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2022 MFA Awards finalists announced

Close to 150 judges have selected 48 finalists for the 2022 MFA Awards, being held on 13 October 2022.

The finalists were chosen for demonstrating effectiveness, business growth and media agencies’ industry purpose of ‘We Are The Changers’.

MediaCom, Initiative, PHD and OMD were among the media agencies that scored multiple finalists. Initiative also dominated the NGEN Award category, with four teams from the agency chosen as finalists, alongside a team from Match & Wood and a solo entrant from Carat completing the NGEN finalists.

The Grand Prix (presented by Seven), and awards for Industry Contribution and Hall of Fame will also be announced at the MFA Awards gala dinner on Thursday 13 October 2022 at Royal Randwick Sydney. The awards will follow on from the MFA EX: Media For All effectiveness conference. MFA EX will also be held in Melbourne the week prior, on 6 October 2022.

The judges – leaders from clients, agencies, industry bodies and media partners – commended this year’s entries for displaying high calibre media thinking, innovative solutions and strong results for clients.

Judge Tim Kenward, marketing director at McDonald’s, said: “It was a pleasure to judge the 2022 MFA Awards and see the high calibre of work within the industry. It was impressive to see agency and client partnerships demonstrating innovative ways to overcome their brand challenges through sound strategic thinking and execution and I was most inspired by how brands used media influence to create meaningful conversations in the community to make a difference.”

Katie Rigg-Smith, chief strategy officer of WPP Australia & New Zealand, added: “It is always a privilege to judge the MFAs, but this year felt even more special judging the new ESG category. As a panel we were inspired to see the steps our industry is clearly taking in delivering the ESG ambitions of our clients. The strongest entries linked the ESG objectives to the role media played in delivering those, as well as the consideration given to the type of media and their own ESG approaches. It is early days but the entries gave so much promise for what is to come next for the whole industry in this space and I can’t wait to see how this category continues to evolve.”

MFA CEO Sophie Madden said: “The MFA Awards recognise and reward work that has delivered tangible brand and business results for clients in the short and long term, living up to our industry’s ability to influence change. The judges were blown away by the quality of the strategic thinking and the level of effectiveness delivered through innovation and collaboration. The entries in the 2022 MFA Awards demonstrate that the work being produced by Australian media agencies is up there with the best in the world, so all finalists should be incredibly proud of their achievement.”

The 2022 MFA Awards finalists are:

Agency Talent & Culture

Initiative’s Choice Charter, Initiative

Value-driven culture shines under pressure, The Media Store

The Flow Profit Share, This is Flow

Behaviour Change

Australian Government – Department of Social Services, Stop it at the Start – Phase 3, UM

City of Melbourne, Get to the city or get FOMO, Zenith Media

Gotcha4Life, Boys Do Cry, Initiative

McDonald’s, Macca’s Monopoly – Game on!, OMD

NSW Government – Department of Customer Services, Let’s Do This NSW!, UM

Best Long-term Results

KFC, Did someone say KFC?, MediaCom

Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, Love delivers long-term trust – elevating actions through adversity, The Media Store

Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate Smile Strong, Wavemaker

Best Use of Content – sponsored by ThinkPremiumDigital

IAG, A Fire Inside, Initiative

KFC, KFC Degustation, MediaCom

Grey Goose, The Grey Goose Garden Bar: Smooth Sounds of Audio Enhanced Cocktails, OMD

UN Women Australia, #EmpowerMoves, UM

Best Use of Data & Analytics – sponsored by News Corp

McDonald’s, Macca’s Monopoly – Game on!, OMD

Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Real-Time Routes, PHD

McDonald’s, Macca’s Monopoly – Game on!, OMD

Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Real-Time Routes, PHD

Brand Impact – sponsored by OMA

Repco, High Octane Highjacks, Initiative

IAG, A Fire Inside, Initiative

National Australia Bank, NAB JAB – One jab closer to, Mindshare

Suncorp, Suncorp One House, OMD & Leo Burnett

Volkswagen Group Australia, Golf Ad Break Championship, PHD

Bravery – sponsored by Nine

IAG, CGU Tall Poppy, Initiative

KFC, KFC Degustation, MediaCom

Volkswagen Group Australia, Golf Ad Break Championship, PHD

Business Impact – sponsored by Quantcast

Mars Petcare Australia, #CatsinBoxes by WHISKAS, MediaCom

Mars Petcare Australia, Caturday Nights with Dine, MediaCom

Environmental, Social & Governance Award – sponsored by SBS Media

Goodman Fielder, Wonder Recycling Rewards, Initiative

Gotcha4Life, Boys Do Cry, Initiative

Google Australia, In Our Image, PHD & Google

Innovation in Media

Amazon Prime Video, The wheel of Time, LADbible Group & Rufus by Initiative

Mars Petcare Australia, #CatsinBoxes by WHISKAS, MediaCom

Volkswagen Group Australia, Golf Ad Break Championship, PHD

Partnerships

Mars Petcare Australia, #CatsinBoxes by WHISKAS, MediaCom

Suncorp, Suncorp One House, OMD & Leo Burnett

Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, A “mobile” Partnership accelerates Toyota’s mobility reinvention, The Media Store & The Seven Network

Pro Bono/Cause Marketing Incentive – In recognition of Pam Lane

Gotcha4Life, Boys Do Cry, Initiative

Dolly’s Dream, MediaCom x Dolly’s Dream, MediaCom

UN Women Australia, #EmpowerMoves, UM

Real-time Marketing

Mars Wrigley Australia, M&M’s commentate from the Gogglebox couch, MediaCom

National Australia Bank, NAB Federal Budget 2021, Mindshare

Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Real-Time Routes, PHD

NGEN Award

Alice-Maree Raitt, Carat

Ben Breden & Olivia Coxon, Initiative

Kate O’Loughlin & Leah Franco, Initiative

Rikki Stern & Summer Treseder, Initiative

Bobbie Hansen & Charles Cripps, Initiative

Cameron Ho & Vedant Agarwal, Match & Wood

The sponsors of the 2022 MFA Awards are:

Grand Prix Sponsor: Seven

Platinum Sponsors: News Corp Australia, Nine, Outdoor Media Association, Quantcast, SBS Media, ThinkPremiumDigital

Gold Sponsors: Ad Standards, Foxtel Media, Google, Meta, OzTam, Paramount, SCA, Snapchat, Tik Tok

Silver Sponsors: IAB Australia, Lion, Nielsen, Yahoo!

Tickets are on sale via the MFA website.

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