Leo Burnett scoops DMA grand prix

Leo Burnett Change has scooped the grand prix at this year’s DMA Awards for its Business in the Community campaign, Second Chance, which dominated the awards, picking up eight golds, four silvers and four bronzes.
The campaign was designed to get businesses to give ex-offenders a “second chance” by calling on UK employers to create a fair opportunity for them by removing the tick box from initial application forms which they have to tick if they have criminal conviction.
An interactive YouTube ad showed a young interviewee explaining that he had recently left prison. As with all pre-rolls, the viewer was offered the chance to skip the content after a few seconds. But when viewers hit ‘skip’, the ex-offender tried to carry on talking. Each time the viewer hit ‘skip’ the ex-offender became more and more distressed. The film ended with him expressing disappointment that the viewer didn’t want to give an ex-offender a second chance and directing them to the BITC website. Conversely, if the viewer let the man speak freely he grew in confidence and thanked the viewer for listening.
In total 17 organisations – including one of the world’s most prestigious law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP – collectively employing 175,000 people, signed up to ban the box.
The agency with the most nominations, OgilvyOne, walked off with seven golds, including three for the British Airways campaign, The Magic of Flying, which had led the field at Cannes, and two for Dishoom Story Plates. Other big winners on the night included Wunderman, which landed five golds, four of which were for The Sun’s Dream Team campaign; Rapp also had a good night, taking home four golds for Barclays.
The chair of the judges, Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham, said: “As this year’s DMA Awards chair of judges my aim has been to champion innovation. This year’s Awards winners are outstanding proof that the marketing industry is conquering the challenge of how to innovate in the creation of content and use of media.
“The rise of data-driven on-demand TV means that the relationship between broadcasters and the one-to-one marketing industry has necessarily drawn closer. We must now work together to find exciting new ways to engage, entertain and inspire millions of consumers on an ever-more personalised basis.”
This year’s awards were sponsored by Whistl and Emarsys. For a full list of winners, visit the DMA Awards website >

1 Trackbacks & Pingbacks