The Cresta Awards received entries from 41 countries this year and has handed out 626 awards, including 8 Grands Prix.
Australia won 11, 6 of them going to M&C Saatchi, which won 1 silver and five bronze. The Producers won 1 silver and 1 bronze; whiteGREY, two bronze; Host/Havas Sydney and MullenLowe 303, 1 bronze each.
Just one New Zealand agency won all of its awards – Clemenger BBDO Wellington won 20 awards (5 gold, 13 silver and 2 bronze) and was one Cresta’s biggest winners worldwide. Most (but not all) of these went to its Belted Survivors campaign for NZ Transport Agency.
The biggest winner globally across all levels was Dentsu Tokyo with 40 awards. Serviceplan Munich won the most gold, 16.
Publicis Italy’s Daniel Craig vs James Bond for Heineken won 4 golds, 3 silvers & 1 bronze.
Germany was the #1 winner by country with 79 awards. The US was #2 with 62 and the United Arab Emirates #3 with 57 awards. Sweden won 48, Japan won 47 wins and the UK won 46.
The jury was particularly stirred by the response to the new category of Brand Activism, where it awarded ten golds.
Grands Prix winners:
- AMV BBDO ( x 4) for #wombstories for Bodyform, its follow-up to Viva La Vulva.
- BETC Sao Paolo for The 9’58 Biography for Puma
- Heimat for Cultural Heirs’ Voice of the Wall (which also won 8 golds & 1 silver)
- Havas Madrid for Fieeld for Satander Bank
- 72andSunny LA for Swipe Night for Tinder.
Cresta is proud of its response to Covid, going fee-free for 2020, believing the industry needed support and encouragement, rather than suspending activity as several award schemes have done.
“We have many agencies, companies and clients, winning all around the world, but overall it is the creative industry that is the big winner,” stated Cresta president, Alan Page. “Despite the terrible pressures of the year, Cresta 2020 has attracted, and now been able to reward, a record range of great work. The industry has come out and reminded us how it has invaluable skills, with tremendous work that helps strengthen and develop society, culture and economic activity globally.”
“By going fee-free this year, we removed all economic barriers to participation and that has led to an even wider diversity of work,” commented Lewis Blackwell, Cresta chief executive officer. “Entrants of all kinds, from small and large agencies, production companies and clients, from many countries and economic situations, were able to really look to showcase the best qualities of their work and, of course, enter it broadly in our categories.
“It’s a particular pleasure for me to note that we see winning work from Mexico to Moldova, Chile to China… there’s a lot of great stories in our winners. My congratulations to them all.”
Although 202 was an unusual year, Cresta maintained its commitment to applying an absolute standard to the awards levels. “Our jury, who all vote individually, mark out of 10. They are not focused on giving winners in categories, just marking the individual quality of each entry,” Page noted. “When we average the votes, if a category doesn’t have work that meets the absolute award standard required, then no awards are given. And that was the case in several categories but in others the jury has found spectacular strength of content. It’s been a very tough year, with more challenges to come, but that’s all the more reason to recognise, celebrate and nurture the talent and value of this industry.”
