Beacons 2022: The big winners were Together, FCB Media, PHD, MediaCom, TVNZ, MediaWorks, NZME 

AUCKLAND, Today: The 2022 Beacon Awards – in association with oOh!media –  was held last night at the Aotea Centre. With a renewed format, look and feel, hosted by Clint Roberts of TVNZ’s 60 Seconds and ZM’s Drive Show, it was a well-received change for the awards programme.

After another year of Covid implications it was seen as the perfect opportunity to unite the industry once again and to acknowledge the industry’s best media-lead campaigns from 2021.

The theme this year was about celebrating outstanding work and despite all the challenges of the last 12 months there were some exceptional campaigns that took home plenty of metal.

The evening kicked off with two golds in the Social Marketing and Public Service category – one for FCB Media and Fire & Emergency New Zealand, and one for Together and Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission.

These were the first of seven wins each for FCB Media and Together. 

FCB kept the wins coming with golds in Consumer Services for their work with Mercury NZ Mercury Movers, which also took home gold later in the evening in the Most Effective category.

“Together was the big winner for the night picking up six category wins and two major awards.”

Their next gold was in Best Small Budget with SEAT for their campaign Edge of Relevance. They picked up their second gold for Fire & Emergency NZ for Moving the Dial. Their last category gold was again in Most Effective category but this time for AMP NZ for Insurance Express Lane.

Their big win for the night was gold in sustained success for Water Safety New Zealand A Reap’in Success Story.

Together was the big winner for the night picking up six category wins and two major awards, collecting a second gold in Best Small Budget for Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission.

But their work with AIA New Zealand called Owning the intent moment through real-time Search was the big winner, taking home three golds in Best Use of Technology, Best Use of Data, and Best Use of Search Engine Marketing.

It was this same campaign that took out the major award for the evening, Best in Show.

The international judging panel unanimously agreed that this was the standout campaign of the year.

But it didn’t stop there, the prestigious and fiercely fought Media Agency of the Year award, sponsored by META, was also taken home by the team at Together.

This award was judged by a panel of independent and senior businesspeople and auditors, and took into account business vision, employee development, financial performance, client acquisition and development, industry contribution and creativity and innovation.

A big night for that team.

“We are massively stoked,” said Together managing partner Rufus Chuter.

“The crowd really erupted as The Sandy Smith Inspiring Individual Award, sponsored by Warner Bros Discovery, went to Gina McKinnon.”

“For us, Agency of the Year is an award for our fantastic clients and everyone in the industry and at home that’s backed, encouraged and supported team Together.

“It was also amazing to win Best in Show with AIA and be recognised across so many categories. It’s great validation of our vision for where media’s heading and the ambition and collaboration required to get there.”

PHD Group picked up two golds, one for KFC in the Best use of Event/Activation category, and the other in the Most Effective category for The socially distanced Daffodil Day for ANZ.

MediaCom picked up three golds with Lion in the Best Use of Content, Best Creative Media Idea, and Best Collaboration categories. These golds solidified its position to also take-home Advertiser of the Year.

Commenting on the campaigns and entries judged this year, convenor of judging Louise Bond said: “It was pleasing to see a wide range of clients/agency partners entering the awards with a very high standard of work overall.

“It has been another tough year for the industry and yet we thrive due to the significant contribution that our industry has on client success.

“Increasingly, the awards are celebrating work that is innovating through the use of technology and data that leads to clever use of media, strong strategic thinking with plenty of creativity.

“The 2022 Beacon Awards in association with oOh!media were also presented by commercial partner TVNZ, and sponsors Are Media, Cartology, Google, Meta, Nielsen, NZME, The Radio Bureau, and Warner Bros Discovery.”

“I’m excited for the future of our industry and congratulations to all the winners on the night. You are all very deserving.”

This year the Rising Star, an award for a promising newcomer in the first five years of their career, was split into two awards – one for media agencies and one for media businesses.

There were two highly commendeds this year, a testament to the talent rising up in our industry – Kat Blackburn from MediaWorks, and Max Huang from Hearts & Science.

But the 2022 Rising Stars, chosen by the Beacon’s steering committee, were Courtney Gatwick from MediaWorks and Tessa Hubbard from MBM.

NZME had a fantastic night and took out both Sales Team of the Year and Media Owner Innovation of the Year to the delight of the crowd. Media Business of the Year went to TVNZ with MediaWorks receiving a Highly Commended.

But the crowd really erupted as The Sandy Smith Inspiring Individual Award, sponsored by Warner Bros Discovery, went to Gina McKinnon from Omnicom Group.

Comms Council president Simon Lendrum said: “We would like to thank the 2022 winners and finalists that all helped contribute to the innovative and strategic thinking across all media disciplines in Aotearoa over the past 12 months.”

The 2022 Beacon Awards in association with oOh!media were also presented by commercial partner TVNZ, and sponsors Are Media, Cartology, Google, Meta, Nielsen, NZME, The Radio Bureau, and Warner Bros Discovery.

• For full results download the list from the Comms Council website – commscouncil.nz
• To view images of winners visit facebook.com/commscouncil