The Coolest & Most Unique Award-Winning Smarties Campaigns
And they're inclusive
Sometimes, you see a commercial or video clip that warms your heart, makes you laugh, brings tears to your eyes, and/or may feel like a punch to the gut. Sometimes, all these things happen at the same time. Portraying real people and their stories, or highlighting an underrepresented perspective or issue, can change people's lives.
The latest (2022) Smarties Awards showcase and highlight campaigns that do just this. Below are some award-winning campaigns that range from work on inclusivity, sustainability, gender equity, and cats. (Yes, you read that right, cats).
Ancestry
Ancestry sought to make Black American family histories accessible. According to the ANA case study, the website digitized "over 3.5 million documents from the Freedmen's Bureau, the Civil War-era federal agency established to help formerly enslaved people make the transition from slavery to citizenship" to give "families a more complete picture of their past."
Further, Ancestry focused on sending people to its website and conducted a brand lift study.
International Paralympic Committee
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) partnered with Meta and five Paralympians "to share their stories of being a disabled athlete in an immersive VR experience on Oculus," as explained in the ANA case study. Since the VR experience's release, 18,000 people have accessed the it.
Dot Incorporation
A smart technology company based in South Korea, Dot Incorporation created a free platform to help visually impaired people "navigate the world, automate daily tasks, and lead independent lives," as explained in the ANA case study.
La Societé Protectrice des Animaux (SPA)
La Societé Protectrice des Animaux wanted to raise awareness about adopting animals from shelters in France through the popular video game, Stray. In the summer of 2022, the organization had more than 4,000 cats available for adoption, so it focused on targeting younger generations who were interested in giving animals a better home. Even cooler, the avatars of real-life shelter cats were integrated into the gameplay.
Aquafina
As a way to combat waste in the fashion world, Aquafina created a machine for recycling plastic water bottles into fashion items. This effort was promoted at Vietnam's International Fashion Week to create awareness and buzz.
Campbell's
As a way to connect with millennials, the soup brand created and sold an NFT to help feed people in need. As the ANA case study explained, the NFT sales "went directly to Feeding America, making the 'drop' and auction of the minted collectibles that much more valuable and connected to Campbell's ethos of comfort and care."
Australians for UNCHR
To help raise money for refugees, as well as awareness of their plight, Australians for UNCHR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) partnered with a TikToker "to create a sea shanty that used the real-life stories of five asylum seekers as inspiration for its lyrics." The organization created the campaign as a way to lead up to World Refugee Day.
Mondelez Kinh Do Mooncake
To celebrate Vietnam's Trung Thu festival, Kinh Do leveraged AI technology that animated family photos on social media as a way to connect people together during the pandemic.
Degree
To promote inclusivity and accessibility, Degree hosted a disability-friendly marathon in the metaverse. According to the ANA case study, "60 percent of people feel that virtual worlds lack inclusivity, and many are calling for more accessibility," so Degree saw this as an opportunity to raise awareness.
Sunlight
Detergent brand Sunlight partnered with designer Parama Ghosh and West Bengalese clothing weavers to create custom sarees as a way to support weavers who were struggling to make money (due to low wages, COVID-19, etc).
As part of the campaign, a microsite was created to promote e-commerce, and a short film was released on the brand's YouTube channels.
San Francisco Travel Association
The San Francisco Travel Association created a contest to celebrate drag queens as a way to raise awareness and promote the diversity and inclusivity of San Francisco.
Narcotiques Anonymes
Narcotiques Anonymes (NA) launched the NAverse campaign to "raise awareness of its support groups in France and overcome the psychological barrier of shame that prevents addicts from seeking help. Utilizing the metaverse, the brand created the first NA meeting in a virtual environment, providing a safe and anonymous space for individuals to connect and receive support," as stated in the ANA case study.
The campaign increased traffic to the NA site by 158 percent and reached 81 million people.
AT&T Mobility
AT&T partnered with The Trevor Project to raise awareness for LGBTQ+ youth. Besides committing $750,000 to the organization, AT&T created a docu-series called The Love Connection, which "gave non-binary, transgender, and gender nonconforming individuals a platform to share their true journeys in depth," as explained in the ANA case study.
Volvo Car India
Volvo Car India has pledged to become an all-electric company by 2030 as well as carbon neutral by 2040. To help make this goal possible, it launched its Electric Vehicle XC40 Recharge. As part of the campaign to create awareness, the company created a metaverse platform in the automotive sector called Volvoverse.
Check out more Smarties Awards here.
Joanna Fragopoulos is a director of editorial and content development at ANA.
The views and opinions expressed in Industry Insights are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.