Shortlisted – World Media Group https://world-media-group.com Tue, 24 Jun 2025 09:15:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://world-media-group.com/admin/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cropped-favicon-jan22-32x32.png Shortlisted – World Media Group https://world-media-group.com 32 32 2025 World Media Awards Finalists Announced https://world-media-group.com/2025-world-media-awards-finalists-announced/ Tue, 24 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0000 https://world-media-group.com/?p=26944 Shortlist Shows a Surge in Financial Services and Corporate Influencer Campaigns

London, Tuesday 24th June 2025 – The World Media Group unveiled the shortlist for the 2025 World Media Awards today, celebrating excellence in international content marketing and cross-border advertising. Now celebrating 10 years, the World Media Awards continues to draw high-calibre submissions from all over the world with entries from across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

The 2025 shortlist reflects continued growth in strategic content partnerships, with notable increases in the Financial Services and Corporate Influencer categories, suggesting that brands are sharpening their focus on trust-building and purpose-driven narratives in complex and regulated sectors. Technology & Telecoms also saw strong representation, underlining the sector’s ongoing investment in brand storytelling.

This year also saw the introduction of two new categories – Technology Partner and Branded Event, to demonstrate the growing importance of media innovation and brand experiences in bringing to life international advertising campaigns.

Jamie Credland, CEO of the World Media Group, commented: “As we celebrate 10 years of the World Media Awards, I’m blown away by the quality and ambition of the entries, highlighting the continued evolution of global content marketing. It’s brilliant to see how brands are using events and technology partnerships to drive deeper audience engagement and business impact.”

Storytelling by World-Class Brands

The shortlist features campaigns from an impressive mix of global brands, including Bayer,  Bupa, Cartier, De Beers Group, Dianomi, JW Marriott, Lombard Odier, L’Oreal Group, Mastercard, Netflix, Prada, PwC, Samsung, Swift, TikTok, UBS, ViiV Healthcare, Visa, VistaJet and Zurich Insurance.

The independent jury, comprising senior leaders from brands, agencies and media owners, is now tasked with selecting the winners for each category. This year’s co-chairs are Anna Campbell, Global Client President at Carat and Alison Harbert, Marketing Director at Investec.

Campbell noted, The new Technology Partner category revealed some of the most dynamic collaborations we’ve seen this year. It’s evident that when brands and tech providers work in sync, they can unlock new formats for storytelling that are both innovative and measurable.”

Harbert added: The entries in the Corporate Influencer and Financial Services categories stand out for their clarity, authenticity and smart integration of trusted voices. These campaigns are redefining how influence works at scale – grounded in credibility and aligned with brand values.”

World Media Awards Ceremony:

Winners will be announced at a live ceremony at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on Thursday 18th September 2025, where the coveted Grand Prix Award will also be presented. You can buy tickets to attend the ceremony here

Previous winners of the top prize include Cymru Wales, Infosys, Johnnie Walker, Malaria No More, Shell and Tata Motors.

Winners’ Perks

In addition to global recognition and a trophy, winners receive a unique prize – an exclusive international media campaign worth €750k+, run across the World Media Group’s prestigious media brands: The Atlantic, BBC News, Business Insider, CNN International, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Politico Europe, Reuters, The New York Times, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

The 2025 shortlist is as follows:

Corporate Influencer

Brand / CampaignEntered by
BCG – Future Forward: Human Potential in the Gen AI EraThe Wall Street Journal
De Beers Group – Talent UnearthedFortune Brand Studio
Diriyah Company x TIME 2030 CitiesTIME
The Emirates – Voices of VisionBBC StoryWorks
Fujitsu – Advancing Net Positive Agenda                 Economist Impact
Gilead – Ending HIV: The Road to 2030      POLITICO
IDA Ireland – Unlock Your Potential: Invest in IrelandReuters
UK Department for Business and Trade – UK DBT: Great Trade & Investment  CNN Create Brand Studio

Financial Services

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Lombard Odier – Rethinking Through the NoiseLombard Odier
PGIM – Outfront      Reuters
Swift – Growth at a CrossroadsEconomist Impact
UBS – Banking is Our Craft  Publicis ULABS
UBS – Crafting Capital          The Wall Street Journal
UBS – Craft Matters             Bloomberg Media
UBS – Craft Matters             T Brand Studio, New York Times Advertising
UBS – Market Rhythms                     Publicis ULABS
Visa – Level Up Your Game – Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024Visa

Tech  & Telecoms

Brand / CampaignEntered by
BOX – Animated Thinking: Engaging C-Suites Beyond the Boardroom    Financial Times
Deutsche Telekom – Summer to RememberMindshare
Fujitsu – Advancing Net Positive Agenda                 Economist Impact
Nokia – The Exponential EraWavemaker
Samsung Galaxy – Samsung: Open Always Wins     Starcom Worldwide
Samsung Galaxy S24 – Samsung S24: The World’s Biggest Livestream Launch   Starcom Worldwide
TIME X Northern Data Group – NORTHERN DATA GROUP         TIME
Zscaler – Phishing for the C-Suite: How “Trust No One” engaged everyoneFinancial Times

Travel & Tourism

Brand  / CampaignEntered by
Destination Canada – The Open Assignment           National Geographic/The Walt Disney Company
JW Marriott – Stay in the Moment                                        Economist Impact
Türkiye Tourism – Colours of Türkiye          BBC StoryWorks EMEA
Türkiye Tourism – Origins   CNN Create Brand Studio
VistaJet – Keep in TimeVistaJet

Luxury & Lifestyle

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Cartier – Linked by Love       The New York Times
De Beers Group – Talent UnearthedFortune Brand Studio
New Murabba – TIME X New MurabbaTIME
Prada — Sea Beyond: Blue FutureNational Geographic/The Walt Disney Company
UBS – Banking is Our Craft  Publicis ULABS
VistaJet – Keep in TimeVistaJet

Specialist Categories:

Brand & Media Owner Partnership

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Brand Scotland — Scotland for the Head, Heart and SpiritBBC StoryWorks EMEA
Bupa UK – Picture of Health            National Geographic
De Beers Group – Talent UnearthedFortune Brand Studio
EY – EY.ai Face of the Future Campaign with QuartzEYGS LLP
Infosys – The Sustainability AtlasEconomist Impact
L’Oreal Group – This is Not a Beauty Podcast         

T Brand Studio, New York Times Advertising
Netflix – Uber X Netflix Squid Game 2Blue Stripe
PwC – PwC & TED: Intelligence UnboundTED
UBS – Crafting Capital          The Wall Street Journal

