New York Festivals Midas Awards has
announced the finalists for the 2018 competition. Worldwide since 2001,
the Midas Awards is the only awards show to
recognize excellence in financial advertising and marketing on a global
scale. Australia has secured 11 finalists, led by McCann Sydney with
seven, followed by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney with three and 303
MullenLowe with one.
McCann Sydney has
been shortlisted seven times for Mastercard NZ 'Tap for Your Town';
Saatchi & Saatchi has been shortlisted three times for St. George
Bank 'Zombie Spending at Halloween' and 303 MullenLowe once for Magellan
'Invest in the World's Best Financial Advisers'.
The Midas Awards grand jury, comprised of international executives from
financial and creative marketing disciplines, selected an unprecedented
317 entries as finalists. With an impressive 12% increase this year,
many prominent brands and international agencies recognized the
importance of being honored for creative excellence by the Midas Awards.
Says
Scott Rose, executive director, Midas Awards: "Great work demands
attention and this year's class of disruptive, entertaining, bar-raising
entries did just that. The grand jury was fully engaged and the
comments they left were filled with praise and admiration. Attention
sought. Attention earned. I applaud these innovative campaigns and look
forward to the executive jury laying their expert eyes upon them."
International
agencies competed for the top spot on the prestigious Midas Report. The
following agencies are top contenders for the 2018 annual ranking
report: McCann New York with a record-breaking 65 entries advancing,
McCann XBC with 20 entries moving on to the trophy round, Grey Group
Hong Kong with 17, FCB Africa (Pty) Ltd with 16, Mortimer Harvey with
12, Mullen Lowe with 10, CJ Worx with 9. King James Group Johannesburg
and Publicis Istanbul each saw 8 entries achieving Finalist status and
Publicis, Havas Worldwide Chicago and Groupe Connect each moved forward
with 6.
Global agencies employed event marketing and promotions
to champion causes and boost market share. Campaigns achieving finalist
status include: Mastercard's "Tap for Your Town" McCann Sydney.
Mastercard brought Rugby legend Ritchie McCaw out of retirement for one
last game. The campaign created a town rivalry to boost use of
Mastercard's tap technology resulting in the town with the most taps
hosted the game. "Charlie's Perfect Pitch" McCann New York for client
Mastercard moved on to the trophy round. The campaign featured American
singer-songwriter Charlie Puth demonstrating his perfect pitch by
identifying the notes from sounds from different cities before an
exclusive JetBlue Card cardmember Priceless concert, encouraging viewers
to find inspiration wherever they're traveling next. McCann New York's
campaign "Stand Up to Cancer with Mindy Kaling" for Mastercard invited
everyone to dine out using their Mastercard on October 10th and
Mastercard would donate to Stand Up to Cancer to help support cancer
research. "Friend's Again" campaign by Group Connect USA for Bank of
America declared that October 17, 2017 would be the first ever "Pay Back
a Friend Day" -a national holiday rallying everyone to grab the Bank of
America app, settle debts and be friends again.
Campaigns
utilizing strategic sponsorships provided opportunities to increase
brand awareness and engage consumers. Campaigns advancing to the trophy
round include: "A Mascot for the Red Devil" ING Belgium for
Mortierbrigade; "Bank next: Swamp or Lolla" R/GA Sao Paulo for Banco
Bradesco; Basketball Sponsorship "We apologize" TVC Publicis Istanbul
for ING Turkey; "Can't Judge a Book" McCann New York for Mastercard;"
Forbes Women's Summit" McCann XBX USA for OppenheimerFunds; "Nuveen:
DISC09 Sponsorship" MullenLowe for client Nuveen; "Listening Room"
McCann Erickson for Mastercard.
Integrated campaigns dominated
with 22 entries in all moving on to the trophy round including: "I Want
to Make That" Mortimer Harvey South Africa for Absa Corporate and
Investment Banking. The campaign features a little girl with big dreams
and the way she sees the world culminating in her adult version, showing
she still has the bravery to imagine, and the will to make her visions a
reality--defining the meaning of Africanacity for CIB."
Other
Integrated Finalists include: "Zombie Spending at Halloween" Saatchi
& Saatchi Sydney, St. George Bank; "HI-SA-TI Brand" CJ WORX,
Krungthai Bank; "Security & Fraud Solutions 2018 Brand Awareness
Campaign" Atomic Wash for Security & Fraud Solutions Division of
First Data; "ESG Primer Consolidated Integrated Campaign" Bank of
America, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; "Built For Adventure" Havas
Worldwide Chicago, Citi / AAdvantage; "The Full Story Campaign" Walter
Thompson New York, T. Rowe Price; "Citi's "That Giving Feeling" Campaign
for No Kid Hungry" Publicis, for client Citi; "There's No Retirement
Like Home" Alpha Zulu Kilo, HomeEquity Bank; "Dee-1's Knowledge for
College Tour" Sallie Mae for Sallie Mae; "Conversations with Yourself"
King James for Sanlam; and "5 Senses Multi-Factor Campaign" McCannXBX
for OppenheimerFunds. To view all the 2018 Midas Finalists, visit: HERE.
"Innovative
Business Exchange" Grey Group Hong Kong for HSBC saw 17 entries advance
to the trophy round. The film series showcased how HSBC has proactively
supported the journeys of different InnoTech businesses including
GreenTomato's growth through innovation and showcasing how HSBC
supported GOGOVAN to disrupt the logistics industry.
Global
financial brands were in the spotlight with an impressive number of
entries achieving Finalist status. Mastercard saw 68 entries advance to
the trophy round from agencies around the globe. McCann New York moved
forward with 47 Finalists for client Mastercard. McCann Worldgroup sp. z
o.o. Poland advanced with 8 entries, McCann Sydney with 7, McCann
Erickson London and McCann Canada each saw 3 entries advance. ABSA's
agencies saw 28 entries achieve Finalist status, 16 from FCB Africa
(Pty) Ltd and 12 from Mortimer Harvey. Citi achieved 19 Finalists in
total with Citi moving ahead with 7 entries and both Publicis and Havas
Worldgroup Chicago each advanced with 6 entries.
In this year's
Midas Awards competition, the United States saw an impressive 178
entries achieve Finalist status. South Africa saw 40 entries advance,
Hong Kong 18, the United Kingdom 15, Australia, Switzerland and Turkey
each advanced with 11. Thailand moved ahead with 9; Canada, Poland and
the United Kingdom saw 8 entries achieve Finalist status, Brazil and
Germany each saw 5 entries advance, Norway achieved 2 Finalists, and
Austria, Belgium and India saw 1 entry move on to the trophy round.
Shortlisted
entries will move on to the secondary trophy round and will be judged
by the Executive Jury who will award Gold and Silver Ingots to the
highest scoring entries and determine the winner for the Midas Award for
Innovation and the Grand Midas Award. The results of the juries are
parsed in an annual rankings brief, The Midas Report, --a veritable
who's-who in the world of financial services advertising that includes
the 3 individual reports: Agency, Brand and Network.
VIEW THE LIST OF FINALISTS