MAD STARS Announces Its 2024 Award Winners with Grands Prix of the Year to Dentsu Inc. and Impact BBDO

It has been an exciting three days of inspiration, innovation and unravelling the mysteries of INC.AI at MAD STARS 2024, under the theme, AIM: Aim Marketing Success with AI. MAD STARS closed its 2024 festival at BEXCO in Busan, South Korea on August 23 with a gala Welcome Reception and a grand Awards Show.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze trophies and Crystal certificates were awarded across six groups of categories as well as the awards highlights, The Grands Prix of the Year and Special Awards.

The Grand Prix of the Year in Product & Service was awarded to Dentsu Inc., Japan for My Japan Railway of JR Group.

The Grand Prix of the Year in Public Service Advertising was awarded to Impact BBDO, United Arab Emirates, for Child Wedding Cards of UN Women.

The MAD STARS 2024 executive jurors shared their appraisals of these ultimate award winners.

Matt MacDonald, chief creative officer, BBDO New York, “Product & Service: It's amazing to see how a 150-year-old rail service can be transformed through the power of brilliant design. My Japan Railway fundamentally changed how people experienced rail travel in Japan, making it more fun, beautiful, and connected. It raises the bar for all of us.

Public Service Advertising: Child Wedding Cards is an incredibly powerful example of how even the simplest ideas can have an enormous impact. These simple cards, made by children, had the power to influence the Federal Islamic Court to pave the way for Pakistan to raise the minimum age for marriage. This is an idea that will help children remain children, and for that reason it was worthy of being Grand Prix of the Year.”

Gabriel Lora, VP of strategy & digital transformation, FCB Newlink, “Product & Service: For me, My Japan Railway represent the connection between creativity and strategy that activates people through behaviour that impacts positively. Design becomes the medium to create a beautiful interaction that puts the brand in front of the most important audience - people.

Public Service Advertising: Child Wedding Cards for me represents the power of simple ideas. The power to change something using just words. The power to use something beautiful in a way that can make a revolution.”

Suzana Apelbaum, head of creative and innovation, Google, “Product & Service: My Japan Railway was the entry that put a big smile on my face and made my eyes shine. With the power of a delightful design, it's much more than a campaign. It profoundly transforms the experience of travelling by train and creates new levels of connection between people and Japan’s scenic attractions.

Its seamless and conceptual use of AR is an inspiring example of how technology can create meaningful and impactful advertising experiences.

Public Service Advertising: Child Wedding Cards is a powerfully simple and unexpected idea. The creative execution using children’s artwork brought such a special emotional impact, that it led to tremendous social and political impact. It’s one of those examples of advertising at its best, leveraging pure creativity to drive critical change. In times of AI, it’s refreshing to see a campaign like this, that dispenses complex executions and exudes humanity.”

Emma de la Fosse, chief creative officer, Edelman, “Product & Service: My Japan Railway has been recognised by juries across the world so it’s wonderful to be able to award it highly at MAD STARS, this region’s foremost creative awards ceremony. We loved the way that the campaign united traditional woodcut inspired design with modern data technology, driven by a human insight that we love to mark and record our journeys in this world. The end creative result was just thrilling. It ticked so many boxes, from design to brand experience, that it was a slam dunk for the Product & Service Grand Prix of the Year.

Public Service Advertising: Child Wedding Cards produces two visceral reactions, both at opposite ends of the scale. When you first see male religious leaders promoting the idea that little girls five years old can be married, you feel outrage. Then when you see the solution, you feel delight and joy. This is the power of ideas at work; where others create problems, creatives solve them with ideas that help powerful leaders in government and business to see those problems in a new light and feel compelled to act. Child Wedding Cards fought mediaeval-minded misogyny with a beautiful message that carried such a powerful punch it changed the law in Iran. That’s why it had to win the Grand Prix of the Year for Purpose. 

MAD STARS’ Special Awards are awarded to those what accumulate the most points from Finalist to Grand Prix of the Year.”

This year’s Special Award winners are:

• Production of the Year: LULL Inc.
• Advertiser of the Year: SAMSUNG
• Agency of the Year: DENTSU INC.   
• Network of the Year: DENTSU GROUP INC.
• Holding Company of the Year: DENTSU GROUP

Find all winners on the MAD STARS website.

MAD STARS would like to congratulate all the winners and offer a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to making MAD STARS 2024 another immensely successful event.