Small Budget, Great Impact

NameCompany
Bayer – Drive Sustainable Progress POLITICO
Equinor – Searching for Better: The Energy Transition Told by the People Powering It        Financial Times
Mercator Ocean (Copernicus) – A Sea of Change                      BBC StoryWorks
TikTok – Brands That Won Big on TikTok   Forbes
West Midlands Growth Company – Welcome to the West Midlands          BBC StoryWorks

Social Good

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Ecolab – Better Water, Better Business                               Reuters
Mastercard – She is Priceless      Weber Shandwick
ViiV Healthcare – Ending the Epidemic          Publicis Media – Platform GSK
Zurich Insurance – Resilience from the Ground Up           Economist Impact

Branded Event

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Forbes – Forbes 30/50 Summit                    Forbes
Iberdrola – Creating a New Energy Policy ConversationHeadland Consultancy
Zurich Insurance – Navigating a World in Transition             Economist Impact

Technology Partner

Brand / CampaignEntered by
Dianomi – Your Content. Perfectly Placed              Dianomi
Infosys – FT Money Machine  Wongdoody
Infosys – Handelsblatt AI Trend Report                   Wongdoody
Infosys – The Sustainability Atlas     Infosys
Mediasense – Media Impact Model: From Efficiency to Effectiveness                        Mediasense

For full details of shortlisted entries go to https://world-media-group.com/awards/2025-shortlist/

#ENDS#

About The World Media Group
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of leading international media organisations that connects brands with highly engaged, influential audiences in the context of trusted and renowned journalism. Its members include BBC News, Business Insider, CNN International, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, The New York Times Company, POLITICO Europe, Reuters, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, associate member The Atlantic, and partners Brand Metrics and Dianomi. To find out more about the World Media Group, please visit www.world-media-group.com.

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Why Doing Good Can Be Good For Your Portfolio – Case Study 2020 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/why-doing-good-can-be-good-for-your-portfolio/ Mon, 18 May 2020 14:18:14 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=15965

Shortlisted 2020

Financial Services

Brand

UBS

Entered by:

WP BrandStudio, The Washington Post

Credits:

Why Doing Good Can Be Good For Your Portfolio

The Challenge

The campaign objective was to establish UBS as an authority on the topic of sustainable investing.

Sustainable investing has picked up significant momentum in recent years, and UBS has been a committed industry leader at the forefront of the movement. As the world’s leading wealth manager, UBS has the capital, solutions and expertise to make a significant difference globally.

In this increasingly competitive landscape, The Washington Post was an ideal media partner to create and distribute trustworthy thought leadership content.

The Creative Solution

While nearly 70% of investors are willing to pay more for goods and services from companies whose values align with theirs, only 39% invest sustainably.

WP BrandStudio, the branded content arm of The Washington Post, developed a content strategy to inform and educate The Post’s influential audience on UBS’s expertise in this still emerging area of investing.

WP BrandStudio crafted a multimedia story that demonstrates the private sector’s increasing involvement in sustainability, the strategy’s promising results, as well as UBS’s long history of leadership in this area. WP BrandStudio sought to develop content that would be informative yet accessible for a UBS’s desired audience of high­ net worth individuals interested in sustainable investing. The original article is entitled “Why doing good can be good for your portfolio.”

The custom-designed article features insights from UBS executives and relevant experts, engaging visual elements, an interactive timeline section and a CTA encouraging readers to learn more about how they can make a difference with their portfolio.

The interactive timeline section features historical moment s in sustainability both inside and outside UBS, demonstrating how UBS has consistently been ahead of the curve .

Finally, the deeply-researched content cited 15 sources, including UBS-issued reports and third party outlets.

The Media/Content Amplification Solution

The branded content was distributed across Washington Post properties ,  on Apple  News  and on social  media . The  promotions  targeted  high-net  individuals interested in sustainable investing in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong. We leveraged a mix of on and off-site products to deliver on UBS’s KPls and drive scale .

First, UBS leveraged some of The Washington Post’s industry leading advertising technology to deliver their content to the their desired audiences in premium contextual environments.

A primary on-site tactic was The Washington Post’s native promotional modules, which appear in-line with the site ‘s editorial content. These modules showcase imagery and multiple headlines from the branded article, e.g. “Can sustainable investing help you and your society?” Multiple versions of the unit (with varying promotional copy) run across the site, and our ad delivery system automatically optimize towards the better performing version.

We also leveraged a product called lnContext, which displays large pull-quotes embeded within contextually-relevant newsroom content. This product serves to showcase the expertise of UBS executives interviewed in the article. Because the promotional modules and lnContext are delivered in the most native context, they are a high driver of average time spent with the content.

Additionally, we distributed the article on trusted platforms beyond the desktop and mobile site to surpass the page view objective. We published the article in The Washington Post’s mobile app, which uniquely allows for the content to run in-stream alongside newsroom content.

We also promoted the content on relevant social media platforms (Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter) through paid and organic posts.

Finally, we drove traffic to the article through Apple News promotion . These vivid full-bleed promotional modules appear within Washington Post section fronts and articles on the iOS app .

The Result

The complementary content and media strategy were extremely successful and surpassed the states objectives of page views and average time spent with the content. In fact, as the campaign was nearing the end of its flight, UBS decided to extend the campaign (and corresponding investment) by another 6 weeks. The second flight also exceeded key performance objectives, indicating that the content continued to be of interest and relevancy to our readership.

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The Codenhagen Challenge – Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/the-codenhagen-challenge-case-study-2019/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 12:26:04 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9975

Shortlisted 2019

Brand and Media Owner Partnership

Brand

The Codenhagen Challenge

Entered by:

Greater Copenhagen

Credits:

RFRSH Entertainment, BLAST Pro Series

The Codenhagen Challenge

The Challenge

Globally, competition is strong among cities and business regions to increase growth, investments and attract
international talent. At Copenhagen Capacity, we are working to win this competition, challenged by the fact that
other North European cities have long been in stronger positions than Copenhagen, both in terms of size and place
branding resources.

In today’s digital economy, the fight for IT talent is particularly intense as cities hope to attract and retain the most
inspiring startups and successful tech firms.

This is also the case in Greater Copenhagen – a metropolis spanning Eastern Denmark and Southern Sweden which
has fostered tech successes such as Just Eat, Skype and Trustpilot. Despite these successes, 50% of all Danish
companies had difficulties hiring IT professionals in 2016. And this poses a great risk to the growth of the metropolis.

