With the addition of PHD UK, US, Canada and China’s four awards in the Effective Use of Partnerships & Sponsorships category, PHD has collectively received 12 accolades at the WARC Media Awards 2019. The UK office’s wins come in the Effective Use of Partnerships & Sponsorships category, which showcases how collaborations with third parties, including native advertising and sponsorships, have helped brands meet business goals.
The Grand Prix and a special award – the Successful Sponsorship Award – have been awarded to PHD UK and Fuse for #ThisIsOurTime, a campaign for Volkswagen-owned auto brand ŠKODA UK, which leveraged its cycling heritage and sponsorship of the Tour de France to provoke conversations about gender inequality in the sport.
The content-led campaign told the story of Donnons des Elles au Velos J-1, an all-female cycling team put together to ride the entire Tour de France course the day before the men’s race, shining a light on both the achievements and challenges of women’s cycling.
Content of the low-budget campaign was seen by more than 10 million people in Britain resulting in the UK government asking ŠKODA to participate in a Parliamentary review on gender equality.
Commenting on the Grand Prix winning campaign, jury member Rachel Lorenzon, Head of Partnerships at the7stars said: “It’s the sort of work you wish you’d done. The way they activated the insight was incredible, every single touchpoint was thought about, and the content was so great they could repurpose it for TV.”
PHD US and PHD Canada joined forces for the ‘Jump on the Wagen’ campaign for Volkswagen, which won a Silver award in the Partnerships & Sponsorships category, following a hugely successful partnership with the 2018 World Cup.
PHD China was also awarded a Bronze for the ‘How Zhonghua Shone Through’ campaign, which saw toothpaste brand Zhonghua partner with popular reality TV show Produce 101 to become a formidable challenger in the cosmetics category.
Across its network, PHD has picked up a total of 12 WARC Media Awards for 2019 – one Grand Prix, four Special Awards, two Gold, three Silver and two Bronze.
The Grand Prix and Special Awards’ winners across all four categories – Effective Use of Partnerships & Sponsorships, Effective Channel Integration, Best Use of Data and Effective Use of Tech – share a $40,000 prize fund. Read more about the WARC Media Awards scheme here.
