WPP’s MediaCom is the most-shortlisted agency network for the Festival of Media Global Awards 2017 with 51 nominations, followed by fellow GroupM agency Mindshare with 31 entries. Publicis Media’s Starcom takes the third spot with 27, with Omnicom’s OMD (26) and PHD (23) hot on its tail. In sixth place on the shortlist is IPG Mediabrands’ UM with 21 nominations.

Starcom USA takes the top spot as the most-shortlisted agency office with 14 entries, ahead of Touché! PHD in Canada (11 nominations), MediaCom UK (10), MediaCom New Zealand (eight), PHD China (seven) and MediaPlus Germany (seven).

From a group level perspective, GroupM has nearly twice as many nominations (96) as its nearest competitor, Omnicom Media Group (50). Publicis Media comes in third with 35 shortlisted entries and IPG Mediabrands in fourth with 30.

The US narrowly secured the title of most-shortlisted country with 37 nominations on the shortlist, followed by the UK with 36 and China with 16, ahead of Australia, Germany and India on 15 shortlisted entries each.

MediaCom and Mindshare have swept the board at this year's Festival of Media APAC Awards 2017, winning the prestigious 'Agency of the Year' and 'Agency Network of the Year' titles, respectively. 

The winners were announced during a lavish ceremony held at the ParkRoyal in Pickering Hotel on Wednesday 22 March. On the night, MediaCom won seven golds and three bronzes, Mindshare four golds, five silvers and three bronzes, while UM took home four golds, four silvers and one bronze. 

MediaCom India won the prestigious 'Campaign of the Year' title for 'Ariel Dads Share the Load – Men for Laundry!' in addition to 'Agency of the Year', while Mindshare retained its title of 'Agency Network of the Year' for the APAC region. 

The winning campaigns represented a mix of countries including golds from Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, India and the Philippines. India topped the country rankings with seven golds, while Australia and New Zealand followed with five and four golds, respectively.    

The judging process uncovered a range of trends and insights including a significant increase in e-commerce, m-commerce, CSR, content, social, mobile and events as part of campaigns from across the region. Judges found the Best Experiential/Event and Best Content Awards to be two of the toughest to decide on a winner as the competition and quality of work was so strong. 

Check out the full list of Gold, Silver and Bronze winners below (and click through to view the full case studies): 

According to some florists in the UK, winning or being the lucky recipient of a bouquet of flowers was the best way to mark this month’s International Women’s Day. This is clearly missing the point and an example of brands simply cashing in on an initiative designed to highlight the many issues facing women across the globe.

So what can brands to do align themselves with the cause in a believable and ethical way that will help to amplify and support the initiative, while adding kudos and authenticity to their image? Here are some great examples where brands have not just vocalised their support for women’s issues but expressed it where it matters and resonates most – in the real world.

Leading your field

She Means Business – Facebook

This is a subdomain on Facebook’s main social platform, hosting articles, insights and re-sources to help women grow and promote their own businesses. Facebook is able to talk on this subject with authority due to its paid advertising products. It has added further credibility to this by collaborating with Enterprise Nation – an organisation that will help you start and grow your business, whose founder is Emma Jones MBE. Facebook has also collaborated with another organisations, such as the FSB.org, which covers financial and business advice for SMEs.

The key feature of this site is how it invites you to explore inspiring stories, from NGOs, etc, that will be broadcast through FB Live. Facebook also wants you to get involved by hosting your own live session. The content hosted here will be evergreen and as long as Facebook keeps adding to it, this will become a very valuable resource and business-focused social platform.

Lots of experiential practitioners will tell you that winter can be tough – they argue that there’s not a lot of big bucks activity in our industry until the weather warms up and the daffs and snowdrops start to poke out in early Spring.

Ask most agencies, and they’ll say that their busiest times run from May until December, with peaks for school holidays, summer festivals and then the run-up to Christmas. As a result, many agencies seem to spend the cold dark months of January and February huddled around their computer screens for warmth, chasing the big jobs for when every-one comes out of hibernation…

Well, at StreetPR, we obviously never got the memo about not going out until spring arrives, because we’ve been busy busy busy since the start of 2017.

To be blunt, business doesn’t stop because the temperature’s fallen.

Bimbo, the largest Mexican bakery in the world, has a range of products within its portfolio with different bread specialities each serving a specific purpose and benefit. 

In a new campaign by agency VectorB//McCann Mexico, entitled 'Slice by Slice', a series of print, OOH and digital ads have been released with their own visual resource to communicate the action and reaction of the benefits associated to each kind of bread.  

Check out the creative for the colourful and graphically engaging campaign below:

AdRoll’s State of Performance Marketing report has just been released, exploring the current perspectives of 1,300 marketers and the changing dynamics of the advertising/marketing landscape.

Check out the quick, digestible summary of the top 10 performance marketing spend trends for 2017 in the handy infographic below:

Peru’s largest home improvement chain Sodimac has partnered with McCann Lima to create the biggest VR experience ever produced in the country. The “Hijacked Highway” is a 360-degree virtual-reality experience that allows co-pilots and passengers in selected cars to ride along the Panamericana Sur with a unique point of view.

More than 40,000 VR cardboard glasses were distributed along the highway tolls stops, allowing auto passengers to see 20+ real life home improvement offers that virtually replace the billboards.

The VR initiative intervenes in specific spots throughout the Panamericana Sur, replacing the traditional billboards and visual clutter that drivers have to endure. The experience presents 3D animated images of Sodimac’s main summer offerings in funny and surprising forms - the underlying idea being to show consumers that Sodimac is an expert when it comes to transforming and enhancing any space.

The world of digital advertising has evolved so much over the years with the increased use of social media advertising and the explosion of video content. But what's coming next? Check out this infographic from the folks at Digital Marketing Philippines for a peek on what's to come...