The shortlist for the annual TV Planning Awards, run by Thinkbox, in partnership with Campaign, has been announced and will now be judged by a 16-strong cohort that includes marketers from Nationwide and Rightmove.
The contest celebrates the most creative and effective use of TV and recognises the people behind them. It has been running for 15 years.
A winner will be chosen from the finalists in each award below and a Grand Prix will be selected to represent the best of the best of those who triumph in each category. A live ceremony will take place on July 6th.
Wavemaker was last year’s Grand Prix recipient for its "Voices" campaign for Nationwide, which also won the "Best ongoing use of TV" prize.
OMD UK was the inaugural TV Planning Agency of the Year in 2021, and Becky France, its then associate director, connections planning - since promoted to business director, connections planning - was crowned Young TV Planner of the Year. France is on this year’s judging panel.
The shortlist
Best use of sponsorship
Carat took one of the UK’s most loved conversation topics and a big influence of eating behaviour – the weather – and helped reinvigorate both brand love and key taste credentials for Heinz, whose awareness is undeniable but whose products were being overlooked when it came to whipping up lunch or dinner, as consumers forgot why they loved their beanz, soups and sauces.
Lidl’s off-kilter personality is something that shoppers across the length and breadth of the country have come to know and love, but a common misconception is that this comes at a trade off with product range and product quality. In 2021, OMD used a partnership with Sunday Brunch to produce an innovative sponsorship that showcased Lidl’s quality and tongue-in-cheek personality.
Vinted and Hollyoaks partnered in a media-first sponsorship to make buying and wearing second-hand clothes cool. The fully integrated partnership included TV soap characters interacting with the app as part of the show's storylines, characters wearing clothes bought on Vinted, and even sneak peek behind-the-scenes looks at each actor's on-screen wardrobe.
Best use of content
The challenge was to establish Rightmove as the default choice for people looking for property by getting as close as possible to the content that homebuyers love and providing genuine help and insight for their search. Electric Glue did this through a digital product placement of brand data right at the heart of Channel 4 favourite, Location, Location, Location.
A priority group for providers of higher education are 18-28-year-olds. They are also a key focus for The Open University (OU) but there is an ongoing issue around perceived credibility amongst this age group. Havas created a content series in partnership with MTV that showcased its students who have made a positive change within the world. Through these compelling, true stories, the agency was able to demonstrate the benefits of The OU, positioning the university as a facilitator for achieving future ambitions and driving consideration within the target audience.
To hit Dulux’s growth targets, MediaCom needed to get more than a million households to pick up a paintbrush. A traditional approach wouldn’t inspire a decorating revolution, so Dulux had to go bolder… Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen in leather trousers bold! Bringing back 90s decorating juggernaut Changing Rooms gave Channel 4 their biggest AFP launch ever - and Dulux a high-gloss, starring role.
Best small budget use of TV
Pizza Hut Delivery decided it needed to reinvest in ATL channels to challenge its competitors for relevancy. Its agency, december19, was tasked with delivering a positive return on ad spend and increasing consideration on a challenger budget. Focusing on the specific moment of pizza ordering, and how linear and BVOD could surround the takeaway decision, the campaign delivered with notable attributable uplifts in brand metrics, leading to a significant return to TV for the brand.
MG OMD’s brief for Bobbi Brown was a tough one; increase sales whilst mitigating against a reduction in budget, an ever-increasing competitive set and a declining category. Through a partnership with ITV and This Morning, MG OMD was able to insert Bobbi Brown into a warm, inclusive, and informative environment at the heart of TV that delivered well across all female audiences.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) had no intention of advertising during Euro 2020. Then, the world witnessed the shocking cardiac arrest of Christian Eriksen – and the work of those who performed life-saving heroics on the pitch. This is a glowing example of how a tight collaboration between a dedicated team of client, media agency, broadcaster and creative agency, delivered a mass-media moment on national TV with almost no media budget in just one 40 second spot.