At Copenhagen Capacity, we decided to act: We teamed up with 75 local companies struggling to hire IT talent, and
we created a digital campaign that promoted Greater Copenhagen as an attractive tech destination while introducing
the audience to open jobs in the region.

To reach this coveted, choosy target group in a new way, we formed a strategic partnership with RFRSH
Entertainment; a privately owned esports company, representing, managing and running commercial operations for
some of the world’s best esports teams, including the world’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) team,
Astralis. RFRSH Entertainment hosts Denmark’s largest esports event; BLAST Pro Series.

The goal was twofold: First, we wanted to make Greater Copenhagen top-of-mind amongst international IT
specialists. Second, we wanted IT specialists with very specific skills to apply for open jobs in Greater Copenhagen.

The Strategy

Esports is entertaining a generation of affluent and digitally native millennials who consume media and
entertainment in entirely new ways. The partnership with RFRSH Entertainment provided brand new channels to
reach this target group via 1) strong influencers such as the Astralis team and individual CS: GO stars 2) access to an
audience of over 10 million viewers. The Counter-Strike tournament BLAST Pro Series was attended by 12,000 fans,
live-streamed from Copenhagen through Twitch reaching over 5 million viewers across 78 countries, and
broadcasted on 15 channels on 5 continents.

However, to be relevant, we had to appeal to both the interest and the professional pride of the target group.
So we created a unique competition on the website www.codenhagen.io – which aired during the tournament –
where we used Greater Copenhagen’s developer community as important influencers.

More specifically, our local community challenged the international community of developers, asking them questions that highlighted the positive aspects of working in Greater Copenhagen: The short working hours, the long holidays, the famous bicycle culture, the vibrant developer community, but also addressed their mutual interest and pride in being coders and game developers.

The competition was, of course, only for the tech-savvy. All clues were written in coding languages, for example C#,
C++ and JavaScript. In other words, we used a language that knows no geographical borders and which many
developers pride themselves on: The language of codes.

The competition was created to promote open jobs in Greater Copenhagen’s tech industry. And it did so,
intelligently: If a player chose JavaScript as the language to compete in, he or she would be encouraged to check out
open jobs in Greater Copenhagen that required skills within JavaScript.

Having gained initial attention, we planned to follow up by directing our media spend strategically on different SoMe
platforms, search engines and developer community websites. By tracking user behaviour and intent, we would be
able to segment and target our messages very specifically in order to 1) make Greater Copenhagen top-of-mind
among international software developers and 2) make those with the most relevant skills apply for open jobs in
Greater Copenhagen.

With the strategy in place, one question remained: How could we make the audience try out our Codenhagen Challenge?

The Implementation

Through our partnership with RFRSH Entertainment, we used the massive attention that was directed towards
Copenhagen by the BLAST Pro Series tournament to gain an initial touchpoint with our hard-to-reach target group of some of the world’s best software and game developers.

RFRSH Entertainment gave us access to some of the world’s top Counter-Strike pro players and teams – including
highly relevant influencers such as dev1ce, dupreeh and gla1ve from the Astralis team (currently the world’s best
team), karrigan and NiKo from FaZe Clan, FalleN from MIBR and top players from Ninjas in Pyjamas.

During the entire tournament, our video spots featured in the event live stream, promoting the online Codenhagen
Challenge platform. The Astralis pro players featured in our promotional videos where they took a special
Codenhagen Challenge with a CS:GO twist, making the challenge highly relevant to the event audience. Afterwards,
the pro players shared their results, inviting their social media followers to beat their score in the challenge. This was
the best endorsement we could ever ask for!

The influencer and live promotion setup during the event was supported by a strategic search engine and social
media campaign. The idea behind the Codenhagen Challenge was to encourage as many members of our target
group to compete and share their results to challenge their friends. We then employed their user behaviour data in
a media setup which presented them with relevant and targeted content about life as a developer in Greater
Copenhagen, local companies working on cool projects as well as specific career opportunities matching their coding
skills.

In this way, relevant candidates were enticed to visit our digital universe, some of them all the way to the point where
they were convinced to pursue a career in Copenhagen and apply for one of the open jobs featured in the
campaigns.

Owing to our partnership with RFRSH Entertainment, who handled the broad media exposure to a large target audience, we were able to focus our limited media spend (budget: around 100,000 EUR) strategically and very cost efficient to only target the most relevant candidates who would be a great match for the open developer jobs in
Greater Copenhagen.

Now, did our strategy and efforts to implement this work?

The Result

Let’s begin with the first goal.

Did we make Copenhagen top-of-mind among international software developers?
Yes.

We reached millions through broadcasting channels and Twitch, and our campaign gained 5+ million impressions
through our communication and social media influencers.

Influencer impressions created by CS: GO players reached an impressive 3,580,975 people. The tweet alone from
influencer FalleN reached 1,3 million of his followers and led to 3,683 people visiting Codenhagen.io in the seconds
after his tweet.

We then build a digital dialogue with his followers, wooing them into our digital universe using targeted messages.
Across social media platforms and online communities, we reached a total of 41,070,667 impressions.
Our video commercial also proved successful in terms of engagement and call-to-action: 85,000 people visited the
Codenhagen Challenge. 21,920 people even completed the challenge – which meant they had the right coding skills.
This leads us to our second goal: Did we make international developers apply for jobs in Greater Copenhagen?

Yes.

The Codenhagen Challenge helped us gain 4,553 applications for open developer jobs. And we are talking about
4,553 highly qualified people who, in a short time, decided to apply for a job in a foreign country and willingly leave
their hometown, friends, and family.

So far, these applications have led to a job match that will contribute to Denmark’s GDP with between 5.5 and 16.8
million EUR according to the Danish think tank DEA and the Confederation of Danish Industry.
We even achieved a third accomplishment; in 2018 the Codenhagen Challenge won the award for Best Use of Social
Media at the City Nation Place Awards in London, which recognises best practices within destination branding.

