McVitie’s and To Boldly Go Win Ocean Outdoor’s Inaugural Digital Creative Competition Grand Prix

James King, marketing director, McVities (pladis UK&I) and Kate Skeggs, senior brand campaign manager, pladis UK&I

McVitie’s and the London based creative agency To Boldly Go have been announced the winners of Ocean Outdoor’s inaugural Digital Creative Competition Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix was selected by an independent jury from a shortlist of 11 agencies and brands who secured Gold prizes from a pool of more than 360 entries in this year’s annual digital creative competitions which span six European countries.

Ocean’s competition seeks original, bold concepts which both advance Digital out of home (DOOH) as an advertising medium and inspire creativity. First established in the UK 15 years ago, the competition has since been rolled out to other countries as Ocean has expanded into Europe. Previous winners have gone on to win multiple Cannes Lions and collected many other international awards.  

The Grand Prix

New for 2025, the Grand Prix is an incremental prize over and above the £100,000 screen space already awarded to McVitie’s and To Boldly Go as last year’s UK Gold winners.

The prize includes a one week campaign of McVitie’s choice across six of Europe’s most iconic digital screens including The Amsterdam Leidseplein; Stockholm’s Halo; The Iconic in Field’s Copenhagen shopping mall; Helsinki’s Redi Icon; The Cube in Oslo; and London’s Piccadilly Lights.

Ocean Studio will film the campaign, creating an asset to share across the winners’ owned digital and social channels.

The Grand Prix was judged based on McVities’s and To Boldly Go’s winning UK idea which reignites an age old British debate. Dare to dunk? is an interactive Digital out of home (DOOH) game powered by haptics, gesture control and chocolate digestives.

Players use Ocean’s hand and gesture control technology to mimic the classic biscuit dunk, trying to hit that sweet spot before the biscuit breaks. Each day there are 100 chances to win, with rewards for near-perfect efforts and a grand prize for those who master the ultimate dunk. A live ‘dunkerboard’ adds a competitive edge, encouraging social media sharing.

Aslı Özen Turhan, chief marketing officer at pladis UK&I, said, "Winning the inaugural Grand Prix is extremely exciting. McVitie's is built on the positive benefits of bringing people together over a hot drink and a biscuit, an inherently British ritual for more than 180 years - and so we know a thing or two about dunking! The opportunity to expand our competitive challenge into new territories and communities is fantastic and we can't wait to spread our upcoming campaign far and wide - watch this space.”

Ocean Outdoor Group director of strategic marketing Helen Haines said, “Our Grand Prix jury said the use of DOOH to explore the science behind biscuit dunking was fun, engaging and will get people talking. From a creative and business perspective, this idea delivers value on every level, making McVitie’s and To Boldly Go worthy winners of our first ever Grand Prix.”   

The jurors for the Grand Prix were drawn from European agencies. They included Christina Knight, founder and executive creative director, P Mad Women Academy/UKnight AB (representing Sweden); Therese Becke, CEO of Pol (Norway); Jacob Klintrup, creative strategic director of Kadaver (Denmark); and Remy Kurpershoek, chief creative officer and managing director, Publicis Groupe (Netherlands).

The shortlisted agencies competing for the Grand Prix were Nordea Group Creative; Stendahls; NORD DDB; Rosser; The Barn; &Co. / NoA; Mainostoimisto Convoy Oy; Total Design; Higuita; To Boldly Go; and Elvis.

They are all 2024 Gold winners of Ocean’s six national digital creative competitions which seek and reward original DOOH advertising concepts in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK.