PHD crowned Media Agency of the Year at the 2024 beacons awards held last night; FCB takes out Best in Show title for AMP ‘Investars’ campaign
The 2024 beacon awards in association with oOh!media were held tonight celebrating outstanding work from Aotearoa’s media and advertising industry. With Clint Roberts, the veteran beacon awards host, back for another hoorah, the event was held at a sparkling Aotea Centre in Auckland.
The night was filled with anticipation as the industry eagerly awaited the announcement of this year’s winners. With a broad and dynamic range of campaigns up for contention, our winners represent standout thinking, innovative approaches and outstanding client results. The judges narrowed the numerous entries to 106 finalists, ultimately awarding eight Gold and 35 Silver beacon awards. Four executive awards, the most prestigious of the evening, were also awarded to deserving nominees.
The 2024 beacon awards Convenor of Judges, Louise Bond, noted that: “Agencies and our very important media partners have worked incredibly hard to deliver successful outcomes for advertisers, while grappling with considerable change and an incredibly challenging time for our local media partners.
“The common theme running through the finalist entries was a focus on the tried and true and the use of technology and data to improve ROI.
“This year there were a number of outstanding campaigns that shone above the rest delivering sound insight, clever strategy and strong results to win gold awards.”
The 2024 Best in Show was tightly contested, with three campaigns dominating the Gold awards. Ultimately, FCB claimed the prestigious title, for its work with AMP, ‘Investars’. The international panel of judges felt that this campaign’s balanced use of insight and media strategy brought ingenuity, creativity and clear results to a rarely innovative channel. The campaign won two Gold and two Silver in total.
Judged by a panel of international industry leaders and auditors, Media Business of the Year went to PHD. This award encompasses business vision, employee development, financial performance, client acquisition and development, industry contribution, and creativity and innovation. Our international panel of judges praised PHD’s ongoing drive to evolve and innovate; their understanding and weathering of the changing media landscape; and their proven longevity with client accounts and staff retention. The judges felt that PHD’s contribution to community development demonstrated a well-rounded understanding that rising tides lifts all boats. PHD’s ‘The Adternship’ campaign for Foodstuffs won two Gold awards and one Silver, whilst its KFC ‘Six and Shout – hitting it out of the park’ scored two Silver awards and its ANZ ‘ANZ Presents: The Comedy Treatment’ campaign scored one Silver.
It was a triumphant night for Together which scored an impressive 2 Golds and 10 Silvers. The agency scored Gold for COLORSTEEL ‘Roof ID’ and Brightr ‘Turning Bad Data into Good Data’.
Spark Foundry was the only other agency to be awarded Gold with its ‘Flip Your Perspective’ campaign for Samsung Electronics earning two Gold awards and two Silver awards.
Other winners of the night included MBM with six Silvers followed by Dentsu with four Silvers. VML and EssenceMediacom scored two Silvers apiece, whilst YoungShand, OMD and TVNZ scored one Silver apiece.
The Comms Council Media Committee felt that results belonged at the core of Media Business of the Year, which they awarded to NZME for the second year in a row.
Sales Team of the Year, a prestigious and hard-won title, was claimed by the Go Media, which the Comms Council Media Committee felt was a standout winner.
This year’s Inspiring Individual Award in honour of Sandy Smith, now over a decade strong, had more entries than ever. MBM’s Charlotte Lobo was awarded this heartwarming honour, with a video describing her empathy, patience and tireless mentorship presented to the audience by her colleagues.
Overall, the event showcased the incredible talent and creativity of Aotearoa’s advertising and media industry, within a challenging and rapidly evolving landscape. All winners and finalists deserve congratulations for their dedication to delivering work that pushes boundaries and inspires others.
Says Simon Lendrum, CEO of the Comms Council: “Full of community spirit, warm welcomes and amazing work, the evening was a much-needed celebration of Aotearoa’s advertising industry. Thank you to our sponsors, judges, MC, production crew and my own team for the months of hard work required to make the night a joyful success.”
The 2024 beacon awards in association with oOh!media are made possible through the generous support of its sponsors oOh!media, TVNZ, Are media, Cartology, Meta, Nielsen, NZME, Stuff, The Radio Bureau and Google.