And we believe the results of what we have set in motion is only the beginning …

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The Final Challenge – Cullinan Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/the-final-challenge-cullinan-case-study-2019-2/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 11:13:23 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=10003

Shortlisted 2019

Lifestyle, Luxury and Fashion

Brand

Rolls Royce Cullinan

Entered by:

Fox Networks Group

Credits:

Centigrade – Agency National Geographic Brand Partners

The Final Challenge – Cullinan

The Challenge

About to unveil it’s first SUV, Rolls-Royce faced a new challenge, to prove itself as a highly capable luxury off-road motor car, worthy of their promise to deliver an ‘Effortless, Everywhere’ experience to their discerning customers.
Rolls-Royce has a rich heritage in testing its Future Products in the public eye, the 1913 Alpine Trials are a prime example of this. With Cullinan, they wanted to take it a step further, and hence designed a series of gruelling tests
under camouflage in Scotland, the Middle East and the USA.

Along the way, a series of films documenting just how far the Cullinan could go were created. And having Adventurer of the year 2012 Cory Richards narrating only added to the sense of excitement leading up to launch day.

The Strategy

The Final Challenge fulfilled a promise made to the public by CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös after he assured them that they would be involved in the development of the Cullinan. The ‘always-on’ omnichannel strategy allowed our target audience to interact and engage with the content and follow the journey of discovery in real-time.

Our audience watched, commented and debated as the series of journeys began in the jagged Highlands of Scotland, continued through scorched deserts of the Middle East, before coming to a close across some of the most
brutally stunning terrain in the United States. The Final Challenge was captured across 24 short films and daily photographic content. The juxtaposition of travelling in absolute luxury across the world’s harshest environments created a beautiful melting pot of encounters, feelings and viewpoints on each step of the journey.

The Implementation

When planning Cullinan’s world journey, the stakes had to be high, the journey was documented and uploaded on a daily basis, and there had to be an element that was profoundly ‘Rolls-Royce’. So the team from Rolls-Royce, Centigrade and National Geographic put together a plan that actually managed to achieve this – three countries, challenging terrain, one Cullinan, no help.

A pre-production model Cullinan was camouflaged and sent through the Scottish Highlands, the dunes of Dubai and a selection of national parks in the US. Nothing was scouted in advance, with the trails, climbs and river crossings
dealt with as they appeared. And, in the event of a mishap, there was no spare Cullinan to swap in. Basically, whatever happened, happened. A catastrophic breakdown would have ended the trip.

Luckily, the car was in good hands as National Geographic explorer/photographer Cory Richards captured the journey from his unique perspective. Through an ongoing story told via daily content uploads of stunning photography, online audiences around the world witnessed how Cory and the Cullinan overcame each challenge and interacted with a plethora of amazing individuals encountered along the way.

Over the course of three months the Centigrade team shot and edited the content in preparation for the daily upload to the National Geographic website, the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars website and bespoke pages on Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter.

Short films were released at regular intervals, giving the audience every incentive to watch the unfolding journey. In fact, the content was so immediate that, on at least one occasion, film had to be edited in the back of the Cullinan.
Much to the delight of the editor.

To add the final Rolls-Royce flourish, the Cullinan and it’s crew collected agate, mother of pearl and gold along the way. The idea being that each of these precious materials would be brought back to Rolls-Royce in Goodwood to
embellish a bespoke, luxury motor car that would be auctioned for charity. A fitting concept for a car named after the world’s largest flawless diamond.

The Result

The campaign ran for 3 months – April – June 2018.
PR Results

  • 170 million

Digital Results

  • Over 14 million impressions for a 3 month campaign
  • 1.5 million unique page views on RRMC ‘The Final Challenge’ page
  • 200% increase in engagement on RRMC Social Channels
  • 333% increase in Organic Leads via RRMC.Com
  • 124% increase in average .COM session duration
  • Over 123.1 million social impressions across Instagram/Facebook and Twitter.
  • Most liked Instagram post on National Geographic for the month of April 2018.
  • Over 100,000 users on the custom hub with 5000 clicks to the Rolls Royce website.
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Pomellato: Looking Back, Striding Forward Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/pomellato-looking-back-striding-forward-case-study-2019/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 11:10:58 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9995

Shortlisted 2019

Lifestyle, Luxury and Fashion

Brand

Pomellato

Entered by:

T Brand Studio, The New York Times

Credits:

Pomellato: Looking Back, Striding Forward

The Challenge

The Italian jewelry brand Pomellato partnered with T Brand Studio, the branded content team at The New York
Times, seeking to raise awareness of the Pomellato brand and create content to support its 2018
#PomellatoForWomen campaign to launch on International Women’s Day. In particular, the challenge was to raise
awareness of the brand among a younger, female audience and to provide context and setting for Pomellato’s new
brand video featuring influential women like Jane Fonda, Anjelica Huston, Chiara Ferragni and other inspiring figures who are publicly spreading the word about the importance of female empowerment.

The Strategy

T Brand Studio’s strategy was to align the brand with the larger conversation about women’s rights primarily through news coverage of key events throughout history to today’s #MeToo movement — a strategy that allowed to further align the two brands in a truly native environment. For this, we used the occasion of International Women’s Day to launch digital branded content marking milestones in women’s rights from 1967, when the house of Pomellato was born, to the present day.

Positioning Pomellato in line with key historic moments in the women’s movement provided the brand with a new
platform to show the many ways it has consistently been focused on women’s role in society, reflecting a strong,
independent and expressive femininity.

It was a natural alignment, given that The New York Times broke the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault story and later
won a Pulitzer Prize for the investigative journalism that prompted a worldwide movement. This topic further
allowed Pomellato’s empowerment message to resonate with audiences in an authentic, contextually aligned and
impactful way.

With a tight production schedule of around three weeks, T Brand Studio’s editors, designers and developers worked
closely together to develop a timeline approach for the campaign message page layout, resulting in a dynamic,
interactive page that’s informative, both historic and modern, and a thoroughly topical read for The New York
Times’s audience.

The Implementation

To achieve Pomellato’s goal of positioning the brand as an empowering one for women, The New York Times’s T
Brand Studio created a content destination on nytimes.com (https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/pomellato/howwomen-are-paving-the-road-to-equality.html), using an engaging timeline format, examining key moments that defined the women’s rights movement from the early 20th century up to now and how these landmark civic changes are influencing our lives today. Along with this main narrative, we featured newsroom articles and images from The New York Times’s archives that added depth and lent broader background to each landmark moment.

The page’s functionality is optimized for all platforms; it scrolls horizontally on desktop and tablet, but shifts to a
vertical scroll when viewed on mobile to ensure engagement. The design and content were strategically positioned
throughout the page to optimize for performance.

