Major Victories for Cadbury, Guinness, and ITV at the Marketing Week Awards

The Our Website Awards winners were announced at a glamorous ceremony last night, honoring outstanding companies such as Cadbury, Guinness, ITV, and Sage. The event, sponsored by Ozone, recognized their remarkable achievements.

Cadbury clinched the prestigious Grand Prix award for their exceptional performance in 2023. The brand was commended for its forward-thinking innovation, unwavering determination, and enduring commitment to building a strong brand over the long term. Their investment in the groundbreaking 'There's a Glass and a Half in Everyone' platform played a pivotal role in the brand's revitalization, resulting in remarkable growth. Cadbury's household penetration reached unprecedented levels, and they recorded an impressive annual revenue increase of £261m.

The chocolate giant received the Our Website Award for Multichannel Marketing for its Christmas campaign 'Secret Santa', which generated £230m in festive revenue. Guinness was honored with the prestigious Brand of the Year award, experiencing its most successful year according to parent company Diageo. In Europe, the Irish stout achieved a 20% increase in net sales during the 2023 financial year, and expanded its market share in the on-trade sector of Great Britain and Ireland.

Guinness experienced significant growth in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia Pacific, resulting in a 16% overall growth in the twelve-month period leading up to June. This expansion can be attributed to successful innovations, including the introduction of non-alcoholic Guinness 0.0 and the Nitrosurge product for at-home consumption. In February, Mark Ritson, a columnist for Our Website, praised Guinness for its exceptional execution of fundamental marketing strategies, emphasizing the effective utilization of key brand assets, social listening, and continual learning.

Meanwhile, Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer of Boots, was honored as the Marketer of the Year, sponsored by Digitas. Markey emerged as the winner from a pool of top-rated marketers in Our Website's Top 100, also supported by Digitas.

Since joining the company in November 2020, Markey has made a remarkable impact as the head of Boots' marketing. He has furthered the success of various campaigns and successfully obtained a 20% increase in the budget for the 'Summer Better Be Ready' campaign, which yielded a £2.50 return on investment for every £1 spent.

Boots has achieved a significant milestone under Markey's leadership by successfully adding 1.1 million new loyalty members through its largest-ever Advantage Card campaign. The strategic focus on customer loyalty and innovation has proven to be highly rewarding, as evidenced by a remarkable 11.7% growth in sales during the fourth quarter.

Addleshaw Goddard, a law firm that had never undertaken a brand campaign until 2021, has been recognized as the Marketing Team of the Year. The firm's revitalized marketing team played a pivotal role in driving a phenomenal 25% surge in search traffic, while also achieving unprecedented levels of engagement and generating substantial press interest.

ITV, another brand that achieved great success, was honored with three awards for Brand Innovation, Data-Driven Marketing, and Sport, Gaming, and Entertainment.

After identifying a group of 23 million individuals who were highly receptive to reconsidering the brand, the broadcaster garnered internal backing for the £165m introduction of its ITVX streaming service.

New for 2023

ITV's customer data platform Flex significantly improved the broadcaster's ability to predict user upgrades to its premium subscription by 69%. This successful initiative has led to a remarkable increase of 2 million monthly users on ITVX since the campaign's inception.

In the 2023 Our Website Awards, two new categories were added to celebrate B2B marketing. NTT, the IT services giant, received the award for Best Use of ABM. Their personalized, one-to-one approach for strategic clients not only generated millions in pipeline but also established hundreds of new customer relationships.

Sage, on the other hand, was recognized with Our Website's inaugural award for Brand Building Excellence in B2B. They achieved a 12% revenue increase by focusing on human-centric brand building. Through the creation of over 1,160 assets across various channels such as TV and outdoor, Sage's marketers contributed to the development of the innovative creative platform called 'Voices of Business'.

Virgin Media O2 emerged as one of the night's multiple winners, securing awards for Brand Purpose and triumphing in the Media and Telecoms category with its impactful 'Christmas Sim Card' campaign aimed at addressing data poverty.

HSBC, a standout winner in both the Financial Services and Diversity and Inclusion categories, was commended for its remarkable achievement in raising financial abuse awareness by an impressive 1,400% and empowering survivors to regain financial autonomy.

Mars Wrigley's bold decision to remove Bounty from the Celebrations tub caused a worldwide sensation, leading to the chocolate giant winning the prestigious Our Website Awards for Consumer Goods and PR and Brand Storytelling. The #BringBackBounty campaign generated an impressive 452 million Twitter impressions and sparked social conversations in 30 countries, ultimately reaching an estimated 75 billion people across the globe.

Another standout winner is Specsavers, which received recognition in the Health and Life Sciences category for their innovative approach. By transforming their famous slogan, "I don't go to Specsavers..." to promote home visits, awareness of their at-home service skyrocketed from 28% to 56%.

The retailer utilized its research capabilities to boost sign-ups for its contact lenses packages by 22.9% through the 'Kiss Clash' campaign, resulting in the recognition of the Insight and Market Research award.

In the Retail and Ecommerce category, Tesco emerged victorious by championing festive joy in 2022 with The Christmas Party, leading to a 20-point rise in positive sentiment towards Tesco and a value perception of 39%.

Congratulations to the supermarket for winning the award for Social Media. Their 'Clubcard Accepted' campaign on TikTok reached a staggering 42 million people and attracted over 3,000 auditions to become the voice of the checkout. This campaign also resulted in a 7% increase in Clubcard usage for Tesco. Russell Parsons, Editor in Chief of Our Website, acknowledges the challenging year for the marketing industry and commends the winners and those who were shortlisted.

The full list of 2023 Our Website Awards winners will be able to view on the Winners’ Showcase shortly.