EssenceMediacom, Initiative and more named finalists for 2024 MFA Awards

Campaigns for Tennis Australia, Telstra, KFC and more are among the slew of finalists for the 2024 MFA Awards.

The nominees for this year’s awards from the Media Federation of Australia are a broad mix of multinationals and local indie bodies, large and small agencies, and partners.

Chosen by a panel of over 100 judges (with close to half of them being client chief marketing officers), the works needed to satisfy the three attributes that made up the judges’ criteria – “effectiveness, long-term business growth and media agencies’ industry purpose of We Are The Changers”.

According to the judging panel, 2024 heralded a year of high-quality, innovative campaigns for the industry and its clients.

“It has been a privilege and an honour to be a Signature Judge at this year’s MFA Awards; I was wowed by the calibre of media thinking and the work that’s gone into delivering clear and powerful entries,” said Naysla Edwards, VP of customer marketing and member experience at American Express ANZ.

“Phenomenal to see the focus across the media agency industry on how their efforts are driving tangible business growth, long-term impact and outstanding innovation. Congratulations to all the finalists!”

Another of the judges, Nicole Smart, Woolworths Group’s GM of group media and media planning, expressed her pride at seeing the work of her peers.

“In judging the MFA Awards, I felt proud of our industry peers and loved seeing media shine,” Smart enthused.

“We saw some truly inspiring work across a broad range of business categories, from brands both big and small – reinforcing the belief that customer insight, brilliant strategy and brave execution are equally important in achieving strong results.

“Well done to all who entered and congratulations to the finalists. It was not an easy decision!”

MFA’ chief executive officer, Sophie Madden, agreed, stating: “A big congratulations to the finalists of the 2024 MFA Awards for continuing to live up to our industry’s We Are The Changers purpose. Each year, I am blown away by the quality of strategic thinking, innovation and collaboration our members are delivering for their clients.”

The MFA Awards’ winners will be unveiled on September 19, 2024 at a gala dinner in Sydney. At the same time, several other accolades including the Seven-presented MFA Awards Grand Prix and “awards for Industry Contribution, Hall of Fame, and the NGEN Awards” will be presented on the night.

The finalist list for the 2024 MFA Awards is below:

OUTCOMES

Brand Impact – Sponsored by Meta

• EssenceMediacom, Google Pixel Perspectives, Google – Collaborating partner: PHD
• Mediahub, Run Your Way, New Balance
• UM and TBWA, The SEEKret to turn plateau into growth, SEEK

Business Impact

• EssenceMediacom, KFC Modelled Menu, Yum!
• Foundation, Telfast Disrupts Its Way To #1, Sanofi
• Initiative and ARN, Win a Billboard, ARN Media – Collaborating partner: JCDecaux

Behaviour Change

• CulturalPulse, FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Multicultural Fan Engagement, FIFA
• EssenceMediacom, Creating a Newspaper to Make Driving Safer, Queensland Government Collaborating partner: The Betoota Advocate
• Initiative, Mental Fitness Gym, Gotcha4Life Foundation – Collaborating partner: Science Fiction
• OMD, Project Enigma, NSW Cancer Institute

Data-Led Activation

• Atomic 212°, Red Is The New Black, My Muscle Chef – Collaborating partner: Chello
• iProspect, Using Data to Beat the January Blues, Air New Zealand
• OMD, Project Enigma, NSW Cancer Institute
• Zenith Media Australia, How a Built-from-Scratch Data Set Won Christmas 2023, ALDI – Collaborating partner: BMF

Long Term Results

• Bohemia Group, Unleashing Personality to Outgrow The Category, Yellow Tail – Collaborating partner: Dig
• PHD Australia, Getting the Australian Open to the Magic Million, Tennis Australia
• Wavemaker, Maybelline Game-Changing Results, L’Oreal – Collaborating partners: HERO, Photoplay Films, Livewire

EXECUTION

Best Integrated Campaign

• Initiative, Daisy Jones & The Six on Tour, Prime Video – Collaborating partners: Mediabrands Content Studio, Nova, SCA, Spotify, Vevo
• Initiative, Delivering Holiday Smiles, Amazon – Collaborating partners: Mediabrands Content Studio (MBCS), JCDecaux
• Initiative, Taking Aussies back to ’07, Prime Video – Collaborating partners: ARE Media, Mediabrands Content Studio, Scentre Group, Snapchat, Spotify
• OMD, SPF your deck, Dulux Group – Collaborating partner: Thinkbell Melbourne
• PHD, Mountain Goat: Untamed Music, Asahi – Collaborating partner: Spotify

Best Use of Small Budget <500K

• EssenceMediacom, Dogs and Pubs are Better Together, My Dog – Collaborating partner: The & Partnership
• EssenceMediacom, Creating a Newspaper to Make Driving Safer, Queensland Government – Collaborating partner: The Betoota Advocate
• Foundation, Lunar New Year, HSBC
• UM, Did You Hear That?, Australian Government – Collaborating partner: Spotify