The narrative included archival New York Times articles immortalizing key events, such as a piece about the adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 1967. This was followed by other moments, including the monumental Roe v. Wade decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1973, ruling that women have a constitutional right to abortion. The final entry in the timeline covers the #MeToo movement, with a link to an accompanying newsroom archive article titled, “The #MeToo Movement: What’s Next?” which sheds light on how this global feminist issue has taken shape and where it is heading for future generations.

In light of The New York Times’s having broken the monumental Harvey Weinstein story and the birth of the
#MeToo movement, the addition of archival newsroom content and partnership with The New York Times proved to
be a groundbreaking and supremely timely move for the Italian brand in getting its message of female
empowerment across in an authentic, organic way.

The Result

T Brand Studio created a timely and engaging Paid Post marking key milestones throughout the women’s rights
movement that lives on nytimes.com. The post also housed the brand’s video, featuring interviews with powerful
women including Jane Fonda, Anjelica Huston and Chiara Ferragni, among others. In addition, there were two
supporting social posts that helped put Pomellato at the heart of the women’s rights conversation.

This highly successful campaign achieved all the primary and secondary KPIs that Pomellato aimed for. By obtaining
137 million impressions in total and overdelivering on page views by 42 percent, we fulfilled the main objective of
this partnership, which was to raise awareness of Pomellato globally. Also, with high click-through rates that
exceeded both The New York Times’s and T Brand Studio’s benchmarks, we were able to truly engage our target
audience and deliver an informative, timely and fascinating Paid Post.

Below is a summary of the key results from this campaign:

135M total impressions — Only 4M impressions were contracted in the media plan

Over delivered on page views by 42%

74.8% scroll rate — 7% higher than the industry benchmark*

54.1% video completion rate — 16% higher than T Brand Studio’s benchmark

Display CTR 63% higher than New York Times benchmark

Social CTR twice as high as T Brand Studio’s benchmark

*Industry benchmarks by MOAT

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Gemfields: Show Your True Colours Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/gemfields-show-your-true-colours-case-study-2019/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 11:03:31 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9987

Shortlisted 2019

Lifestyle, Luxury and Fashion

Brand

Gemfields

Entered by:

LuxHub, Havas Media International

Credits:

Adam & Eve

Gemfields: Show Your True Colours

The Challenge

Gemfields is an emerald and ruby sourcing company on a mission to become the global leader in precious coloured
gemstones – a position which is currently unoccupied.

The coloured gemstones category and Gemfields suffer from extremely low awareness (outside of a close-knit B2B
audience). That said, Gemfields is an under the radar leader and benefits from responsible brand principles.
However, ethics aren’t top of mind in the coloured gemstone industry with all the focus bestowed on diamonds –
aided by the larger size of the market and perhaps Leonardo DiCaprio and his unforgettable Rhodesian accent in
Blood Diamond.

Ask any discerning fine jewellery consumer to divulge their favourite diamond supplier and you’ll receive a confident
response listing well-known mine owners, regions and/or diamond traders. Ask the same consumer to name their
favourite coloured gemstone suppliers and they’ll struggle. Although he/she may blurt out praise for Colombian
Emeralds and Pigeon Blood Rubies from Burma– the knowledge is limited if not superficial.
On the other hand, trade audiences and end-user brands are familiar with Gemfields but their loyalty is flimsy whilst
the stone selection process is based on appearance vs quality and authenticity. Gemfields never uses chemicals to
enhance colours or brilliance unlike many other competitors.

Our challenge, therefore, was to establish a fame for Gemfields’ uniquely responsible and sustainable brand story, in order to grow demand with two different audiences: end consumers and trade.

The Strategy

To become the authority in the coloured gemstone industry, Gemfields would also have to raise demand for
coloured gemstones. Our strategy would need to stimulate desire for responsibly sourced coloured gemstones with
a campaign that is both aesthetically rich and educational.

After studying both our end consumers and trade audiences’ attitudes to ethics and diamonds vs precious
gemstones, we landed on a succinct but telling media activation strategy ‘Show Your True Colours’.
The strategy sets out to build Gemfields’ brand fame but speaks specifically to our two audiences – leading to a
targeted awareness campaign. This required an omni-channel approach, leveraging mass media formats for a lasertargeted audience—such as high impact OOH in specific HNW locations and right time/right space publisher
takeovers, through to exclusive content partnerships and selective SmartTV buys.

The Implementation

Our media approach was empowered with creative from Adam&Eve – rooted in Gemfields’ key topic areas:
transparency, conservation, sustainability, education, livelihoods and health. To stay on strategy the implementation
was divided into three objectives.

1) Stimulate Desire for Coloured Gemstones: Across the US, UK, France, Italy, Middle East and India, a mixture of
push and pull media channels were utilised to maximise top of mind awareness, including a focus on digital display
and print. We partnered with publishers like Refinery 29 to release an array of jewellery issues showcasing jewellery
from brands featuring Gemfields gemstones. The content was multi-market and multi-language. The audience here
was relatively broad with the intention to encourage buzz, however the communications were highly contextual
ensuring prospects were in a luxury consumption mindset.

2) Build fame for Gemfields: Adam&Eve’s bold creative assets were leveraged across similarly bold media formats.
High impact activity launched with an October burst to immediately boost awareness, bolstered by a 30” video with
Sky Adsmart (UK HNW households), Teads video, premium site direct display and paid social, and a huge multimarket print push. A partnership with British Airways spoke to trade and HNWs with print and video in moments of dwell. All digital activity was continuously optimised towards best performance via ongoing conversations with publishers and reporting.

However, OOH activations in London and Manhattan – key locations for our HNW’s jewellery purchases, were the
ultimate jewels in the crown. In London, a fleet of 30 fully wrapped new electric black taxis took to the streets for 3
months, timed at the start of Frieze week and dedicated to luxury shopping areas of Knightsbridge and Mayfair. We
also took over the Brompton Road Banner with a billboard employing technology to treat and purify the smoggy
Chelsea air. In New York, we took to Manhattan’s NOHO area with a wall-to-wall mural, painted with environmentally friendly linseed oil paint.

3. Instil Understanding for the Gemfields Story: Educational storytelling required a commitment to persuasive and
credible content. This was achieved through collaborations with authoritative entities such as Garage Magazine
and The National Geographic, speaking to sophisticated style influencers and trade. Developing bespoke content
with publishers’ own taste-makers, such as artist Francesca DiMattio and wildlife photographer Shannon Wild,
allowed us to educate with trustworthy partners. Additionally, our partnerships with Hearst and Refinery 29
included informative native articles speaking to end-consumers both HNW and affordable premium audiences.

