The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg, Joe Public win at Midas Awards

FP7/DXB (Part of McCann Worldgroup) earned the coveted 2016 Grand Midas Award for ‘A Priceless Delivery’ for client MasterCard. The award-winning campaign partnered MasterCard Priceless Causes with Salma, an innovation in food relief, that sources high-quality and securely-packaged food to create an interactive wall in Dubai Mall. The wall gave people an immersive and priceless experience when they bought a meal and metaphorically delivered it to the children through the interactive wall allowing Salma to deliver 400,000 meals and counting to displaced children and their families in the Middle East. The campaign also earned five Midas Gold Ingots, two Silver Ingots and two Midas Certificates.

“Our job, being part of a burgeoning creative economy, is to solve the hard problems around us (brand, business or societal) through the power of our creativity. It gives us purpose and is our way to survive. ‘A Priceless Delivery’ is one such creative idea, where we have taken the first steps through MasterCard and its meaningful Priceless Causes programme, to address a real-world problem of underprivileged and displaced children and families not getting sufficient access to quality food, which is a basic human right,” explains Tahaab Rais, regional head of strategic planning, FP7/MENA.

“We have moved people in the UAE to give and then encouraged them to give more, by showing them the impact their contributions can make; thus, removing the metaphorical wall that is often formed between those who give and those whose lives they improve. Moreover, we have garnered much support that has helped scale this idea and make it sustainable.

“In today's world, it is imperative that more leading global brands (beyond NGOs) do similar meaningful work for causes that are affecting the world around us. They have the influence. Here's wishing that more is done by the big brands we all work with, to help people affected by atrocities around the world, through the power of creativity,” concludes Rais.

The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg, Joe Public earn six Gold Ingots

South African agencies were in the winner’s circle earning six Gold Ingots.

The Jupiter Drawing Room Johannesburg received four Gold Ingots for client Absa / Barclays including two Ingots for ‘Ready. Set. Go.’ and both ‘Cultivating the Exceptional’ and ‘Café Prosper’ each earned a single Gold Ingot. ‘Café Prosper’ is a pop-up coffee shop, serving up some of the finest coffee in the world, allowing consumers to rest up, recharge and engage, while becoming a channel of communication to consumers for client Absa/Barclays.

Joe Public South Africa’s ‘Twitter Track’ for client Nedbank Sponsorships, earned two Gold Ingots by incorporating inspiring tweets into an encouraging running track to raise funds for children requiring prosthetics.

Creative event marketing

Perceptive advertisers employed creative event marketing to engage consumers and champion causes.

McCann New York’s ‘MasterCard Restroom for All’ installation at Pride Fest demonstrated its support of global acceptance by installing a restroom that accepts all humans, no matter their gender identity.

McCann London’s ‘#44 Days of Crazy’ for MasterCard harnessed the spirit of international fans travelling through London via branded taxis; riders were challenged to show team spirit by singing their nation’s rugby anthem and see their taxi fare roll down.

US agencies in the lead

US agencies were in the lead this year, earning 13 Midas Gold Ingots.

McCann New York earned five Gold Ingots for client MasterCard. The agency received three Gold Ingots for ‘MasterCard Restroom for All’. In addition, ‘First Big Trip’ and ‘Stand Up To Cancer EEG Experience’ for MasterCard also earned Gold Ingots. McCann Worldgroup also saw campaigns for MasterCard earn Gold Ingots including ‘Together and ‘Experiences Are Priceless’. Other US agencies striking gold: R/GA New York earned two Gold Ingots for ‘E*TRADE Opportunity is Everywhere - Trader, Retire, Invest’; Publicis North America ‘Citi Double Cash Card? Double Means Double? Campaign TV Spots’ was honoured with two Gold Ingots; and SapientNitro ‘The Webster Bank Warm Welcome Guerrilla Campaign’ earned two Gold Ingots. Prudential Advertising ‘#Run401k - The Race for Retirement’ for Prudential earned a Gold Ingot.

FP7/DXB Dubai (Part of McCann Worldgroup) struck gold with 11 Midas Gold Ingots including three Gold Ingots for ‘A Priceless Delivery’ for MasterCard. The agency earned a robust 6 Gold Ingots for client Emirates NBD, taking home three for ‘The AC Vests’, two for ‘An Uber Ramadan’ and a single Gold Ingot for ‘The Beautiful After.’ FP7/DXB was also recognised with a single Gold Ingots for ‘Ad D’ for National Health Insurance Company - Daman.

Australia and Canada reach gold

Australian agencies were in the spotlight scoring six Midas Gold Ingots. MercerBell earned two Gold Ingots, one for ‘Pirates of the High Fees’ for World First and a second for ‘There’s a Flight in Every Card’ for client Qantas. R/GA Media Group was honoured with two Gold Ingots for ‘Monkey Minded Monday’ for client ANZ and Wunderman-Bienalto was recognised with two Gold Ingots for ‘Ed: Anxiety-busting banking’ for ME Bank.

Three Canadian agencies were honored with Gold Ingots: Zulu Alpha Kilo received Gold Ingots for both ‘Be In The Black’ and ‘Pets with Credit’ for client Interac Association. In addition, KBS Canada’s ‘BMO TARC’ for BMO and McCann Canada’s MasterCard Safety & Security’ for client MasterCard earned Gold Ingots.

Global accolades

Global agencies were honoured with multiple Gold Ingots. McCann London’s ‘#44 Days of Crazy’ for MasterCard and McCann Worldgroup London earned two Gold Ingots for ‘Mark Ronson Surprise’ for MasterCard and McCann Singapore’s ‘Biometric ID Posters’ also for MasterCard received two Gold Ingots. Publicis Communications Switzerland ‘UBS Retirement Campaign’ for client UBS Switzerland and CJ WORX Thailand's ‘Big Daddy Form’ for client Krungsri Market along with R/GA Brazil’s ‘Gabriel’ for client Banco Bradesco S.A. each earned two Gold Ingots.

International agencies scoring a single Gold Ingot include:

• AML Group UK ‘Megatrends Thematics’ for Pictet Asset Management;

• Reinv3nt Colombia ‘Retirees’ for client Brilla de Gases de Occidente;
• Havas Duesseldorf GmbH Germany ‘60 Years DWS’ for DWS;
• McCann Bucharest ‘Champions League Spark Video’ for MasterCard;
• pi communications India ‘The Incomplete Nameplate’ for Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited;
• fp7 Lebanon ‘The Makers’ for client Byblos Bank

• TBWA Sri Lanka ‘Sign of Death’ for client AIA Insurance

To view the 2016 Midas Winners Showcase, go to www.midasawards.com/winners/2016.