Spark Foundry won the coveted Grand Prix at the Media Awards 2023 last night while another Core agency Starcom picked up the Agency of the Year award. Core also made it three in a row by winning Agency Network of the Year.
Spark Foundry won the Grand Prix for its work with the digital fitness brand WHOOP, one of three golds on the night including Best Use of Sponsorship and Best Collaboration for its collaboration with Eurosport.
For its part, Starcom picked up four golds and three silver awards on the night for work with clients like AIB, Bulmers, Curry’s, Tayto and An Post.
Over 600 people from the advertising, media and marketing industry attended the annual Media Awards in the RDS which are now in their twelfth year.
It was also a big night for the Irish Farmers Journal which won Media Brand of the Year, the second time it has picked up the prestigious award – the last time was in 2017.
This year’s Media Hero award was given to Simon Durham, ex CEO of Kinetic (now Talon) for his outstanding commitment to the out-of-home industry in Ireland. The award was presented by Gavin Deans, Managing Director at Media Central.
PML Group, meanwhile, won Sales Team of the Year while The Rising Star Awards went to Ciara O’Connor of Mindshare.
The Best Research Initiative 2023, meanwhile, went to B&A and RTÉ.
Elsewhere, the gold for the Best Media Campaign (Large) went to Wavemaker while the Best Media Campaign (Launch) went to fellow GroupM agency Mindshare.
The Best Sales Initiative went to Dublin Airport Media Sales while a new category this year, The Best Sustainability Initiative saw PHD scoop the gold award.
Other big winners on the night included PHD, OMD, dentsu, audioXi and Media Central.
A full list of all Gold, Silver and Bronze winners on the night is available HERE
According to the chair of this year’s judging panel, Leo Moore: “The Media Awards are an opportunity to showcase the talent, innovation and ingenuity of our Industry here in Ireland. More than that, they are an opportunity to demonstrate the growth and evolution of the industry and its contribution to Irish business. This year’s awards are a celebration of the deep insight, creative thinking, innovation and drive for effectiveness that characterises so much of our industry’s work.”
“Countless studies have shown the impact of advertising investment on the economy. The thinking and talent that this industry brings to bear on that investment is an accelerator of economic growth and prosperity. As we face ever more challenging headwinds and challenges, the passion, ingenuity and commitment demonstrated in these awards will become even more important. Judging from the strength in depth of the entries and the quality of the winning campaigns I can confidently say that the future looks bright not only for Irish media but for businesses this industry supports,” he added.
The Media Awards was judged by a panel of over 70 expert senior industry experts from Ireland and abroad.
To see a selection of photos from the night including other winners click HERE
The sponsors of the Media Awards 2023 were: Platinum Sponsors DMG Media Ireland, RTE, Channel Factory. Gold Sponsors Sky Media Ireland, Dublin Airport Media Sales. Silver Sponsors: Mediahuis, TAM Ireland, Radio Centre, Newsbrands Ireland, Media Central and Prosperity Recruitment.
