From Twitch to Lexus, here’s the best award-winning campaigns from Australia

The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC

Award: Automotive and Transport

Agency: BBC StoryWorks

Client: Lexus Australia

Campaign: Uncompromised Elegance

Lexus Australia teamed up with BBC StoryWorks to tell a series of engaging stories that invited consumers to see the power of pairing sustainability with luxury – while promoting the brand’s all-electric UX 300e SUV.

The centerpiece of the series was an interactive story showcasing a road trip itinerary through New South Wales. It spotlighted the UX 300e’s performance while highlighting popular regional attractions and charging points. Throughout the itinerary, Lexus also elevated partner brands including charging company ChargeFox and the Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley resort. An animated map visualized the route and invited readers to interact with the story.

The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC

Award: Best Use of Video Ads

Agency: Vidico

Client: Bailey Nelson

Campaign: Best In Class

Eyewear retail chain Bailey Nelson needed to boost its brand visibility and recall in the Australian market. And it knew that playing it safe simply wasn’t an option. With a bold approach to video advertising, the retailer saw results soar.

It went to longtime video advertising partner Vidico with a task: to help create a campaign that ties together both product and brand – a divergence from its traditional video efforts which focused on shots of Bailey Nelson’s eyewear products alone. The brand wanted something fresh, energetic and comedic.

The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC

Award: Most Effective Use of Affiliate Marketing

Agency: Commission Factory

Client: My Muscle Chef

Campaign: Breaking the Deep Deals Paradigm

Australian meal delivery service, My Muscle Chef, provides premium, high-protein meals to fuel active and busy lifestyles. But with the meal delivery service being highly competitive, the brand wanted to drive growth without relying on meaty promotions, like its counterparts.

My Muscle Chef turned to Commission Factory to dramatically expand its business. They held introductory sessions, and met with publishers to build unique, high-touch relationships and to explain their brand, their goals, and how they planned to drive sales without mega discounts. They also built on compelling influencer partnerships to help spread awareness. Their program with Sydney-based Hanna sisters, @eatingupwiththehannshians, attracted massive audiences and extended their equity in an aspirational context. And Savvy cashback and loyalty relationships were also a huge gain.

The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC

Award: Most Effective Programmatic Media Partnership

Agency: Vistar Media

Client: HBF Health Insurance Australia

Campaign: Amplifying campaign effectiveness by combining Direct and Programmatic OOH advertising

UM and Vistar Media designed and executed an OOH/DOOH campaign using direct and programmatic buying for Perth-based HBF Health Insurance Australia. HBF wanted to launch its brand on the East Coast and increase brand awareness on the West Coast. Next, it wanted to evoke a behavioral response from the upper to lower funnel. This was achieved and measured using an ANZ market-first approach that anonymously identified individuals exposed to the OOH/DOOH media and found them later visiting the client’s website.

To conduct the study, Vistar Media and UM enlisted Lifesight, a customer intelligence platform. The results confirmed that the media mix can generate results that are greater than the sum of its parts. By sharing campaign data between parties (client included), Vistar Media and UM were able to compile results that confirmed success. This study may also have ramifications with the potential to reshape the thought process behind upper-funnel campaigns.

The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC

Award: Grand Prix and Best Use of Gaming

Agency: Twitch

Client: 5Gum

Campaign: #TeamCLUTCH

In the Australian market, 5 Gum was looking to make headway with under-25 consumers, who make up the biggest portion of gum chewers. The Wrigley Company-owned gum brand teamed with Twitch to create a one-of-a-kind gaming experience designed to engage gen Zers.

Twitch worked with 5 Gum to launch Team Clutch, a group of popular up-and-coming Aussie streamers. The campaign strategy was built on the idea of aligning “clutch” gaming moments with the 5 Gum brand to seamlessly integrate the brand into the gaming lifestyle and connect with gen Z audiences in a natural and authentic way. Twitch brought Team Clutch together for three live streams with the gamers taking on popular titles like Fortnite while participating in unique challenges along the way, embodying 5 Gum’s brand message of ‘Life happens in 5.’ Each event included a dynamic viewing experience that allowed users to see all streamers on a single screen or to toggle to individual streamers to catch close-up angles of the action.

The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries

Award: Most Effective Use of AI Machine Learning

Agency: Amplified Intelligence

Campaign: Changing an Industry with Machine Learning

Amplified Intelligence tackled the issue of impressions becoming less reliable as a currency in the advertising industry. Until now, there hadn’t been a way to measure whether or not humans were even watching an ad.

The artificial intelligence developed by Amplified Intelligence combines eye-tracking technology with machine learning, innovative research design and marketing theory. The result is highly accurate. According to the company, this formula not only answers fundamental marketing questions for the first time; it elevates the question of how effective advertising is, allowing brands to look at how an ad’s effectiveness varies in different conditions.

The Drum Awards for B2B

Award: B2B Internal Communications/Employee Education Effort

Agency: Mahlab

Client: Chief Executive Women (CEW)

Campaign: Chief Executive Woman

Chief Executive Woman was a campaign that sought to tackle the universal issue of sexual harassment at the board level. Workplace sexual harassment is a big issue in Australia. According to the Human Rights Commission, 72% have experienced it. Crucially, however, only 17% of those affected felt able to report it.

CEW approached Mahlab to devise an internal communications strategy to assist its members to start "courageous conversations" about sexual harassment at a board level. Beyond that, the idea was to offer tools and techniques to turn those conversations into action, ensuring that tangible results would come from any conversation. The Mahlab team liaised with a working group of CEW members to gain insights, understand lived experiences, create an integrated internal comms plan and, ultimately, execute it with a comprehensive toolkit – the Respect is Everyone’s Business (RIEB).

The Drum Awards for Marketing APAC are now open for entry. Make sure you apply before the March 23 deadline.