Partnership Award

• EssenceMediacom, Creating a Newspaper to Make Driving Safer, Queensland Government – Collaborating partner: The Betoota Advocate
• Foundation, Telfast and Seven: Disrupting our way to #1, Sanofi – Collaborating partner: Network Seven
• Initiative, Insuring Indigenous Stories, IAG / NRMA Insurance – Collaborating partners: NITV, SBS

Innovation

• CHEP, Climate Doctor’s Certificate, School Strike 4 Climate – Collaborating partners: Doctor Nick Abel and Doctor David Karoly
• Foundation, Renewables Ad Engine, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare Australia – Collaborating partner: Adylic
• OMD Create, Free Calls to Santa, Telstra – Collaborating partners: OMD, fullstop.ai, The Monkeys
• Wavemaker, Salon Brilliance, Henkel (Schwarzkopf) – Collaborating partners: Goat, Hogarth, Connecting Plots

Best Content Amplification Strategy

• EssenceMediacom, Creating a Newspaper to Make Driving Safer, Queensland Government – Collaborating partner: The Betoota Advocate
• Initiative, Taking Aussies back to ’07, Prime Video – Collaborating partners: ARE Media, Mediabrands Content Studio, Scentre Group, Snapchat, Spotify
• Principle Media Group, Healthy Minds Campaign 2024, Swisse – Collaborating partner: Traffik Creative

ESG Campaign – Sponsored by SBS

• EssenceMediacom, Cinema for ALL, Mable – Collaborating partner: Val Morgan
• Initiative, Empower With Flowers, Prime Video – Collaborating partner: Mediabrands Content Studio
• Wavemaker and GroupM, The Power of Search, Black Dog Institute – Collaborating partners: Google, Reddit, Folk Agency

Media for Good

• GroupM and Wavemaker, The Power of Search, Black Dog Institute – Collaborating partners: Google, Reddit, Folk Agency
• Foundation, Renewables Ad Engine, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare Australia – Collaborating partner: Adylic

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Pro Bono/Cause Marketing Incentive (In recognition of Pam Lane)

• CHEP Network, Climate Doctor’s Certificate, School Strike 4 Climate – Collaborating partners: Doctor Nick Abel and Doctor David Karoly
• EssenceMediacom, Putting an End to Childhood Bullying, Dollys Dream – Collaborating partner: The Open Arms
• Initiative, Mental Fitness Gym, Gotcha4Life Foundation – Collaborating partner: Science Fiction
• Mindshare, The Greet Reef Census, Citizens Of The Great Barrier Reef – Collaborating partner: ReThink Everything

Agency Talent & Culture (<100)

• Dentsu QLD
• The Media Store
• This Is Flow

Agency Talent & Culture (>100)

• Atomic 212°
• Initiative

CHANNEL EXCELLENCE

Best Use of Screens

• Initiative and Kinesso, Wonder, Goodman Fielder – Collaborating partners: Flybuys, Channel 9, Channel 7, SBS
• Match & Wood, The Bedroom Binge, Snooze

Best Use of Technology

• Foundation, Renewables Ad Engine, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare Australia – Collaborating partner: Adylic
• OMD Create, Free Calls to Santa, Telstra – Collaborating partners: OMD, fullstop.ai, The Monkeys

Best Use of Audio

• PHD, Mountain Goat: Untamed Music, Asahi – Collaborating partner: Spotify
• UM, Did You Hear That?, Australian Government – Collaborating partner: Spotify

Best Use of Outdoor – Sponsored by OMA

• Initiative and ARN, Win a Billboard, ARN Media – Collaborating partners: JCDecaux
• Initiative, Delivering Holiday Smiles, Amazon – Collaborating partners: Mediabrands Content Studio (MBCS), JCDecaux
• UM, Guinness Brewery of Meteorology, Lion – Collaborating partners: JCDecaux, Thinkerbell
• UM, XXXX Gold Pride in your Origin, Lion – Collaborating partners: JCDecaux, Thinkerbell

Best Use of Performance Media

• Initiative and Kinesso, Wonder, Goodman Fielder – Collaborating partners: Flybuys, Channel 9, Channel 7, SBS
• Intender, Lighting the way with Integrated Media, EnergyAustralia
• iProspect, Nailed It, L’Oréal ANZ
• OMD, Performance Value Engine, Telstra

Best Use of Events and Experiential

• EssenceMediacom, Google Pixel Perspectives, Google – Collaborating partner: PHD
• PHD, Scrum Saga, Asahi Beverages – Collaborating partners: DRUM, Pedestrian Group

Got a tip?

Matthew Leong

Matthew is the editorial assistant at Mumbrella. He joined the company at the end of September 2023.

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topics Media Federation of Australia MFA Naysla Edwards Nicole Smart Sophie Madden

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