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APG Creative Strategy Awards 2023

Creative Strategy Works

Great creative strategy is about more than just making great campaigns. Great creative strategy injects brands into popular culture, transforms company culture, inspires innovation and creates value for businesses. 

 

This year’s APG awards are about showcasing the value of creative strategy, demonstrating the breadth and depth of ways in which creative strategy adds value to business and brands. 

 

Because…

 

Creative strategy works everywhere. It may have started in advertising agencies but it’s now a discipline that has found a home in client organisations, in consulting, in design, PR, innovation and a whole host of other specialist areas.  We will be celebrating this creative strategy diaspora in all its diversity.

 

Creative strategy adds value. As we head into what could be a lengthy period of economic uncertainty, we will celebrate the breadth of ways in which creative strategy adds value to businesses, brands and communication and show that our discipline is not a luxury but an increasingly essential skill for all kinds of business.

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The Winners
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We are delighted to announce the winners for the 2023 APG Creative Strategy Awards.

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The Planning team at Leo Burnett carried away the Grand Prix for McDonald’s ‘Raise Your Arches’; a spectacular demonstration of transformational creative strategy.

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adam&eveDDB were crowned Stephen King Strategy Agency of the year.

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In the year where we had the highest ever number of entries, it’s a real accolade to win a prize and the winning cases are brilliant.

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And if you’re an APG member you can read the cases on Think Tank.

Grand Prix

Grand Prix

Stephen King Strategy Agency of the Year

SAOY

The Stephen King Strategy Agency of the Year Award is given to the agency with the best overall performance, calculated from points for each award earned. 

 

For 2023, the prize was awarded to:

adam&eveDDB
Gold

Gold

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CALM x ITV

The Last Photo: How Planning Changed the Face of Suicide Awareness

Planned by:

Will Grundy & James MacAskill

Agency:

adam&eveDDB

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MINI

Why MINI opened its doors to paws.

Planned by:

Jonny Ewles, Rebecca Brett & Catherine Willoughby

Agency:

Media Monks

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Replens

Sex Never Gets Old: The Power of Noticing

Planned by:

Kit Altin & Bruno Carramaschi

Agency:

The Gate London

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Flora Plant

Flora Plant B+tter. Challenging the norm.

Planned by:

Joan Devereux

Agency:

Pablo

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Partners Life

The Eulogy of ‘The Last Performance’

Planned by:

Rory Gallery, Jolene D'Souza & Emily Harlock

Agency:

Special, New Zealand

Silver

Silver
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Butlin's

How Butlin’s stepped off the stage to become a star

Planned by:

Nic Willison, Joe Beveridge, Mike Treharne & Tom Sussman

Agency:

Leo Burnett

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Macmillan Cancer Support

Doing whatever it takes

Planned by:

Sam Williams & Tom White

Agency:

AMV BBDO

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Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers

CYNICISM: HELP OR HINDRANCE? How cynicism helped Cadbury Fingers encourage the nation to learn some British Sign Language

Planned by:

Xanthe Fuller & Andy Nicholls

Agency:

VCCP

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Schmackos

Sales Go Wacko for Schmackos

Planned by:

Jack Spicer

Agency:

adam&eveDDB

Bronze

Bronze
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Boots & No7

Boots Menopause: Real Change Comes From Within

Planned by:

Marsha Tunkel-Somers, Anna Vogt & Chris Baker

Agency:

VMLY&R, The Pharm

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Hey Girls

Seeing Red

Planned by:

Milla McPhee

Agency:

adam&eveDDB

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Mayor of London

Having a Word with Men: How two strategists unravelled the male psyche to tackle violence against women and girls in London

Planned by:

Bianca Novaes & Tara Austin

Agency:

Ogilvy UK

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Müller Corner

You say it best when you say nothing at all: Adopting the Ronan Keating approach to reviving an icon

Planned by:

Luke Stockil

Agency:

VCCP

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Tesco Mobile

How an underdog took on the category bullies by weaponising pasta

Planned by:

Richard Madden & Alex Elder (BBH)

Rachel Swift, Emma Herridge & Zea Westwick (Tesco Mobile)

Agency:

BBH

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EA SPORTS FIFA

Tackling the biggest anomaly in football

Planned by:

David Mortimer

Agency:

adam&eveDDB

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International Paralympic Committee

#WeThe15: The story of the biggest human rights movement for persons with disabilities in history.

Planned by:

Lisa Stoney, Liora Ingram, Sarah Benson, Claire Strickett, Craig Spence, Will Grundy & Milla McPhee

Agency:

adam&eveDDB

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Microsoft

The Future of Work

Planned by:

Martijn Nieuwenhuis

Agency:

Edelman, The Netherlands

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Relate

How not beating around the bush got the over 65s to talk about STIs

Planned by:

Rob Sandford

Agency:

Ogilvy UK

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Vitalon Foods

Super Supau - The sports drink that sponsored a pilgrimage

Planned by:

Kimmy Lin

Agency:

Zenith, Taiwan

APG Long Term Thinking Category

Long Term Thinking

This is for a campaign that has run for 5 years or more and is still running. It awards the strategic thinking that has successfully and actively guided the brand or business over that time. 

in association with

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Long Term Thinking Gold

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Anusol

Bum’s The Word, Don’t Follow The Herd: The Value of Challenging the Reinvention Convention

Planned by:

Kit Altin & Bruno Carramaschi

Agency:

The Gate London

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KFC

The Colonel Strikes Back: 6 years of taking on the Empire

Planned by:

Jack Farrelly, Neasa McGuinness, Jack Carrington, Tatiana Jezierski & Chris Gallery

Agency:

Mother London

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The British Army

The British Army & Account Planning: We’re More Alike Than You Think

Planned by:

Amy Gilmore, Rachael Quarmby & Rhonwen Lally

Agency:

Accenture Song

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Yorkshire Tea

Long term brand building done proper

Planned by:

Loz Horner, Matt Gainsford & Myles Manyonda

Agency:

Lucky Generals

Long Term Thinking Bronze

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McDonald’s

Are you #ReindeerReady? The story of the other Christmas carrot

Planned by:

Hamish Cameron, Tom Sussman, Mike Treharne

Agency:

Leo Burnett

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Skittles

Skittles + Pride: From retail activation to cultural phenomenon

Planned by:

David Mortimer

Agency:

adam&eveDDB

Special Prizes and Sponsors

Specal Prize
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Thinkbox Prize for Delivering Cultural Impact
The British Army | Accenture Song

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Denise Williams Prize for Best Performance in Front of the Judges​
Schmackos | Jack Spicer | adam&eveDDB

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Nursery Prize for Best Contribution to Brand Growth
Yorkshire Tea | Lucky Generals
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Davies+McKerr Prize for Best Insight
McDonald's - Brains Behind the Brows | Leo Burnett
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Strategy Book Prize for Best Written Paper
Anusol | The Gate London

Prize for Best Strategic Response to the Challenge of Climate Change

Flora Plant | Pablo

 

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Prize for Best Media Thinking

Partners Life | Special, New Zealand

 

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Prize for Best Example of Diversity & Inclusion

Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers | VCCP

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PR Special Prize

Microsoft | Edelman, The Netherlands

 

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Photo Gallery

Photos
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