Leo Burnett Mumbai bags two Grand Prix at the WARC Awards 2024

Delhi: The highest accolades of The WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2024, in association with Lions, are announced. The awards honour the best marketing campaigns from across the globe that deliver strategic brilliance and effective impact to drive commercial success.

Six Grands Prix have been awarded following a judging process and much deliberation by a jury made up of all 12 regional jury chairs representing Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America and North America. 

The awardees are selected from 22 regional gold-winning entries. 

India leads with two Grands Prix, both awarded to Leo Burnett Mumbai. 

Australia, Brazil, Spain and Sweden each won one.

Susan Irving, Chief Marketing Officer, Kruger Products, Canada, and Chair of the Global Grand Prix jury said, “It was my privilege to lead such a disciplined, accountable jury that held work to the highest standards. Our decisions were guided by the data and the Creative Effectiveness Ladder and we were rigorous in seeking only to recognise those campaigns that unquestionably connected their objectives to strong results and demonstrated long-lasting impact for brands and society. Anyone awarded a Grand Prix by this jury is a true Grand Prix winner, the best of the best, and I congratulate them all.”

John Bizzell, Awards Lead, WARC, added, “The six Grand Prix winners that our super jury lasered in on from the hundreds of entries judged this year are superb additions to WARC’s library of effectiveness and really set the bar for the quality of work brands and agencies need to create to compete for these awards. I’m excited to share them with the world and see what they inspire in the future.”

The six Grand Prix winners for the WARC Awards 2024 are:

Cultural Impact Grand Prix: ‘Changing the education system to keep girls in school’ for Whisper by Leo Burnett, Mumbai, India
Commenting on the campaign, Kevin Mercer, Director, Brand Strategy, Expedia Group - UK, said, "This campaign demonstrated a simplicity in its strategic thinking. Rather than directly advertise feminine hygiene products, it filled a gap in education about menstruation for young women and girls that the jury found incredibly smart. There was real care and craft in how Whisper and Leo Burnett got it to market, which made it a clear Grand Prix winner. A lot of things are happening around the world, like book bans and removing access to education and knowledge, and this is the sort of campaign that sets us up for a better future."

Instant Impact Grand Prix: ‘Handshake Hunt’ for Mercado Libre by GUT, São Paulo, Brazil
Gugu Mthembu, Chief Marketing Officer, Telkom - South Africa, said, "Besides the instant impact that it drove, the way Mercado Libre and GUT leveraged the distinctive handshake brand asset will never be forgotten by those who interacted with the campaign. The creative idea travelled seamlessly from traditional media to digital, which gave it brilliant momentum, and brought it to life in a way that made it stand out from all other cases where similar tactics have been used. That’s what the jury loved about it."

Long-term Growth Grand Prix: ‘Big enough to make a difference’ for McDonald’s by Nord DDB, Stockholm, Sweden
Tanja Grubner, Global Marketing Director, Essity GmbH - Germany, said, "The McDonald's platform Big Enough to Make a Difference that NORD DDB activated managed to not only increase brand relevance, but boost brand trust and brand success too, leading to the fastest sales turnaround in brand history. The campaign has a brilliantly simple strategic soul - flipping BIG on its head and turning it into a virtue - but the jury also recognised the rigour and thoroughness underpinning the work."

Partnerships and Sponsorships Grand Prix: ‘Absolutely Heinz – Bringing two household brands together to go absolutely viral’ for Heinz by VML Barcelona, Spain
Yusuf Chuku, EVP Client Advisory, NBCUniversal - USA, said, "It's difficult to set up a partnership as challenging as this one - merging two brands as iconic as Absolut with Heinz, doing it with skill and delivering it at scale. The jury were impressed by the strong execution and the thorough evaluation and measurement throughout. A rare and beautiful example of collaboration at its best."

Strategic Thinking Grand Prix: ‘How can a country exist without land?’ for the Government of Tuvalu by The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, Sydney, Australia
Bhaskar Choudhuri, Chief Marketing Officer, Lenovo - India, said: "This campaign is about fighting an existential cause, to keep a nation and its memory alive (even when it physically ceases to exist). What the Government of Tuvalu achieved, in terms of impact amongst policy makers is commendable! The brave, unapologetic approach of this campaign is something that makes it stand head and shoulders above everything that I've experienced in the last year."

Use of Data Grand Prix: ‘Democratising technology to help farmers fight climate change’ for Lay’s by Leo Burnett, Mumbai, India
Sindhuja Rai, CEO, Wavemaker - Singapore, said, "The Lay's campaign is a powerful concept - leveraging their data has driven immediate value for farmers in their supply chain, but the potential if this technology were cascaded across the globe is immense. They Defined the objectives clearly and over-delivered on almost all KPIs. That, and the greater good this could do for humanity, made this a clear Grand Prix winner."

The Grands Prix winners were first revealed via The Effectiveness Show part one. The Effectiveness Show part two will include interviews and insights from the Grand Prix winners, and will be available on June 27.

This year’s awards saw a total of 92 winners with 36 bronze, 34 silver, 22 gold awards presented across 5 regional awards shows and 6 Global Grands Prix. No Grands Prix were awarded in the Brand Purpose, Business-to-Business, Channel Integration, Channel Pioneer, Customer Experience nor Path to Purchase categories.

The WARC Awards 2025 will open for entries on September 3.