Grand Prix Winner – 98FM, GroupM, Media Central3
The Grand Prix Award at the annual Media Awards 2015 was won by Media Central, 98FM and GroupM while the Agency of the Year Award went to PHD with Core Media once again picking up the Agency Network of the Year.
A packed house of 855 people from the media and advertising industry gathered for the Awards, which are now in their fifth year.
Media Central won the Grand Prix for its work with client station 98FM and Group M for the station’s Naked Breakfast show, which also involved a collaboration with brands like Seat, DMG Media, TK Maxx, Club Orange and the Jack and Jill Foundation.
According to the judge’s citation for the Grand Prix award, this stand out entry was not only a great concept extended the excitement of live radio to the advertisers themselves. It was a great exercise in collaboration between the agency network the client and the advertisers where everyone shared in the risks and the rewards.”
It was also a big night for TV3 which won Media Brand of the Year while Media Central picked up Sales Team of the Year, beating off Mirror Media Ireland and DMG Media who picked up the Silver and Bronze awards respectively.
The most awarded agency on the night was the Core Media-owned agency Starcom, which picked up three gold, seven silver and one bronze awards. The agency won Gold along with the Irish Times and Maximum Media for its work with AIB and the bank’s Start-Up Academy in the Best Collaboration between Agency and Media Owner category. It also won a gold with Kinetic in the Best Collaboration between Agency and Media Owner (OOH) for work on the Heineken-owned Tiger beer. Starcom’s third gold, together with Rothco and WHPR, was for AIB’s #TheToughestChoice campaign
Elsewhere, Mediaworks also won three gold, one silver and two bronze awards while sister agency MediaVest, picked up nine awards including two gold and three silver awards. Elsewhere other agencies within the Core Media network that picked up gold awards on the night include Radical, Clear Blue Water and ZenithOptimedia.
Carat Ireland and DMG Media, meanwhile, won the gold in the Best Collaboration between Agency and Media Owner (Print) for work on the Diageo-owned Parrot Bay frozen cocktails while the silver went to Initiative and the Irish Times with the bronze going to Starcom and Totally Dublin.
It was a good night for the Omnicom-owned agencies PHD and OMD. Apart from scooping the Agency of the Year award, PHD also won gold in the Best Use of Sponsorship/Product Placement for the Mondelez-owned The Natural Confectionary Company as well as two silver and two bronze awards. OMD, meanwhile, won the gold in the Best Use of Media (Niche) for its work with the Irish Blood Transfusion Board.
This year’s Best Research Initiative went to Exterion Media for its research into urban audiences. The silver in the same category went to Mindshare, Kinetic and Group, while MediaVest picked up the bronze.
Another OOH firm, Clear Channel, picked up the gold award in the Best Sales Initiative category for the launch of AdConnect.
A full list of all the winners is available HERE.