Oh Yes! Churchill & McVitie’s Take The Biscuit

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

Ocean’s digital out of home competition for 2016 received a massive 81 entries and after months of work, cogitating and planning, the winners were announced yesterday, before an audience of 500 at London’s IMAX cinema.

WCRS

WCRS

Whilst both WCRS (shown above collecting their award) and Kinetic Active (shown below) stole the show, taking multiple prizes with award-winning concepts for McVitie’s, Churchill car insurance, the charity Born Free and Warner Brothers, the REAL WINNER is the industry. For the past seven years, Ocean have diligently put on this competition, worthy of an award in its own right we should say, and have single-handedly helped the creative industry understand and catch up with the technology and needs of today’s modern media owner.

Previous winners have raised the bar and the desire and overwhelming need for agencies to enter, has helped everyone who has ever entered, to think about what the consumer wants, the advertiser needs and what a good media owner can provide. Make no mistake about it, what Ocean have done has raised the bar SIGNIFICANTLY for everyone in the industry (and we mean that GLOBALLY).

It’s amazing what competition and a nice prize pot for your brand or charity can do – all of the winners this year, shared a GBP 650,000 prize pot to fund their campaigns on Ocean’s screens in the UK and for the first time ever, internationally over the next 12 months.

Kinetic

Kinetic

Ocean CEO Tom Bleakley said “The seventh annual competition has seen a record number of entries and some of the most impressive creative concepts to date. The growth of entries and the scale of the ideas reflects the pace at which digital out of home is evolving as a medium of stature and impact. I can’t wait to see these winning campaigns go live.”

Churchie’s Drive-Thru Car Insurance from WCRS wins first prize in the Creative Techniques award for a cheeky campaign which uses Ocean’s vehicle recognition technology to serve drivers with personalised messages about their cars, reflecting the brand’s fast, dependable service. and McVitie’s won the Interactive category with D.U.N.C.A.N, an interactive robot which will be used to conduct a series of live dunking experiments, controlled under lab conditions, to find out which biscuit has the most staying power which was entered by Kinetic Active.

Representing Ocean’s growing international focus, there were two international prizes for the first time this year. The winners were Space for Giants, an extraordinary creative techniques campaign created by 18 Feet & Rising for the elephant protection society and Warner Brothers, who took the international interactive prize for a game featuring Excalibur, created by Kinetic Active, to mark the release of Guy Richie’s new blockbuster, King Arthur. Both campaigns will appear across screens in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Stuart Taylor, CEO Western Europe of Kinetic, told us “It’s a real privilege to see the work of our fantastic Kinetic Active team recognised for its creative versatility and innovation in the field of digital out-of-home. Digital out-of-home media is going through a massive transformation with limitless opportunities for brands to contextually connect with people on the move. Winning these prestigious awards prove that we’re operating on a par with some of the most talented creatives in the industry to deliver innovative campaigns for our clients.”

CREATIVE TECHNIQUES

churchill

  1. First Prize
    Campaign: Churchie’s Drive-Thru Car Insurance
    Client: Churchill
    Agency: WCRS
    Churchill puts a cheeky spin on driver data, using Ocean’s vehicle recognition technology to turbo charge a retro, American drive-through diner themed campaign which puts the focus on fast, efficient service. By monitoring the make, model and colour of passing vehicles, Churchie serves personalised messages to get people engaged with the finer points of the customer offer.The judges said: “They have understood what you can do with data and they can get away with being cheeky; that’s why it works. The use of data and graphics is very good. They have translated the tone of the brand really well. It’s inoffensive, happy, on brand and there are many executions to keep it going.”
  2. Second Prize
    Campaign: Free Me From This Poster
    Client: Born Free Foundation
    Agency: WCRS
    Images of a killer whale confined inside a 48-sheet digital screen represent the same dimensions as the tanks that many captive killer whales and dolphins are kept in. People are invited to help free killer whales by texting a donation to the international wildlife charity Born Free. Once sufficient money is raised, the killer whale leaps out of the poster, and is set free to swim the whole of the Ocean, across The Grid network.The judges said: “Equating the poster size with the size of a tank is a powerful message. It is a beautiful use of the creative space. It’s nice that the connection, interaction and positive action coincides. It’s nice that it is an event that will take place across one day.”
  3. Third Prize
    Campaign: Magic, Bringing Guilt Free Happiness to Life
    Client: Bauer Media
    Agency: the7stars
    Leveraging the fact that Magic is enjoyed for its guilt-free, happy, sing-a-long moments, this campaign aims to make driving stress free by creating a sing-a-long lyric sheet on roadside locations which is synchronised with Magic’s radio playlist. This feel-good campaign capitalises on the current trend for Carpool Karaoke.The judges said: “This is fun and delivers on the brief. It reflects the synergy between radio and DOOH. It’s a simple idea and the real time element differentiates it. It’s not just your regular poster being repeated. If you were stuck in traffic and saw it, you’d think it was a really good idea.”