The Result

Prior to the launch of our campaign, Gemfields media had been traditionally print and display. Introducing a
comprehensive and objective-driven media strategy led to a highly diversified but impactful campaign.
In regards to awareness, we have achieved huge numbers within a selective luxury targeting approach:
• 92,183,362 social impressions
• 16,867,458 digital impressions
• 11,612,536 OOH impacts
• 7,406,362 youtube TVC views
More impressively, however, the combination of high impact advertising and tactical PR support drove a+ 300% rise in organic Gemfields search within the first month of the campaign in October. What’s more, October also saw to a 268% increase in site traffic compared to October 2017.

Thinking of our educational ambitions, we saw a 4% social ad recall lift rate, demonstrating that not only are we
reaching our audience, but that they are remembering the message. Secondly, we saw a 53% decrease in the
bounce rate of site traffic from October to December 2018 compared to the same months in 2017, showing how the campaign drove a more qualified and engaged audience to discover more about the Gemfields proposition.

Finally, considering the trade audience, Gemfields have noted that they are seeing an increase in trade
demand, meaning our campaign is truly cutting through to our business audience who will influence long-term
business results. Although we cannot define results by sales, the mission at hand is to assume category leadership
with a responsible positioning, so while the campaign is still going, current results reveal that we are making
headway and thanks to a dynamic channel mix, strategically chosen media formats and of course engaging content
with our creative and publisher partners.

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Formula 1: Unleashing the World’s Greatest Racing Spectacle on the Planet- Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/formula-1-unleashing-the-worlds-greatest-racing-spectacle-on-the-planet-case-study-2019-2/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 12:35:36 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9985

winner 2019

Lifestyle, Luxury and Fashion

Brand

Formula 1

Entered by:

Wavemaker Client Solutions London

Credits:

Wieden+Kennedy

Formula 1: Unleashing the World’s Greatest Racing Spectacle on the Planet

The Challenge

With a decline in following and negative perceptions impacting both brand and business, 2018 was a seminal year
for Formula 1. The brand mission to “unleash the greatest racing spectacle on the planet” was realised for the first
time as we reignited love for F1 with fans old and new.

When Liberty Media acquired Formula 1 in 2017 the sport was struggling to recruit fresh blood; viewer numbers
were in decline and fans were getting older. Even the fans that had stuck with F1 were less engaged and the sport
was widely perceived as inaccessible and “boring”.

For a long time F1 had put the needs of fans second to the serious business of making money and the fan
experience had suffered as a result. To reverse the long-term decline and bring in 100MM new fans by 2022 we
needed to put the fans first and at the heart of F1.

Quantitative studies put ‘speed’ as the no.1 driver of appeal and speaking to fans seemed to verify that. Repeatedly
fans would cite speed as being the hook for their love of the sport. But F1 was faster than it had ever been and yet
fans were saying it wasn’t as thrilling to watch. So we dug deeper into what fans love about F1, what was lacking and
what they felt it had lost. Reading between the lines we realised that what fans really love about F1 isn’t the speed as
they said, it was the racing. It’s the raw energy of competition, the human drama in the rivalry. Speed feels cold,
technical, bloodless; whereas racing is passionate, gritty and dangerous. Most of all it’s human. To bring more
people into F1 we needed to bring out the human side of the story and dial up the racing.

The Strategy

Formula 1 has six bespoke IPSOS audience segments. To design an effective comms strategy we grouped these into
three pairs, focusing on general interest in F1: “Yet to Try”, “Light & Lapsed” and “Engaged”. Using brand and
audience insights we adapted our purchase journey framework into a “fan journey” and mapped out how people
move across this circuit.

“Engaged” fans were identified as those already converted to F1, actively looking for information – what we call the
Active Stage. To halt the decline in audience we had to re-engage this group by giving them the stories, content and
access that all sports fan crave.

Our “Yet-to-Try” audience was identified as people with whom we had to build bias, as well as creating a connection
between F1 and wider culture to make it relevant to these future fans – called the Priming Stage.
Finally, the “Light & Lapsed” fans were coming to the sport when specific triggers occurred: rivalries, drama, their
home race. These people love to engage with big sporting occasions, but we wanted them to emotionally commit to
F1 and remain engaged throughout the whole season. To facilitate the transition from “Light & Lapsed” to “Engaged”
we had to amplify these triggers in our communications. (see uploaded image 1)

Then, we outlined two communication principles to guide global and local planning. These closely align with the
brand DNA – “ENGINEERED INSANITY: See, Hear and Feel The Unpredictable Drama Of Formula 1.”
• Driving conversations: by making every race an event, driving buzz around the events and create opportunities for
shared experiences
• Driving affinity: by bringing fans closer to the unfolding drama of F1, draw fans into F1 brand stories and amplify
news and intrigue.

From each principle cascaded a different approach for fan-focused executions. F1 would launch with more grit and
raw human energy than ever before.

The Implementation

Our communications planning took two approaches – race-by-race and season-long. We worked with 31 media
partners, advertising in 20 countries in 7 different languages, all overseen from London.

Race-by-race

• Centred on key moments and strategically important markets for business growth, we supported individual Grand
Prix’s and Fan Festivals in Australia, China, Azerbaijan, Spain, France, Italy, Japan and USA.
• To drive conversation and make every race an event, locally-nuanced activations focused on building awareness,
buzz, footfall, and ticket sales in the 4-8 weeks before.
• We created ‘city attack’ executions – a takeover with variety of on-the-ground activations including street teams,
partnerships, TV and radio coverage, OOH domination, murals, fly-posters, and geo-targeted social, bespoke display
and online video.
• We made sure everyone knew F1 was in town.

Season-long

• At the start of the season we launched the first-ever brand campaign “ENGINEERED INSANITY” across all major
social platforms. This was complemented with campaigns designed to keep up excitement during the summer break
and end of season.
• The principle of driving affinity focused on priority markets and regions, such as Germany, USA, Mexico and Latin
America. Storytelling was key to unlocking affinity – this was achieved via partnerships, paid and organic social media content and bespoke digital and video display.
• Behavioural targeting was used to initially reach those interested in F1. Our targeting was subsequently expanded
to reach fans and followers of specific F1 teams, other motorsport content, eSports, gaming and sports where fans
show high affinity to F1 (e.g. basketball, NFL, football, tennis, boxing).

The Result

To prove the effectiveness of our strategy and impact on the F1 business over the next 5 years, we designed a
bespoke measurement framework, linking media and brand KPIs. The framework includes a success hierarchy and
dashboard. We also set out a test & learn programme.

