Shortlist for 2014 Festival of Media Global Awards announced

Volvo Trucks and Heineken International are tied for the highest number of shortlisted entries, with each brand up for six different awards. Closely following are Etihad Airways from the UAE, shortlisted for five categories, and Gillette India and Marabou Chocolate of Sweden, with four each.

Photo via Festival of Media

The Festival of Media Global Awards recognises the very best creative thinking in media globally, and this year saw a record-breaking number of entries coming from 27 different countries. The UK, the US, and Australia saw the most entries overall this year, while the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore each doubled their number of entries from last year.

For the first time this year, Ogilvy DigitalHealth, ONIRIA\TBWA, and Forsman & Bodenfors also made the shortlist. Independent agency Forsman & Bodenfors were behind two of Volvo's most successful campaigns in Sweden, 'The Epic Split' and 'Live Test Series', and are up for a total of five different awards for their work with Volvo Trucks.

Highly contested

The new category for 'Best Content Creation Award' was one of the most highly contested, with 14 different campaigns from across the globe set to battle it out during the final judging.

Across the board, this year's entries demonstrated extensive social media engagement to reach audiences. Etihad's 'Mapped Out' campaign explored users' networking opportunities abroad by connecting to their LinkedIn accounts, and Swedish brand Marabou's 'The Chocolate with 6,000 Names' asked Facebook fans to share their favourite excuses for enjoying chocolate.

Sameer Singh, VP, Head of Global Media at GlaxoSmithKline and Chair of the 2014 Awards Jury, comments: "It is so exciting to see brands from the four corners of the globe receiving multiple shortlist accolades. It certainly demonstrates that international standards of creativity and campaign excellence are being championed by countries both big and small. As global practitioners, we can learn from each of these campaigns to continue to drive the effectiveness of our own work - they're an inspiration."

Singh and a panel of 24 other industry experts will meet in Rome to judge the shortlisted entries, and the winners will be announced at a gala dinner on April 8th, the final night of the Festival of Media Global 2014. This year's jury features from some of the world's leading brands and agencies, including Craig Hepburn of Nokia, Tom Wyse of Paddy Power, Kathleen Brookbanks of OMD, and Sylvain Chevalier of Havas Media Group.

Tiered judging

For the first time ever, the Festival of Media Global Awards 2014 will feature tiered judging, with Gold, Silver or Bronze awards available to recognise the high calibre of entries, along with the Grand Prix awards for Campaign of the Year, Country Agency of the Year, and Agency of the Year. There will also be a Guinness World Record Award for the brand with the best world record-breaking campaign, as voted by the industry.

The entries will be available on www.creamglobal.com, and during the event, delegates can review the shortlisted campaigns on Surface devices from Microsoft.

The ceremony itself sees new additions of projection mapping technology, and Spotify is also enabling winners to select their favourite track to be played if they win. This year's Festival is being held in Rome at the Rome Cavalieri Hotel, from April 6-8, 2014.

To view the full Festival of Media Global Awards shortlist, click here.