Best ongoing use of TV
Carat UK helped evolve Premier Food’s AV strategy from one rooted in the quest for low-cost TVRs to a new model focusing on reach through a more premium buying approach. The new strategy was subsequently validated and then further informed by econometrics, resulting in more brands on-air, increased TV investment and impressive ROI. After many years, TV continues to deliver the audiences and business growth that Premier Foods seeks.
Agency december19 has been on a long journey with Xero - from TV newbie to master of its craft in how it assesses, plans and optimises its TV advertising. Their strategy has evolved to include BVOD, TV sponsorships, econometrics and proprietary forecast modelling. At the start of its TV activity, Xero had a huge gap between itself and its core competitors in terms of awareness and consideration, a gap that was significantly closed over their first three years on TV.
This is the story of how a start-up brand applied its challenger attitude to TV planning. Having been around since 2012 and relying on performance marketing to grow, Gousto’s first launched a brand TV campaign in 2018 and has now become the TV pioneer of its category. Brand TV has gone from being a testbed for the brand to the absolute bedrock of its media plan in 2021 (and beyond): TV continues to deliver the cost-efficient CPA for the brand and has catapulted brand awareness.
Best TV newcomer
As a new travel Covid-testing brand, Project Screen was looking to take advantage of the short-term opportunity in travel testing in November 2021. Its agency december19 knew that using the stature of TV to signal scale and trust would deliver outstanding results in a short-term market. Using a DRTV strategy to reduce the effects of price inflation, it was able to reach a travel-ready audience at scale, in the right context for them to act.
Once a cult icon, Drambuie had been left to gather dust at the back of the consumer cupboard. Challenged to revive the brand, dentsu X and The Story Lab partnered with ITV and James Martin's Saturday Morning Kitchen. Leveraging the post-lock-down boom for get-togethers, they forged an IP deal to have Martin demonstrate how Drambuie was that perfect after-dinner drink.
Ecotricity is Britain’s first green energy company and Pintarget was appointed to test whether addressable TV could be used to find a distinct group of committed green consumers prepared to pay a premium for renewable energy. Pintarget used an addressable TV campaign, together with online media and direct mail, to reach this hard-to-find audience and delivered sales uplifts across the board.
To promote The Coconut Collab’s plant-based yoghurts, Yonder Media combined mass reach linear TV with addressable TV powered by shopper data and created a full-funnel campaign that boosted short term sales, increased shopper volumes and drove brand metrics as a foundation for future growth.
Best TV ad planning
Cinch’s ambition for launch was to become the number one go-to destination for used car sales online. Led by a strong and consistent TV plan, MediaCom North designed and delivered a powerful omnichannel brand launch that navigated the challenges of a disruptor entering an unpredictable market. Through TV, Cinch was finally able to make buying a car online feel simple and intuitive, and has quickly become a household name.
In 2021, MG OMD was tasked with helping online used car marketplace Motorway launch a new brand campaign to help the business rapidly accelerate its growth. The long-term ambition of the business was clear: make Motorway the definitive way to sell your car. But there was a need to deliver business growth quickly so the task for media was simple - to drive as high a volume of enquiries as possible.
Since COVID turbocharged the “informal eating out delivery” category, McDelivery has been a significant source of growth for McDonald’s – but the sector is one of the most competitive to play in, with TV the most significant battleground. OMD UK devised a strategy that would allow McDonald’s to own the at-home delivery occasion, sending sales and market share skyrocketing.
Despite receiving a personal invitation through their own letterbox, one in three people invited still fail to attend their cervical screening. Republic of Media’s strategy led to a multi-touchpoint media plan that tackled the key barriers in attendance: complacency and fear. Their plan was built around delivering awareness and attention to a receptive audience and innovative partnerships that helped break down barriers
Young TV Planner of the Year
TV Planning Agency of the Year