The results of our campaign and various executions exceeded expectations, resulting in incredible performance in
year 1:
• Delivered over 43 million completed video views across social and display
• Drove YouTube VTRs 18% above category benchmark
• Outperformed CTR benchmarks on Chinese social platforms, up to 12 times
• Increased following across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram by 54%
• F1 became the fastest growing sport on social media in 2018 – up to 75% of growth is directly attributable to paid
media alone
• Drove TV viewership up 10% vs. 2017 = +48m
• Sold more tickets: up to +30% YoY per Grand Prix
• Delivered engaged fans: +5% in ‘Engaged’ audience segments by May 2018 YoY
• Halted the decline and started to grow interest in F1: global search volumes +14% YoY, weekly volumes at 30-50%,
higher than pre-season forecasts
• Brand equity remained strong – F1 sits above the Premier League and second only to the Champions League
globally and to NBA in China

Most importantly we gave our audiences more of what they crave and reignited love for F1. Ultimately we proved
that a fan journey is not a funnel, it’s a circuit.

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Hear the Music, Experience the USA Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/hear-the-music-experience-the-usa-case-study-2019/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 10:32:09 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9981

Shortlisted 2019

Travel & Tourism

Brand

Visit the USA

Entered by:

Brand USA

Credits:

MediaCom, Spotify, Mustache

Hear the Music, Experience the USA

The Challenge

Global Barriers:

  • Economical: A strong U.S. dollar makes it seem like other destinations are cheaper to visit. As a result,
    international visitors find the U.S. to be too expensive and cost prohibitive.
  • Uncertainty around travel policies: Changes to visa and entry policies by the USA have reinforced the perception that we are unwelcoming to tourists.

The Strategy

Give a voice to real travel experiences within the USA!! Individual voices, each expressing their own particular point
of view, can collectively overcome the perception that the U.S. is unwelcoming or expensive. The United States is the
world’s melting pot. A country and culture created from disparate societies, blended together by time and
circumstance. Music is amongst the greatest cultural consequences to come out of this melting pot. Authentic beats
and rhythm, thrown together, mixed up and crafted into legendary genres. Grounded in the spirit of American music, we want to capture the imagination of global travelers by taking them on a journey of discovery into the beats that have helped power the heart of the United States. The focus on sound in the campaign aligns with Brand USA large format film, “America’s Musical Journey,” which explores America’s history through its distinctive music and sound. The integrated campaign and film engage the ears and the eyes, and from small screen to big screen and everything in between, delivers an immersive experience for consumers. This will be targeted to a global audience of frequent travelers ages 18-54, with market specific & campaign nuances, who are looking for adventurous, local, and personal travel experiences.

The Implementation

Brand USA, the destination-marketing organization for the United States, launched Hear the Music, Experience the
USA, an integrated marketing campaign from April – September 2018 utilizing the power of music to promote
international travel to the United States. A unique exploration in sound, Hear the Music, Experience the USA
interprets Bobby Freeman’s iconic song, “Do You Wanna Dance?” through different musical genres as envisioned by
five innovative artists bringing the unique cultural sounds of their cities to life. To amplify the campaign, Brand USA
had partnered with digital music service Spotify to enhance discovery and exploration options with more than 20
customized U.S. city soundscape playlists. This dynamic storytelling tool presents a new way for Brand USA to
inspire, invite, and welcome visitors from all over the world.

The heart of this campaign lies with the five emerging artists selected to bring the sound of their respective city to life
through original renditions of “Do You Wanna Dance?,” including:

Cam James (Cameron James Williams) – Hip-Hop; Atlanta, Georgia
Bass Physics (Arja Adair) – Electonric Dance Music (EDM); Denver, Colorado
Nathan Quick – Blues; Houston, Texas
Reptaliens (Bambi and Cole Browning) – Rock ‘n’ Roll; Portland, Oregon
Calma Carmona – Soul; San Juan, Puerto Rico

As demonstrated through the styles of these artists, the United States’ music scene is constantly evolving and each
region has a unique story to tell. By being exposed to the sounds of EDM in Denver, the blues in Houston, rock ‘n’
roll in Portland, hip-hop in Atlanta, and soul in Puerto Rico, prospective travelers get a taste of the eclectic cultural
and musical soundtrack the United States offers. Each version of the song balances the talents’ creative flair with the
energy and style of music inherent to their location, and together, they demonstrate the incredible diversity of
people, places, and experiences available in the United States.

The campaign was distributed across Visit The USA’s consumer digital ecosystem. Content ranging from video cutdowns
to music videos were amplified via mass awareness and storytelling tactics such as display, OLV, social, native
and Spotify.

The Result

The campaign achieved over $5.8 million in earned media value & $69 million in earned media impressions. The
Spotify destination playlists were streamed over 29K times, with an average of 21 minutes per session. Social
achieved over 3 million in engagements. Across 10 international markets & tactics, the campaign produced over 70
million in digital engagements. Markets include India, France, South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico and United Kingdom.

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America’s Musical Journey Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/americas-musical-journey-case-study-2019/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 10:28:20 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9979

Shortlisted 2019

Travel & Tourism

Brand

Visit the USA

Entered by:

Brand USA

Credits:

MacGillivary Freeman Films

America’s Musical Journey

The Challenge

1. To illustrate the rich trailblazing musical history of America – in the full glory of its diverse genres and legends –
on the giant screen in just 46 minutes
2. To showcase the diversity of the USA – people, places and experiences – in an unexpected way that inspires and
welcomes new audiences to experience travel to the USA in
3. Create storytelling to do the above and leverage the right talent to connect with global audiences in over 100
markets in a personal, authentic and immersive way

The Strategy

Brand USA is at the forefront of delivering authentic, inspiring and entertaining content that connects travelers to
the USA’s limitless travel experiences. The film is the cornerstone of its “digital screen strategy” – mobile to giant
screen and everything in between – to drive storytelling that is relevant, engaging and real. Narrated by Academy
Award® winner Morgan Freeman, the film follows Grammy Award®-nominated singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc as he traces the roots of America’s music, following the footsteps of Louis Armstrong through the colorful locales and
cultures where America’s music was born. Audiences also meet iconic artists, musicians, and innovators including
Jon Batiste of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Dr. John, and jazz pianist Ramsey
Lewis.

