” Havas Worldwide Chicago, Citi/AAdvantage.

As well as; “The Full Story Campaign” Walter Thompson New York, T. Rowe Price; “Citi’s “That Giving Feeling” Campaign for No Kid Hungry” Publicis, for client Citi; “There's No Retirement Like Home” Alpha Zulu Kilo, HomeEquity Bank; “Dee-1's Knowledge for College Tour” Sallie Mae for Sallie Mae; “Conversations with Yourself” King James for Sanlam; and “5 Senses Multi-Factor Campaign” McCannXBX for OppenheimerFunds. To view all the 2018 Midas finalists, click here.

Innovative film series

“Innovative Business Exchange” Grey Group Hong Kong for HSBC saw 17 entries advance to the trophy round. The film series showcased how HSBC has proactively supported the journeys of different InnoTech businesses including GreenTomato’s growth through innovation and showcasing how HSBC supported GoGoVan to disrupt the logistics industry.

Global financial brands were in the spotlight with an impressive number of entries achieving finalist status. Mastercard saw 68 entries advance to the trophy round from agencies around the globe. McCann New York moved forward with 47 finalists for client Mastercard. McCann Worldgroup sp. z o.o.

Poland advanced with 8 entries, McCann Sydney with 7, McCann Erickson London and McCann Canada each saw 3 entries advance. Absa’s agencies saw 28 entries achieve finalist status, 16 from FCB Africa and 12 from Mortimer Harvey. Citi achieved 19 finalists in total with Citi moving ahead with 7 entries and both Publicis and Havas Worldgroup Chicago each advanced with 6 entries.

South Africa behind the USA with 40 entries

In this year’s Midas Awards competition, the United States saw an impressive 178 entries achieve finalist status. South Africa saw 40 entries advance, Hong Kong 18, the United Kingdom 15, Australia, Switzerland and Turkey each advanced with 11. Thailand moved ahead with 9; Canada, Poland and the United Kingdom saw 8 entries achieve finalist status, Brazil and Germany each saw 5 entries advance, Norway achieved 2 finalists, and Austria, Belgium and India saw 1 entry move on to the trophy round.

Shortlisted entries will move on to the secondary trophy round and will be judged by the executive jury who will award gold and silver Ingots to the highest scoring entries and determine the winner for the Midas Award for Innovation and the Grand Midas Award.

The results of the juries are parsed in an annual rankings brief, The Midas Report, —a veritable whos-who in the world of financial services advertising that includes the 3 individual reports: Agency, Brand and Network.

To view the 2018 Midas Awards finalists please click here.