80th Annual OBIE Award Winners

Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media

The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) this week announced the 80th Annual OBIE Award Winners. The OBIE Awards are the out of home (OOH) advertising industry’s oldest and most prestigious honors for creative excellence in out of home advertising design.  OAAA presented 49 awards during a live ceremony held at the Geopath/OAAA 2022 OOH Media Conference & Expo on Marco Island. The event was also live streamed for viewing parties across the country.

This year’s top honor, the Platinum OBIE Award, went to Michelob Ultra FCB New York for its cutting-edge ‘Courtside’ campaign. The project pushed the definition of OOH with a collaborative use of technologies that digitally immersed fans into the NBA bubble’s virtual stands from home, finding a creative way to inject the contagious energy and joy that a live audience can bring to a game. COVID-19 could have thrown the beverage company’s first year as the NBA’s official beer sponsor into a tailspin, but the ingenuity of the ‘Courtside’ campaign led Michelob ULTRA’s sales to grow 32 percent via 13 billion campaign impressions, 81.5 million hours of NBA coverage, and ticket promotions.

‘Courtside’ also received Gold OBIE Award wins in five categories: Entertainment & Live Events, Custom Installation, Food & Beverage, Digital Design, and Interactive.

Other Gold OBIE Award winners were presented to:

● Monogram ‘Headlines’
o Category – Combined Multi-OOH Formats
o Advertiser – Monogram
o Agency – MilkMoney, Roc Nation and Mischief

● Boards of Change
o Category – Custom Installation & Buzzworthy
o Advertiser – City of Chicago
o Agency – FCB Chicago

● Fanta Halloween
o Category – International
o Advertiser – Fanta (Coca-Cola)
o Agency – Isobar

● OMEGA MART Custom Iconic Mobile Billboard Truck PR Release
o Category – Transit
o Advertiser – Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart
o Agency – Kre8 Media Team

● Chris P. Poultry, Attorney at Law
o Categories (3) – Buzzworthy, Combined Multi-OOH Formats, Contextual
o Advertiser – Jollibee
o Agency – David & Goliath

● Alpha: Chickenflation
o Category – Buzzworthy
o Advertiser – Alpha Foods
o Agency – Mischief @ No Fixed Address

● Balenciaga x Fortnite
o Category – Fashion & Luxury Goods
o Advertiser – Balenciaga x Fortnite
o Agency – AC3 Studio

● Thinx Absorbs Worries
o Category – Direct to Consumer
o Advertiser – Thinx
o Agency – Thinx

The OBIE CRAFT Award winners are:

● Balenciaga x Fortnite
o Category – Digital Design
o Craft BRONZE

● Mixwell
o Category – Copywriting
o Craft SILVER

● Jollibee U.S.A.
o Category – Copywriting
o Craft SILVER

● Anheuser Busch/ Michelob Ultra
o Category – Digital Design
o Craft GOLD

Anna Bager, President and CEO, OAAA told us “This year’s winners showed extraordinary ingenuity and their influence on consumers are widely felt. Congratulations to all the teams who worked tirelessly to bring these campaigns to life. We are thrilled to celebrate them as peers, innovators, and game changers.”

In addition to the platinum and gold awards, 11 silver and 16 bronze OBIE Awards were presented.

The OBIE Hall of Fame went to Denver Water for their long running ‘Use Only What You Need’ campaign from Sukle Advertising & Design, Denver.

This Year’s OBIE AWARD judges included:
● Jury Chief, Mark Tutssel, former Executive Chairman, Leo Burnett
● Susan Credle, Global CCO, FCB Global
● Rupen Desai, Global CMO, Dole Sunshine International
● Scott Donaton, SVP/Head of Marketing, Hulu
● Sara Phillips, Creative Director, Wieden + Kennedy
● Mel Routhier- CCO, VMLY&R
● Jimmy Smith, CEO and CCO, Amusement Park Entertainment
● Tracy Wong, Chairman, Executive Creative Director and Founding Partner, WONGDOODY

The complete list of OBIE winners and finalists, can be found here.


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