2024 Digital Cinema Media Awards Winners Announced

The eighth annual Digital Cinema Media Awards, held in partnership with Campaign, took place on Wednesday 18th September at BAFTA. Leading figures from the media and advertising worlds came together to celebrate and reward the most impactful cinema advertising work of the past twelve months.

The big winner on the night was the Royal Air Force (RAF) and MG OMD’s 'Stimulating Senses with 4DX and The Royal Air Force' campaign.

In 2023/24, the RAF’s recruitment targets were growing, and they needed to find a way to stand out from the competition. Research established that what resonates with young prospects is the fact the RAF offer more than just a job. From global travel to lifelong friendships, life in the RAF offers them things that few other employers can hope to match. The task was to showcase this. Cinema was chosen as the backbone of integrated multi-channel campaign for its immersive nature and unmatched attraction of 16-24s.

With a new creative execution ‘Protecting Space’, showcasing so many sensory-stimulating aspects of being in the RAF, it was quickly realised it would be perfect fit for Cineworld’s sensory 4DX technology and planned a Gold Spot on 4DX screens for six months. Early reads indicated strong results from this approach, so the RAF doubled down on their strategy to become the UK’s first-ever sponsor of 4DX.

The campaign won the award for Best Creative Use of Cinema, as well as the overall Grand Prix prize.

The Digital Cinema Media Awards are a celebration of creativity, innovation and storytelling on the big screen, recognising the smart media planning, strategic thinking and talent behind the work. Prizes were handed out in six categories this year, with one overall Grand Prix prize. 

Karen Stacey, CEO, DCM, commented, “From striking creative visuals and compelling narrative to ground-breaking technological advancements, the year’s entries were filled with compelling insights and tailored activations that pushed the boundaries of what cinema advertising can achieve to deliver unbeatable impact and drive impressive business results.

Cinema advertising plays a profound role in shaping culture, sparking conversations, and building meaningful connections between brands and audiences. The medium truly is more essential than ever as part of advertisers’ AV schedules. I hope these awards continue to inspire how the medium can be used beyond just the ad reel to maximise the role cinema can play for a whole variety of media challenges and budgets.”

Other wins on the night included The Lego Group and Initiative, who used cinema insights to enter a unique sponsorship with Picturehouse Cinemas and its Saturday Kids Club to launch a big new idea - 'Build Their Love For Cinema', winning the award for Best Use of Cinema (Small). LEGO integrated across Picturehouse's capabilities both on and off-screen. The partnership featured custom on-screen cinema idents and hands-on LEGO City activations across nine Picturehouse cinemas throughout the UK. Complementing this was a robust online strategy designed to raise awareness of the partnership and sustain product desirability through monthly competitions to win LEGO City bundles.

This category also saw the only highly commended award, which was given to Hillarys and EssenceMediacom for their ‘Hillarys Premiere Cinema to Propel Their AV Strategy’ campaign. The campaign was praised for exceptional planning, rationale, and strong cinema specific results.

The winner of Best Use Cinema (Large) was Google Pixel and EssenceMediacomX, with their ‘Google Pixel Best Use of Cinema’ campaign. surprising and fun way to show Pixel’s unique Audio Magic Eraser feature in the right context, at the right time and in the highest impact environment there is. The campaign focused on carefully selected films to align with a younger target audience with the Pixel 8 ad playing out in the Bronze Spot, ahead of the TYPO creative for premium awareness and frequency.

NatWest and Initiative were awarded Best ‘Marketing for Good’ Campaign. NatWest partnered with Initiative, DCM Studios and production company Recipe to tap into cinema in a hands-on way. With clear synergies between NatWest’s brand ethos and the cinematic narrative of Sony Pictures’ Gran Turismo film release, this was the perfect pairing for NatWest’s Thrive platform, a financial confidence and life readiness programme that supports a diverse group of young people across the UK. Partnering a filmmaking club in Southeast London, students spent the day on a professional set, recreating scenes in the actual Nissan GTR from the film, putting them and their stories at the heart of the ads.

The award for Best Long-term Use of Cinema was presented to Kia, Havas Media Network and Havas PLAY. Kia turned to independent cinema to engage a new affluent target audience of ‘modern progressives’, prospective clients who were open minded in their values and enjoyed being early adopters in tech and culture. For the past two years, Kia, Havas and DCM have formed a strong, creative bond delivering state-of-the-art advertising and creating a new way of reaching target audiences through DCM’s unique independent cinema estate.

In the category of Cinema Champion of the Year, we celebrated both an individual and a team who have gone above and beyond to champion smart-planning for cinema, and utilise the full extent of opportunities that the medium presents for brands to deliver results for clients.

Guive Shafie, AV Director at Dentsu was individual Cinema Champion of the Year. Guive’s entry clearly stood out to the judges, demonstrating a huge passion for cinema. He focuses on insights and planning to find smart ways of adding cinema onto a media plan for a diverse range of client.

The OmniGOV Recruitment Hub team at MG OMD received the team award for Cinema Champion of the Year. The team impressed the judges with a clear passion and support for cinema that has delivered best in class campaigns. They have uncovered new approaches to evolve previous non-spenders into big cinema advocates, pushing hard at every opportunity with strong commercial results as proof of their successes.

Below is a full list of winners from last night's ceremony. 

Best Use of Cinema (Small)

HIGHLY COMMENDED - Hillarys premiere cinema to propel their AV strategy, Hillarys, EssenceMediacom

WINNER - LEGO City & Picturehouse Kids’ Club - Build Their Love For Cinema, The LEGO Group, Initiative

Best Use of Cinema (Large)

WINNER - Google Pixel Best Use of Cinema, Google Pixel, EssenceMediacomX

Best Creative Use of Cinema

WINNER - Stimulating Senses With 4DX And The Royal Air Force, RAF, MG OMD

Best ‘Marketing For Good’ Cinema Campaign

WINNER - Thriving With Cinema, NatWest, Initiative

Best Long-Term Use of Cinema

WINNER - Harnessing the Power of Independent Cinema, KIA, Havas Media Network, Havas PLAY

Cinema Champion of the Year

WINNER - Guive Shafie, AV Director, Dentsu

Cinema Champion of the Year

WINNER - OmniGOV Recruitment Hub

Grand Prix

WINNER - Stimulating Senses With 4DX And The Royal Air Force, RAF, MG OMD