Admap Prize 2017 winners announced

Kyle Findlay

The winners of WARC’s annual global Admap Prize 2017, an essay contest that encourages and rewards individual excellence in strategic thinking in brand communications, are revealed.

Based on the topic ‘How Should TV and Social Media Be Used to Maximum Effect?’ entrants were asked to address the current re-evaluation by many brands on how traditional media and new media fit together in the marketing landscape.

Colin Grimshaw, editor of Admap, organiser of the prize says: “We are delighted with the response to this year’s Admap contest, now in its sixth year. We were impressed by the volume and quality of the essays submitted based on the topic motivated by P&G’s famous declaration last year of an about-face in its marketing strategy, which has prompted many brands into re-thinking their ad budgets.”

Mandy Pooler, chief marketing officer for Kantar, sponsor of the Admap Prize, comments: “It is established that multichannel campaigns are more effective than single-channel, yet how brands marry TV and social continues to be a challenge. Knowledge of exactly how people consume media and subsequently act is key to the solution.”

Judged by a panel of the industry’s foremost thought leaders, seven winning authors were selected offering widely different solutions.

Commenting on this year’s essays, judge Gemma Craven, SVP, Director Social & Mobile of McCann New York says: “The Admap Prize topic is one of the primary challenges facing our industry today. The essays were thought-provoking, diverse and very well researched. There were different opinions on how TV and social should work together, but the clear message was that we spend much time on short-term, knee-jerk approaches to creating buzz and much less time on building long-term success via well-structured programmes.”

Winning Gold and a $5,000 prize cheque, Thomas Henry, Senior Strategist at Mother New York, USA, in his top award-winning essay titled ‘Why we’re all wasting our time’, comes down forcefully on the side of TV over social for long-term brand growth.

Admap Prize judge Jason Burby, President of Americas at Possible says: “Whether you believe that TV is the core and future of all marketing, the Gold Award-winning essay tells a compelling story about marketers over-focusing on short-term wins at the expense of considering long-term brand growth. It reminds us that no matter the channel, we as marketers must be focusing on the long-term impact, and that a combination of TV and digital channels leads to improved performance and impact.”

The six other winners of the Admap Prize 2017 are:

Silver Award: Kyle Findlay of Kantar Innovation, South Africa, for ‘Holistic strategies require a bird’s eye view’

Bronze Award: Matthew Turner, United Kingdom, for ‘Social is the solution to marketing’s esprit de l’escalier moments’

Bronze Award: Charlie Ebdy of Vizeum, United Kingdom, for ‘Screen Wipe: Why social media is slowly killing TV and how it could help transform advertising for the better’

Three Judges’ Commended Awards are awarded to: Gareth Price of The Social Partners, United Kingdom, for ‘Bridging the gap between activation and fame’; Jon Reay of e3 Media, United Kingdom, for ‘Standalone TV ads are nothing than creative indulgence’; and Satish Pai, India, for ‘The tipping points’.

The winners will be presented with their awards at an Admap event in Cannes on Wednesday, 21 June, during which members of the Admap jury and senior industry experts will discuss burning issues around the marriage of TV and social and debate over short-term and long-term marketing strategy, To attend this free event, register here.

All award-winning essays are published in the June edition of Admap magazine and on warc.com.

About Admap Prize

The Admap Prize is an essay contest that encourages and rewards individual excellence in strategic thinking in brand communications. Essays are judged by a panel of the industry's foremost thought leaders.

The Admap Prize is a unique opportunity for entrants to get recognition for the quality of their strategic ideas. Essays for the Admap Prize need to be rooted in practical application to marketing challenges/opportunities, and address a specific marketing category.

The Admap Prize is free to enter, with a $5,000 cash prize to the author of the Gold-awarded essay.

About WARC – Advertising evidence, insights and best practice

WARC.com is an online service offering advertising best practice, evidence and insights from the world’s leading brands. WARC helps clients grow their businesses by using proven approaches to maximise advertising effectiveness. WARC’s clients include the world’s largest advertising and media agencies, research companies, universities and advertisers.

WARC hosts four global and two regional case study competitions: WARC Awards, WARC Innovation Awards, WARC Media Awards, The Admap Prize, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy and WARC Prize for MENA Strategy.

WARC also publishes leading journals including Admap, Market Leader, the Journal of Advertising Research and the International Journal of the Market Research Society. In addition to its own content, WARC features advertising case studies and best practices from more than 50 respected industry sources, including: ARF, Effies, Cannes Lions, ESOMAR and IPA.

Founded in 1985, WARC is privately owned and has offices in the UK, US and Singapore.