In another year of exceptional work from across the advertising industry, the Newsworks Awards 2023 attracted stellar entries from agencies including Carat UK, EssenceMediacom, Hearts & Science, the7stars, iProspect, OMD UK and Spark Foundry
The Newsworks Awards celebrate the very best advertising in multi-platform news brands, as well as paying special tribute to top young agency talent and giving kudos to the ultimate advertiser of the year.
Announced today, the awards shortlist features nominations from a broad range of agencies and brands. Key across many of this year’s finalists was the role of news brands to promote social impact for a variety of causes. Other major themes included consistently clever usage of format and context to deliver compelling campaigns, as well as the effectiveness boost these campaigns received by being placed around trusted, quality journalism.
A top judging panel of brand and agency leaders narrowed down the entries to the final shortlist below. The jury was chaired by Ross Sergeant, global head of media at Allwyn, the incoming National Lottery licensee from February 2024.
Sergeant commented: “What a pleasure it has been to chair the Newsworks Awards. It has been inspiring to see how agencies and advertisers have used the agility and contextual power of trusted, multiplatform news brands to such brilliant effect. I look forward to celebrating with all our nominees later this month.”
The winners, which include a Chair’s Award chosen by Sergeant, will be revealed at an awards party at London’s 12th Knot rooftop bar on Tuesday 28 November.
Jo Allan, Newsworks CEO, said: “The calibre of entries this year has been outstanding and I’m delighted that so many fantastic purpose-led campaigns have made our shortlist.
“Campaigning on behalf of readers is part of journalism’s DNA, so it’s heartening to see agencies and advertisers partner with news brands to produce such socially impactful campaigns. I’m looking forward to toasting our winners at our awards party.”
Alongside Sergeant, the judging panel featured senior industry figures including Mindshare managing director Fleur Stoppani, OMD UK managing director Grant Burke, m/Six head of commerce strategy Lesley Myers Lamptey, Samsung head of media Joanna Williams, Boots director of healthcare marketing Laura Gooday and HSBC head of brand marketing Sarah Mayall.
NEWSWORKS AWARDS 2023 SHORTLIST
Best display campaign
- Asda, ‘Have your Elf a Merry Christmas’, Spark Foundry
- Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), the DEC Turkey/Syria Earthquake Appeal: the power of news media in an emergency, JAA Media
- GambleAware, Let’s Open Up About Gambling, OmniGOV @ MG OMD
- Greggs, SnAPPing up Free Greggs, Carat UK
- Lidl, Making Christmas UnBEARlievable, OMD UK
- Pets At Home, We’re All for Pets, Carat UK
Best content partnerships
- Boots, Project You, Health Check Campaign, EssenceMediacom & The Pharm
- British Red Cross, The World’s Emergency Responders, Havas Media
- Co-op Funeralcare, Let’s Talk About Grief, Carat UK
- Halifax, Who knew banks could do ‘community’?, Zenith UK
- Nurofen, See My Pain, Closing the gender pain gap, Zenith UK
- Oatly, Oatly x News UK, — Thanks Milk, we’ll take it from here, PHD
- Peloton, Making Peloton a trusted partner for the gym-timidated, Hearts & Science
- Transport for London, TfL sparks new trips partnership, Wavemaker UK
Best tactical ad
- Asda, Tactical Ads, Spark Foundry
- Burger King, (Burger) King’s Coronation, iProspect
- PepsiCo Walkers, It’s Crunch Time…, OMD UK
- Sarson’s, Fryday, Bicycle London
- Tourism Australia, Come and Say G’Day, UM London
- TUI, TUI Tuesdays, EssenceMediacom
Best contextual campaign
- Ancestry, Ancestry.com’s Crowning Moments, the7stars, Ratchet and Ozone
- Asda, ‘Romaine Calm’, Spark Foundry
- Aviva, Using innovative contexts to bring to life ‘solving financial puzzles’, Publicis Media
- Sanofi – Buscopan, Taking a high fashion approach to irritable bowel syndrome, Hearts & Science
- Tesco, ‘The Christmas Party’, EssenceMediacom
- UN Women, Turning Hard News into Hard Donations, EssenceMediacomX
Most effective campaign
- Boots, Project You, Health Check Campaign, EssenceMediacom & The Pharm
- Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), the DEC Turkey/Syria Earthquake Appeal: the power of news media in an emergency, JAA Media
- Lidl, Making Christmas UnBEARlievable, OMD UK
- Pets at Home, We’re All for Pets, Carat UK
- Save The Children, Where there’s a will there’s a way, EssenceMediacom North
- UN Women, Turning Hard News into Hard Donations, EssenceMediacomX
Best social impact campaign
- Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia Action Week 2023 with Mail Metro Media, Medialab Group
- Barclays, Supporting Communities, OMD UK
- Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), the DEC Turkey/Syria Earthquake Appeal: the power of news media in an emergency, JAA Media
- GambleAware, Let’s Open Up About Gambling, OmniGOV @ MG OMD
- Scottish Widows, How a news brands crusade got all the way to Rishi Sunak, Zenith UK
- UN Women, Turning Hard News into Hard Donations, EssenceMediacomX
Rising agency star of the year
- Josh Cross, EssenceMediacomX
- Meghan Gale, Spark Foundry
- Molly Exley-Kidd, Wavemaker UK
- Tiffany Grech, Wavemaker UK
Advertiser of the year
- Lidl, Advertiser of the Year, OMD UK
- Lloyds Banking Group, How LBG made a long-term commitment to news brands stronger than ever in ’23, Zenith UK
- Marks and Spencer, Advertiser of the Year, Mindshare
- Waitrose, How Waitrose overcame the cost-of-living crisis with a strategic retention plan, MG OMD
