EssenceMediacom won the coveted Grand Prix at the annual Media Awards which were held in Dublin last night while Spark Foundry picked up the award for Agency of the Year with Core winning Network of the Year for the second year running.
EssenceMediacom picked up the Grand Prix for its work with SKY and its “Long and Eventful Journey for the Minions” campaign. According to the judges’ citation “the Sky case study really stood out because it really applied a large degree of science to identifying the right audience, the right channels and the right time to influence them.”
“There was no ‘fluff’ about the approach – it was clear that all decisions were grounded in the impact they might have on business results rather than just ‘nice to do’s” and that is so important. It really demonstrated to the contribution that clever media planning and implementation can make to a major sales boost and ultimately the client’s bottom line is what it is all about.”
For its part, Spark Foundry- which won the Grand Prix in 2023- won three Gold awards on the night in addition to two Silver and two Bronze awards. According to the judges for the Agency of the Year category, “this was an unbelievably competitive category and any of the shortlisted winners could have come through as winners. In the end Spark Foundry demonstrated real passion, team spirit and a genuine understanding of its client’s needs and challenges. The agency’s presentation style shone through and it bravely demonstrated its collaborative ethos.”
It was also a good night for the Omnicom agencies OMD and PHD with OMD picking up three Gold, one Silver and a Bronze while PHD also picked up three Gold awards in addition to two Silvers.
Starcom, part of Core, meanwhile, finished the night with one Gold,three Silvers and two Bronze awards.
Elsewhere Mindshare won two Golds, one Silver and two Bronze award with fellow GroupM agency Wavemaker winning a Gold and a Silver.
This year’s Rising Star Award went to Mei Ling Tong from Zenith, part of Core. Citing the reasons why she picked up this year’s award, the judges noted that she is “creative, inspiring and ambitious” and “5 years into Mei Ling’s journey, it is clear why she is The Rising Star for 2024. She has already created a mark in in the industry with a warmth and passion that never loses sight of her guiding principles. She has already demonstrated leadership, won business and shown strong commitment to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. She is a truly creative person and extremely resourceful, coupled with positivity and compassion that are crucial skills for a leader.
“A stand-out statement from her presentation was ‘I want to use the Rising Star as a Platform to inspire those coming after me’,” the judges noted.
Elsewhere, Dublin Airport Media Sales scored a hat-trick on the night, bagging Media Brand of the Year as well as Gold in the Best Sales Initiative category as well as Sales Team of the Year.
In awarding it Media Brand of the Year, the judges noted that “all the shortlisted entrants were frankly excellent and are to be commended. In the end Dublin Airport came out on top as they clearly identified the brand challenges from both advertisers and consumers and used these challenges to innovate, create new products and experiences, reposition themselves and create a really strong platform for the brand to thrive into the future.”
The Best Research Initiative, meanwhile, went to RED C Research with Amplified Intelligence for TAM Ireland and its study on the “Reasons to Pay Attention to TV.” According to the judge’s citation, “the TAM submission was a strong winner representing a milestone in measurement in the AV Category. The technical excellence was truly stand out, using state of the art technology to generate accurate, meaningful and actionable data.”
In addition, the Best Use of Sponsorship went to PHD & RTÉ for their 2023 Eurovision Song Contest collaboration the Diageo-owned Baileys and the “Douze Pointe” campaign.
This year, the organisers of the Media Awards picked Eamon Fallon as the recipient of the Media Hero Award. Fallon is the founder of Distilled Media and has played a leading role in the development of the indigenous digital media sector in Ireland with creation of media brands like TheJournal.ie, Daft.ie and Adverts.ie.
A full list of all the winners at Media Awards 2024 is listed below:
Best Media Campaign- Launch
Bronze: Havas Media Ireland |Domino’s| Oh Goo on Then- An “Eggstaordinary” Sell-out Sensation
Silver: Starcom| Mediahuis | Irish Independent – A Launch, Written All Over Ireland
Gold: Spark Foundry, part of Core |KFC | KFC Launch Lunch with a Zing
Best Media Campaign (Niche)
Bronze: Digital Impact, The Public House & Vroom Digital| EPIC Museum| How a Small Little Museum in Ireland Grabbed Global Attention with a Recording of the NYPD Choirs’ Galway Bay
Silver: Starcom, part of Core |An Post| Pages to Hashtags: An Post’s #BookTok Revolution
Gold: Wavemaker |Square| Creating Social Proof That Means Business
Best Media Campaign (Intermediate)
Bronze: Starcom, part of Core | AIB | Going the Extra Mile
Silver: Starcom, part of Core | AIB | AIB Breaking New Ground in Camogie
Gold: OMD | Specsavers| Making a 21-year-Old idea Work for 21 Year Olds
Best Media Campaign (Large)
Bronze: Mammoth |Tourism Northern Ireland| Tourism Northern Ireland – “A Small Step to a Giant Adventure.”
Silver: EssenceMediacom | Boots Ireland |Boots Gets Ready with TV & Tik Tok Live!
