Y&R NZ - The Leicester City of Advertising?

Y&R NZ has made history by becoming the first New Zealand agency to be named Most Awarded Advertising Agency at the D&AD Professional Awards 2016 ceremony, which took place in London last night.

Y&R NZ walked away with 11 pencils across a range of categories including the coveted Black & Gold Pencil for Most Awarded Advertising Agency and a staggering eight Pencils, six of them Yellow, for its audacious ‘McWhopper’ campaign. The agency also picked up Pencils for its Actual Reality campaign for Jaguar NZ and for Brake Road Safety – Living Memories.

The global success of the ‘McWhopper’ campaign saw Burger King Corporation recognised as the D&AD 2016 Most Awarded Client. Burger King Senior Vice President, Global Brand Management, Fernando Machado, was in London to collect the award.

The ‘McWhopper’ campaign, designed to raise awareness of United Nations Peace Day, saw Burger King publish an open letter calling for a ‘burger wars ceasefire’ with corporate rival McDonald’s. Burger King proposed the two restaurants join forces to create a symbolic hybrid burger – the ‘McWhopper’.

When McDonald’s contentiously turned down the offer, tens of thousands of people created and shared DIY ‘McWhoppers’ online, further spreading the peace message. Meanwhile, four other restaurants got onboard, and together, the historic ‘Peace Day Burger’ was created and served on Peace Day 2015. The campaign ultimately achieved 8.9 billion impressions and increased Peace Day awareness by 40%.

Josh Moore, Y&R NZ CEO & CCO, and Tom Paine, Y&R Creative Director, were in London to receive the awards. Moore said it was an incredible honour for the agency to have taken out the top spot. 

“To be named D&AD’s Most Awarded Agency is an outstanding achievement and huge recognition for the work accomplished by the talented Y&R NZ crew, our loyal partners and an enormous credit to the bravery, trust and faith shown by our clients over the past year.

“The fact that a number of these Yellow Pencils were awarded across a number of categories recognises the very skilled media practitioners in Y&R Media NZ. A huge round of applause to them for their massive achievement at a global level. Without media and without integration you simply can't achieve ideas of this scale, anywhere.

“Every single person at Y&R NZ gives their all, every day, taking on challenges that others might walk away from. Each one of these iconic Pencils is recognition of that fierce determination and ‘never say die’ attitude and further proof that our integrated offer is world class.” Said Moore.

D&AD CEO, Tim Lindsay, acknowledged Y&R NZ’s success by singling out the ‘McWhopper’ campaign’s success at aligning commercial and sustainability agendas. 

“New Zealand as a country excels creatively on the world stage and this year is no exception! Huge congratulations to Y&R New Zealand and to Burger King for their incredible success with the ‘McWhopper’ campaign. We love it when the commercial agenda and the sustainability agenda begin to intersect!” Said Lindsay.

Tony Granger, Global Chief Creative Officer of Y&R, credited the Burger King client’s passion and belief in the ‘McWhopper’ idea.

“This is a truly special honor, and it would not have been possible without our client, Fernando Machado, Burger King's SVP of Global Brand Management. His passion for our idea and his unflagging support helped make this idea come to life.  I am, of course, so proud of Josh Moore and his team in New Zealand.  It has been wonderful to see an idea resonate so strongly in every part of the globe.” Said Granger.

The complete list of Y&R NZ’s D&AD awards:

Burger King Corporation – ‘McWhopper’:

- 6 x Yellow Pencils

- 1 x Graphite

- 1 x Wood

Jaguar New Zealand – Actual Reality:

- 1 x Wood Pencil

Brake Road Safety – Living Memories:

- 1 x Wood Pencil

- Most Awarded Advertising Agency

- 1 x Black & Gold Pencil 

The recognition at D&AD follows hot on the heels of Y&R NZ becoming the first New Zealand agency to be awarded Best in Show for its ‘McWhopper’ campaign at the 2016 International ANDY Awards held in New York last month.