IKEA Canada ‘SHT’ Wins Top Prize at AICP Next Awards
As day one of AICP Week 2025 drew to a close, the production industry gathered to celebrate the winners of the AICP Next Awards.
Hosted at The Times Center in New York, the AICP Next Awards celebrate “work that has to be honoured in a different way,” said AICP’s president Matt Miller, whilst “still honouring creativity, craftsmanship, ingenuity and thinking that drives things forwards.”
Next Awards judging chair and global CCO of Edelman, Judy John took to the stage to introduce the honourees across the different categories and said, “The AICP Next Awards point the way forward and illustrate new ways of creating content for marketing.
"They also combine the creative and the craft with the business of advertising, and that’s what makes this show so unique," she continued. "We celebrate not just the creatives but the makers: the production community.”
Judy showed case studies of the winning projects, as well as video insights from the jury presidents, who were selected by Judy herself. Several of the jury presidents also joined Judy on stage to discuss some of the winning work, including the winner of the Next Awards’ top prize, ‘Most Next’, which was earned by IKEA Canada and Edelman Canada's ‘SHT’ campaign.
The campaign, which launched during Earth Month in April 2024 introduced the ‘Second-Hand Tax’ (SHT), an initiative that rolled out in all IKEA As-Is marketplaces in Ontario. In a bold move to promote sustainability and affordability, IKEA Canada took a stand against Canadians having to pay tax on second-hand items, ensuring that customers didn’t have to pay HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) twice.
“During our election, the Bloc Québécois, one of the official [political] parties in Canada had this as part of their official platform… that is the level of influence that this campaign had,” shared Bianca Freedman, CEO, Canada at Edelman.
“This really is about affordability, and that’s why this idea hit so close to home for Canadians and became bigger than the brand. Yes, IKEA champions sustainability but they also champion ‘meaningful affordability’. People are having trouble affording their day-to-day life, so even though ‘SHT’ is light and funny, it hits home in a meaningful way.”
The winner of the Most Next Award, IKEA ‘SHT’ shone in multiple categories, being honoured in Public Relations and Creative Commerce. The Edelman team chose for the $10,000 charitable contribution that comes with the prize to go to Off The Street Club, a non-profit youth centre in Chicago.
This work, and the other honourees will become part of the archives of the Department of Film at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.
Other honourees included IAMS' and adam&eveDDB’s ‘Waylon’ campaign in the experiential category, which jury president, and Gotham CCO, Shannon Washington praised on stage for its “visceral simplicity”. She explained, “What impressed all of us were the decisions they didn’t make. The idea to keep it simple and hijack a moment… They had a value proposition that they proved so brilliantly – and it was an incredibly simple idea!”
See below for the full list of winners:
Branded Content & Entertainment: Standalone/Single Execution
Dramamine – ‘The Last Barf Bag’
Branded Content & Entertainment: Series/Episodic
AB InBev, Michelob ULTRA – ‘Lap of Legends’
New Zealand Herpes Foundation – ‘Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes’
Apple – ‘Introducing Immersive on Apple Vision Pro’
Creative Commerce
Meta - ‘Haunted Marketplace’
IKEA Canada - ‘SHT’
Creative Data
AB InBev, Michelob ULTRA – ‘Lap of Legends’
Digital Experiences
Ponos The Battle Cats - ‘Cat God Helpline’
Unilever/Dove - ‘Code My Crown’
Experiential
IAMS – ‘Waylon’
KFC – ‘Saucy Nuggets Dispensary’
Influencer
Coordown - ‘Assume That I Can’
MGA Entertainment - ‘Diss-Mass’
Innovation
Apple – ‘Introducing Immersive on Apple Vision Pro’
Apple – ‘Submerged’
AB InBev, Michelob ULTRA – ‘Lap of Legends’
Integrated Campaign
Dramamine – ‘The Last Barf Bag’
Cheetos/PepsiCo – ‘Other Hand’
Public Relations
IKEA Canada - ‘SHT’
Powerade - ‘The Athletes Code’
Purpose Driven
DP World – ‘The Move to -15’
Coordown – ‘Assume That I Can’
Powerade – ‘The Athletes Code’
Real Time Engagement
Meta - ‘Haunted Marketplace’
Social
International Paralympic Committee - ‘The Game-Changing Announcement’
Meta - ‘Haunted Marketplace’
Web Film
Pop-Tarts – ‘Unfrosted: Not Brought to You by Pop-Tarts’
Most Next
IKEA Canada – ‘SHT’
