International AME Awards: 2013 Winners

The Grand Jury presented the AME Grand Award and Regional Platinum Award/Europe to DDB Tribal Germany. DDB Canada, Vancouver/North America and PHD China/Asia-Pacific also earned AME Regional Platinum Awards.

The 2013 AME Grand Jury awarded 17 Gold AME Awards, 20 Silver, and 23 Bronze Awards to entries received from 27 countries worldwide. Celebrity-focused brand interaction was a huge trend, with campaigns employing actual celebrities or creating contests where the consumer or their ideas would be the star. Entries submitted into newly launched categories, including Social Benefit, Branded Entertainment, and Use of Discipline/Low-Budget also scored Gold Awards for multiple campaigns.

DDB Tribal Germany was honoured with the AME Grand Award and AME Regional Platinum Award/Europe for "Don't Make Up and Drive," for client Volkswagen AG. The campaign exposed women to the danger of applying make-up while driving by partnering with online make-up star, Nikkie, whose tutorial is interrupted by a crash delivering an impactful, life-saving message. The campaign mobilised community support to persuade women that life's not worth risking, even for the most beautiful make-up, scoring 2 Gold AME Awards, as well as 1,364,000 views, thousands of re-tweets, blog posts, and world-wide PR.

"We are as happy as we are proud to achieve the highest recognition for "Don´t Make Up and Drive" not only at the most important creative shows but also at the most prestigious shows that judge effectiveness," said Eric Schoeffler, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Tribal, Germany. "We are grateful to have the creative talent and a client that really motivates us to explore new forms of creativity. The AME means a lot to us."

'Canada. Keep Exploring'

The AME Grand Jury awarded two global agencies the AME Regional Platinum Award: DDB Canada, Vancouver received the Platinum AME Award/North America for "Canada. Keep Exploring" created for the Canadian Tourism Commission. The campaign employed consumer participation and leveraged the power of peer-to-peer influence by presenting real journeys documented by fellow travellers. The marketing effort shifted perceptions amongst international travellers propelling Canada to the #1 country brand two years in a row, and reversed the decline in international visitation to Canada. The campaign also earned an AME Gold and Silver Award.

"If you think the work's good, wait until you see the country," said Cosmo Campbell, Creative Director, DDB Canada, Vancouver.

PHD China earned the Platinum AME Award/Asia-Pacific for "Dive Into Love" for Cornetto. The campaign targeted young lovers in China, and was designed to help Chinese teens and young adults navigate modern love. The campaign employed a series of four 12-minute films focused on different aspects of love with Cornetto ice cream as the star, using product placement and branding woven into the story lines. The results: Cornetto doubled their sales over a two-year period, and the medium launch generated a total of 320 million video views, and over 2.8 million posts on Sina Weibo.

"I think it demonstrates the power of a great idea, well executed, that allowed us to build a meaningful connection between our brand and our target customers, ultimately delivering fantastic business results," said Mark Heap, CEO, PHD China.

Green Award

Heimat Werbeagentur GmbH, Germany was honoured with the 2013 AME Green Award for "CNN Ecosphere". CNN International created an interactive digital ecosystem based on Twitter where politically and environmentally active opinion leaders around the globe could take part in a worldwide debate on climate change during COP17. The motto: "Plant a thought, watch it grow". Every Tweet containing #COP17 was added to a visualised discussion on the ECOSPHERE micro site and became part of a worldwide debate on climate change. CNN ECOSPHERE gathered more than 227,000 tweets, generating more than 6.7 million unique media impressions around the globe. "CNN Ecosphere" also scored 2 AME Gold and 2 Silver Awards.

"Instead of bringing the Climate Change Conference to the world we brought the world to the Conference - with the power of a hashtag," commented Myles Lord, Creative Managing Director for Heimat Berlin.

This year, celebrity-focused campaign themes scored high. DDB Hong Kong "McDonald's Chinese New Year McGreeting" featuring comedic duo Soft Hard earned 2 Gold AME Awards and 3 Silver; DDB Chicago's "GED Pep Talk Center" for the Ad Council, featuring celebrities such as Christopher Lloyd and Terry Crews, was honoured with 3 Silver AME Awards; and Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's "Going from Good to Great" for PepsiCo/Walkers, starring British comics Stephen Fry and Jimmy Carr, received a Silver AME.

View 2013's AME Award Winners and for more information click here.