INTERACTIVE CATEGORY

mcvities-2

  1. First Prize
    Campaign: D.U.N.C.A.N
    Client: Pladis McVitie’s
    Agency: Kinetic Active
    To mark National Biscuit Day 2017, McVitie’s conducts a series of experiments across the nation to test which biscuits can withstand the most dunks. The experiment is controlled by D.U.N.C.A.N, an interactive robot operated by the public who can participate in this national sport by choosing their favourite biscuit to compete with.Screens across The Grid will invite the public to Dare To Dunk, using iPhone and iPads to control the robotic dunker. The player with the highest dunk record wins a year’s supply of their best biscuit.

    The judges said: “Dunking biscuits. They’ve made it fun and made it brilliant. It’s a simple idea, people will definitely engage with it because it’s a fun thing to do. It’s also a cracking poster. It’s typical for the Brits to vote for a tea and biscuits campaign, but we have.”

  2. Second Prize
    Campaign: Save The Bees
    Client: Bumblebee Conservation Trust
    Agency: WCRS
    This campaign to improve the long term future of bumblebees invites people to make a donation and design a flower on their mobiles to populate a living, digital meadow on the large screen. The flowers can be saved on their devices as a keepsake and taking part earns them a free bee conservation pack with flower seeds and a save the bees guide.The judges said: “This is quite a simple idea using the wifi connection to design your own flower. It’s an interactive experience and you can see it evolve. Everyone is able to engage and join in. We like the fact people get the seeds and an idea of how they can help beyond the experience itself.”
  3. Third Prize
    Campaign: One You Active 10
    Client: Public Health England
    Agency: 23red
    Many people in the UK aren’t as active as they should be. Public Health England uses the power of out of home to encourage people to take a brisk 10 minute walk, offering them time sensitive, healthy rewards which can be redeemed once they reach their destination. This campaign encourages positive behaviour change and also benefits local businesses within a 10 minute radius of the screens.The judges said: “This is great because it encourages people to understand their area, do something quickly and then get a reward. It’s encouraging people to be more active, it’s localised and engages with people. It would be good to activate this when people have time to do things, such as lunchtime. “

INTERNATIONAL WINNER – CREATIVE TECHNIQUES

marchforgiants2

  1. Campaign: March for Giants
    Client: Space for Giants
    Agency: 18 feet and rising
    The March for Giants transcends boundaries, appearing across some of the world’s most prominent and impactful OOH media spaces. It’s designed to stop the slaughter for ivory of African elephants, a species which faces extinction within seven years. The campaign to mobilise public and corporate power invites companies to generate branded virtual elephants to lead a digital herd and personalised baby elephants for the public which will join an incredible march in real time.The judges said: “There’s something very altruistic about this idea and it should be extended to anyone with digital screens in the world. To see this virtual march of elephants happening across the world is a massive idea. And who wouldn’t want a branded elephant?”

INTERNATIONAL WINNER – INTERACTICE CATEGORY

kingarthur1

  1. Campaign: King Arthur
    Client: Warner Brothers
    Agency: Kinetic Active
    To celebrate the release of Guy Richie’s big screen interpretation of the legend of King Arthur, Warner Brothers presents the epic quest to find “the rightful” King or Queen of England. People in the UK, New York and Hong Kong will be invited to pull a modern Excalibur from its stone prison, the screens visualising their heartbeats and facial expressions. Pressure detectors, biometric sensors and emotion recognition cameras are used to prompt the stone when to yield its prize, with each country crowning one new king or queen a day. The winners receive premiere tickets.The judges said: “This works in many UK locations and globally. There’s lots of opportunity to interact. It has definitely got crowd appeal and could be really good fun.”

To see all of the 2016 winning campaigns in full, click here.


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