Leo Burnett Mumbai wins two WARC 2024 Grands Prix

India led the metal count at The WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2024, held in association with Lions, with two Grands Prix. Both were awarded to Leo Burnett Mumbai. Australia, Brazil, Spain and Sweden one Grand Prix each.

These awards honour the best marketing campaigns from across the globe that deliver strategic brilliance and effective impact to drive commercial success. Selected from 22 regional gold-winning entries, the Grands Prix showcase the best work of how marketers are driving growth across different sectors and audiences and for local and global brands.

Six Grands Prix were awarded following a judging process by jurors from 12 regional jury chairs who represented Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East and Africa. 

John Bizzell, awards lead for WARC, said, “The six Grand Prix winners that our super jury lasered in on from the hundreds of entries judged this year are superb additions to WARC’s library of effectiveness and really set the bar for the quality of work brands and agencies need to create to compete for these awards.” 

The six Grand Prix winners for the WARC Awards 2024 are:

• Cultural Impact Grand Prix: ‘Changing the education system to keep girls in school’ for Whisper by Leo Burnett, Mumbai, India

Feminine hygiene brand Whisper helped girls remain in school in India with an educational lobbying campaign that broke the taboos around menstruation. Society's silence surrounding periods had resulted in their omission from school science books. Following the campaign, the Indian government has committed to adding in the missing chapter.

Commenting on the campaign, Kevin Mercer, director—brand strategy for Expedia Group UK, said, "This campaign demonstrated a simplicity in its strategic thinking. Rather than directly advertise feminine hygiene products, it filled a gap in education about menstruation for young women and girls that the jury found incredibly smart. There was real care and craft in how Whisper and Leo Burnett got it to market, which made it a clear Grand Prix winner. A lot of things are happening around the world, like book bans and removing access to education and knowledge, and this is the sort of campaign that sets us up for a better future."

• Use of Data Grand Prix: ‘Democratising technology to help farmers fight climate change’ for Lay’s by Leo Burnett, Mumbai, India

To grow preference and penetration in India, potato chip manufacturer Lay's created a data-driven initiative to protect its supply chain by helping farmers identify and respond to weather hazards to prevent crop loss. As a result, potato yields increased by 25%, boosting farmers' income by $55/acre; preference grew 10bps and penetration grew by 8bps.

Sindhuja Rai, CEO of Wavemaker Singapore, said, "The Lay's campaign is a powerful concept—leveraging their data has driven immediate value for farmers in their supply chain, but the potential if this technology were cascaded across the globe is immense. They defined the objectives clearly and over-delivered on almost all KPIs. That, and the greater good this could do for humanity, made this a clear Grand Prix winner."

• Instant Impact Grand Prix: ‘Handshake Hunt’ for Mercado Libre by GUT, São Paulo, Brazil

Mercado Libre, an electronic commerce platform in Latin America, partnered with TV channel Globo during Black Friday, displaying QR codes for discounts whenever their logo, a handshake, appeared on-screen to increase transactions in Brazil. The campaign reached 80 million people, with 925k coupons being used, and both website traffic and sales increased.

Gugu Mthembu, chief marketing officer of Telkom South Africa, said, "Besides the instant impact that it drove, the way Mercado Libre and GUT leveraged the distinctive handshake brand asset will never be forgotten by those who interacted with the campaign. The creative idea travelled seamlessly from traditional media to digital, which gave it brilliant momentum, and brought it to life in a way that made it stand out from all other cases where similar tactics have been used. That’s what the jury loved about it."

• Long-term Growth Grand Prix: ‘Big enough to make a difference’ for McDonald’s by Nord DDB, Stockholm, Sweden

Fast-food giant McDonald’s introduced over 20 initiatives in Sweden that focused on sustainability, the environment, and social responsibility, to increase brand trust, visit intent, and sales. It expanded its electric car charging network, created biodiversity initiatives, published children’s books, contributed to its charities, reduced its litter and more. 

Tanja Grubner, global marketing director of Essity GmbH Germany, said, "The McDonald's ‘Big enough to make a difference’ platform that NORD DDB activated managed to not only increase brand relevance, but boost brand trust and brand success too, leading to the fastest sales turnaround in brand history. The campaign has a brilliantly simple strategic soul—flipping big on its head and turning it into a virtue—but the jury also recognised the rigour and thoroughness underpinning the work."

• Partnerships and Sponsorships Grand Prix: ‘Absolutely Heinz—Bringing two iconic household brands together to go absolutely viral’ for Heinz by VML Barcelona, Spain

Condiment brand Heinz partnered with vodka brand Absolut to create a limited-edition vodka pasta sauce released in the UK, aiming to increase product awareness for Heinz and new occasions consumption for Absolut. The collaboration campaign reached over 0.5 billion earned media impressions, the hashtag #AbsolutelyHeinz went viral, and the product sold out instantly and topped the category.

Yusuf Chuku, EVP—client advisory for NBCUniversal USA, said, "It's difficult to set up a partnership as challenging as this one; merging two brands as iconic as Absolut with Heinz, doing it with skill and delivering it at scale. The jury were impressed by the strong execution and the thorough evaluation and measurement throughout. A rare and beautiful example of collaboration at its best."

• Strategic Thinking Grand Prix: ‘How can a country exist without land?’ for the Government of Tuvalu by The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, Sydney, Australia

The global campaign for the small island nation of Tuvalu helped elevate it from being a helpless victim of global warming, to becoming a global leader driving meaningful change, by presenting a view of the future: Tuvalu would become the world's first digital nation. The campaign reached more than 2 billion people across 358 global news outlets, and 10 nations will recognise Tuvalu’s sovereignty should it lose all physical territory.

Bhaskar Choudhuri, chief marketing officer of Lenovo India, said, "This campaign is about fighting an existential cause, to keep a nation and its memory alive (even when it physically ceases to exist). What the Government of Tuvalu achieved, in terms of impact amongst policy makers is commendable! The brave, unapologetic approach of this campaign is something that makes it stand head and shoulders above everything that I've experienced in the last year."

This year’s awards saw a total of 92 winners with 36 bronze, 34 silver, 22 gold awards presented across five regional awards shows and Six Global Grands Prix. No Grands Prix were awarded in the brand purpose, business-to-business, channel integration, channel pioneer, customer experience nor path to purchase categories.

Susan Irving, chief marketing officer of Kruger Products, Canada, and chair of the global Grand Prix jury said, “Our decisions were guided by the data and the Creative Effectiveness Ladder and we were rigorous in seeking only to recognise those campaigns that unquestionably connected their objectives to strong results and demonstrated long-lasting impact for brands and society.”

The Grands Prix winners were first revealed via The Effectiveness Show part one. The Effectiveness Show part two will include interviews and insights from the Grand Prix winners, and will be available on 27 June. The WARC Awards 2025 will open for entries on 3 September.