Gold: OMD |Warner Bros. Discovery| This Barbie is #1 at the Irish Box Office (Ever)
Best Use of Sponsorship
Bronze: Core Sponsorship & Spark Foundry | Mondelez Cadbury | A Supporter & A Half of Republic of Ireland’s Women’s National Team
Silver: Core Sponsorship | Londis | Londis and Ireland’s Fittest Family
Gold: PHD & RTÉ |Diageo, Baileys | “Douze Pointe” for Baileys
Rising Star (Sponsored by Mediahuis)
Mei Ling Tong Zenith – Part of Core
Best Collaboration between Agency & Media Owner N ( Large)
(Sponsored by Channel Factory)
Bronze: Mindshare, Media Central, urbanmedia, IRS+ |Fáilte Ireland | Locals Know Best!
Silver: Zenith & Bloomberg | IDA Ireland |Invest in Extraordinary
Gold: Starcom and DMG Media Ireland |Bulmers Sounds of the Secret Orchard
Best Collaboration between Agency & Media Owner (Niche)
(Sponsored by Channel Factory)
Bronze: Zenith, Lovin Dublin & Char | Disney | Yes Chef
Silver: Wavemaker & Lovin Dublin |Square | Square Lovin Locals: Creating Social Proof that Means Business
Gold: OMD & LADBible | Bank of Ireland | Increasing Financial Confidence Amongst the Next Generation
Best Research Initiative
Bronze: Mindshare |DCU | A Research Foundation that Guides to Greatness
Silver: urbanmedia and dentsu Ireland | Sound Affects 3 – Will AI Kill the Radio Star
Gold: RED C Research with Amplified Intelligence |TAM Ireland |Reasons to Pay Attention to TV
Best Use of Data /Analytics / Econometrics
Bronze: Havas Media Ireland | TU Dublin| CRO to CAO: Data Powered Registrations for TU Dublin’s Open Day
Silver: OMD | Virgin Media Ireland | Mining Data to Humanise Search
Gold: Spark Foundry, part of Core |Yuno Energy |Yuno Energy, We know Data
Best Use of Content / Creative
Bronze: OMD and LADBible| Bank of Ireland | Increasing Financial Confidence Among the next generation
Silver: Mindshare | Fáilte Ireland |Locals Know Best!
Gold: Mindshare Invention |Brennans Bread |Brennans Battle of the Bagels
Best Use of Audio (Sponsored by Radiocentre Ireland)
Bronze: Spark Foundry – part of Core | Road Safety Authority |Stay Tuned for Safe Driving
Silver: Spark Foundry- part of Core | KFC |An Audio Strategy that Delivered Mór
Gold: Mindshare |Fáilte Ireland |Locals know best!
Best Use of Cross-Platform Out of Home
Bronze: Havas Media & Talon | Domino’s | Elevating Experiential OOH to an ‘Egg-stra’ Level
Silver: Zenith / PML Group |McDonald’s |McCafé
Gold: PHD Media / PML Group |Diageo | There is Always Time for a Visit to the Guinness Storehouse
Best Use of AV (Sponsored by TAM Ireland)
Bronze: dentsu | PTSB| Altogether More Human with PTSB
Silver: PHD |Diageo |Diageo, Never Settling in AV
Gold: Spark Foundry, part of Core |Aviva |Putting the AV Back into AViva
Best Use of National Print and Digital (Sponsored by NewsBrands Ireland)
Bronze: Irish Farmers Journal | Irish Banking Culture Board |Irish Banking Culture Board X Irish Farmers Journal
Silver: Reach Solutions |Sky |Sky Sports – Content Worth Paying For
Gold: News Ireland/ Sunday Times | Dunnes Stores | Simply Better Meet the Producers
Best Long-Term Media Strategy
Bronze: Spark Foundry, part of Core | KFC | How the Colonel Outsmarted the Clown
Silver: PHD Media | Diageo | Breaking Free from The Snug
Gold: EssenceMediacom |Sky |A Long and Eventful Journey for the Minions
Best Sustainability Initiative
Bronze: The Irish Times and Starcom, part of Core |AIB |AIB and The Irish Times Group Sustainable Solutions
Silver: News Ireland/The Sunday Times |CLIMATE Monthly Supplement
Gold: PHD |SKODA |Challenging a Sustainable Media Planning Myth?
Media Hero of the Year (Sponsored by Media Central)
Eamon Fallon – Distilled Media
Sales Team of the Year
Dublin Airport Media Sales
Best Sales Initiative
Bronze: IRS & & Foe |Breaking the Mold
Silver: Mediahuis | YourAdNow
Gold: Dublin Airport | Now It’s Time to Explore
Media Brand of the Year
Silver: Mediahuis
Silver: Bauer Media Audio NI
Gold: Dublin Airport Media Sales
Media Agency of the Year (ROI or NI)
Gold: Spark Foundry
Agency Group of the Year
Core
The Media Awards Grand Prix 2024 (Sponsored by RTÉ Media Sales)
EssenceMediacom | Sky | A Long and Eventful Journey for the Minions