To amplify awareness, Brand USA partnered with Shazam on OOH ads in international markets premiering the film
to promote user discovery, encourage ticket sales and inspire visitation with contest opportunities. Following the
success of our Outdoors initiative, we sought to create another immersive campaign around music to inspire
audiences worldwide to explore the many musical experiences available to them in the United States. At the center
of this campaign was our film, America’s Musical Journey.

The broader music campaign included:
A complimentary digital video series called “Hear The Music”. The series brings to life 10 cities across the United
States through the lens of 10 artists covering classic American songs while exploring the sights, flavors, and hidden
gems of the cities which have inspired their unique musical perspectives. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PL82OxkDfKGadObpPhODoqJHLl_zht1t9o)
A global music content hub on our website in 5 languages and 15 countries. (https://www.visittheusa.com/music)
A Global PR and paid media campaign to drive awareness for the film, our “Hear The Music” video series and Music
content hub.
Music Partnerships with Spotify, Vevo, BBC, NBCUniversal, Beautiful Destinations, Expedia, Euronews
(https://www.euronews.com/programs/notes-from-the-usa) and Air Canada among others.

The Implementation

Embarking on an expedition that follows the beat of America’s trailblazing spirit into inspired creative territory,
Brand USA began working with MacGillivray Freeman Films two years ago to create America’s Musical Journey. Aloe Blacc traveled with the film crew to more than 10 of the most iconic cultural U.S. cities, uncovering America’s musical heritage – from New York and New Orleans to Chicago, Detroit, Miami and more. On February 15, 2018 Brand USA hosted the film’s world premiere at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., followed by its global release at Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The film will continue to run indefinitely at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Warner Bros. Theater. The film is currently playing in IMAX theaters in 75 theaters around the world, with plans to reach 100 within two years of the film launching.

The Result

The film has launched in 75 theaters around the world. It has generated nearly 2 billion impressions across earned
and paid media. The film has garnered overwhelming positive reviews and secured massive media coverage from
top-tier publications across entertainment, consumer, trade, and travel media such as New York Times, CNN, Rolling Stone, Travel Weekly, Cheddar, Associated Press, Variety, Press Association, CNBC, Xinhua, Press Trust of India, The Australian, Forbes, El Economista, HuffPost Mexico, the Sun UK and more. There have been more than 167 articles published worldwide – in the U.S., UK, Australia, China, India, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Australia and more. MacGillivray Freeman’s America’s Musical Journey made its Asian debut at the 2018 Beijing International Film Festival, where it was awarded the “Best Audience Recommendation Award” in the Science and Technology section.

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Pinpoint Precision Case Study 2019 https://world-media-group.com/case-study/pinpoint-precision-case-study-2019/ Fri, 05 Apr 2019 10:23:32 +0000 http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/?post_type=case-study&p=9977

Shortlisted 2019

Travel & Tourism

Brand

Korean Air

Entered by:

T Brand Studio, The New York Times

Credits:

Ogilvy

Pinpoint Precision

The Challenge

Korean Air is the largest commercial airline in South Korea, servicing more than 120 destinations internationally. The aviation sector in the Asia-Pacific is highly competitive and one of the world’s biggest markets. In the region, Korean Air’s competitors include Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines, making it crucial for Korean Air to increase market cut-through and brand awareness. The goal for the branded content (within which sits the video) was 60,000 page views.

In the lead up to the Winter Olympics, Korean Air wanted to create a branded content campaign that aligns with
newsroom coverage. Even though Korean Air was a sponsor of the Winter Olympics, other legal and rights
complications surrounding the athletes and the event itself meant we weren’t allowed to feature  prominent/professional athletes or mention the Olympic Games. This was a significant challenge given that Olympic
alignment was a primary objective for the client. We eventually identified a young speed skater who had broken the
national record the previous year but was too young to qualify for the Olympics.

We also had to work under a tight timeline of five weeks. In this period of time, we identified the subject,
coordinated and conducted the film shoot and finished editing the film (with translated subtitles). As the subject
doesn’t speak English, we had to engage a translator and a fixer to smooth the language barrier.

The Strategy

Reaching The New York Times’s global readership of more than 150 million unique readers requires a deep
understanding of user behavior within The NYTimes digital ecosystem. We leveraged an internal proprietary tool
called Readerscope to ascertain the type and form of content that would resonate among our target audience. We
decided that a subject-driven profile with a clear, simple but impactful story tended to perform better and that a
short video would probably be the best mechanism to deliver the story in a clear way. Additionally, based on our
understanding of our readers’ behavior on site, we were able to drive the branded content specifically to NYTimes
readers who are international travelers, our client’s most relevant target sector.

New York Times readers also expect their consumption branded content from T Brand Studio to be a seamless
experience as they read newsroom articles. As such, we only included very subtle brand mentions of Korean Air and
approached the content from a journalistic perspective.

To overcome legal and licensing obstacles, we knew that we couldn’t profile a professional athlete, so our strategy
was to craft a compelling story around a young non-sponsored athlete who’s credible at a winter sport.

The Implementation

T Brand Studio created a digital campaign in the lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Seoul that ran from Feb. 2 to 25 2018. The video-led Paid Post — a dedicated webpage hosting the branded content that lives on nytimes.com —
introduces readers to the world and techniques of speed skating through the portrait of a 16-year-old South Korean
speed skater who set a record in his category championships in 2017.

Leveraging the storytelling approach of the newsroom, we commissioned a video team to fly in from the U.S., hired
a Seoul-based fixer and sent the Hong Kong-based T Brand Studio editor during the production period.
Our video impresses on readers the level of precision it takes to reach high velocity on the ice. Shot in Seoul, it tells
the story of Lee Byung-hoon. The young speed skater explains why he loves the sport and outlines his training
regimen, while his coach emphasizes the key factors that affect velocity, highlighting details about his coaching
philosophy.

We also complemented the video with an originally reported article and drew parallels between the level of precision
needed in the sport and in delivering a seamless flight experience. Finally, we included an illustrated carousel that
spotlighted the attentive services offered by Korean Air.

The Result

Video performance was outstanding, outperforming all benchmarks and achieving some of the highest completion
rates seen at T Brand Studio. An extra 7,250 views were delivered via CPV as added value. Social media CTR was
above benchmark on both Twitter and Facebook. Across all activity, over 90 million impressions were served. Here
are some key figures:

76,444 — total page views
61.06% — total video completion rate (+30% vs. benchmark)
19.09 % — video start rate (+169% vs. benchmark)
1:47 — total session time on desktop
89, 331,799 — total onsite impressions on NYTimes

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