Droga5 and FCB Win 2 Grand Clios Each at 60th Anniversary Show

See all the big winners from Wednesday's ceremony

Photo by Brian Ach/Invision for Clio Awards/AP Images

The Clio Awards revealed its coveted Grand Clio winners on Wednesday night at a special star-studded ceremony in New York, hosted by Bravo's Andy Cohen, celebrating the venerable awards company's 60th anniversary. 

Two New York agencies, Droga5 and FCB, won two Grand Clios apiece. 

Droga5 won in Film for The New York Times' "The Truth Is Worth It" campaign, and in Partnerships & Collaborations for a different Times campaign, "Read More. Listen More." FCB New York won in both Digital/Mobile and Direct for "Whopper Detour." 

AKQA, AMV BBDO, Farm League, McCann New York, Mother New York, Publicis Italy and Wieden + Kennedy also won Grand Clios. Burger King was named Advertiser of the Year. McCann New York was Agency of the Year. And BBDO Worldwide was Network of the Year. 

David Droga, founder of Droga5, received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mattel's Barbie, which also turned 60 this year, was honored with the Brand Icon Award. Celebrity presenters included Jonathan Goldsmith, Isaiah Mustafa, Diane Amos (the Pine-Sol Lady), Wendy Kauffman (the Snapple Lady), Todd Oldham and Katie Couric. 

Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell also made an appearance, accepting a Grand Clio in Clio Music for their Apple spot. Read more about last night's Clio Music winners here.

See a gallery of photos from the event here:

Below are all the Grand Clio winners for 2019. Click on the links to jump to specific campaigns, or scroll down to see them all.


2019 Grand Clio winners

• Branded Entertainment: Patagonia, "Blue Heart"
• Design: The New York Public Library, "Insta Novels"
• Digital/Mobile: Burger King, "The Whopper Detour"
• Direct: Burger King, "The Whopper Detour"
• Experiential/Events: Leroy Merlin, "Lessons for Good"
• Fashion & Beauty: Stella McCartney, "Breast Cancer Awareness"
• Film: The New York Times, "The Truth Is Worth It"
• Innovation: Microsoft, "Changing the Game"
• Integrated: Essity Libresse/Bodyform, "Viva La Vulva"
• Out of Home: Nike, "Air Max Graffiti Stores"
• Partnerships & Collaborations: The New York Times, "Read More. Listen More."
• Public Relations: Aeromexico, "A world Without Borders"
• Social Media: Bud Light, "Philly Philly"


Branded Entertainment

"Blue Heart" 

Entrant: Farm League
Brand: Patagonia

"Blue Heart" narrowly the won Grand Clio over two other top contenders: Skittles "Broadway the Rainbow" by DDB, and Essity Libresse/Bodyform's "Viva La Vulva" by AMV BBDO. 

"Patagonia's film was great," says famed Argentinian creative director Pablo del Campo, a member of the Branded Entertainment jury. "It could be a documentary Academy Award winner—that's ambitious. What I strongly consider remarkable is how this film matches with brand purpose. What could be better for an outdoor brand to talk about the future and protection of the environment with this kind of relevance? I love when brands choose big, unimaginable challenges." 

Another juror, Kumuda Rao, group ECD at Leo Burnett Mumbai, loved the "Viva La Vulva" film but said that "eventually, Blue Heart scored higher in terms of its sheer cinematic scope: that a brand could create content that could be a potential Oscar contender for its choice of content and visual treatment. We felt that this marked a new territory that brands could aim for—to create content that could become part of the art and culture of the times." 

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Design

"Insta Novels" 

Entrant: Mother New York
Brand: The New York Public Library

For last year's "Insta Novels" project, the New York Public Library released three classic works of literature, in their entirety, as gorgeously designed Instagram Stories. Mother New York dreamed up the project, which in many ways was counterintuitive for an organization devoted to physical books.

"A lot of people do say social media is the death of literacy, and I think we could easily romance the feeling of a paperback novel and how it smells, or try to make the library cool for cool kids," Mother creative Lauren van Aswegan told Muse earlier this year. "[The client was] super brave to say, 'We're not going to hate on social media. We're actually going to embrace it.' Obviously, having a physical book is amazing. But if you can't beat them, join them. If social media's going to distract you, try to embrace it and figure out a way you can work with it, rather than trying to sell them on a book." 

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Digital/Mobile

Direct

"The Whopper Detour" 

Entrant: FCB New York
Brand: Burger King

FCB and BK geofenced all 14,000 U.S. McDonald's restaurants for this epic campaign, which gave consumers who drove within 600 feet on a McDonald's store a coupon for a 1-cent Whopper—if they had the BK app. One of the most celebrated campaigns of the past year, it added two Grand Clios to its already impressive haul of trophies. 

"Could 'Whopper Detour' be one of the defining ideas of the last decade?" ask Ronald Ng, global CCO at Isobar and one of the Digital/Mobile jurors. "Will we raise the high bar set by this near-complete idea anytime soon? Thanks, Burger King, for inspiring us once again." 

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Experiential/Events

"Lessons for Good" 

Entrant: Publicis Italy
Brand: Leroy Merlin

The home improvement store Leroy Merlin took its DIY lessons, which typically take place in its stores, to places that could actually use renovations. 

"Turning unaware clients into volunteers, Leroy Merlin succeeded in giving a new life to 50 NGOs for abandoned children, schools, centers for the elderly and refugees," says the agency, Publicis Italy. 

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Fashion & Beauty

"Breast Cancer Awareness" 

Entrant: Stella McCartney

To celebrate the launch of stellamccartneycares.org, Idris Elba starred in and narrated this powerful spot featuring breast cancer survivors. 

"Along with many other people, I was unfortunate enough to have lost my father to cancer five years ago," Elba said when the campaign launched last October. "Removing the taboo around men talking about breast cancer and encouraging other men to talk about it with their wives, mothers, sisters is something you don't often see or hear about but it should be. We should be encouraging the women in our lives to go for regular check-ups. I admire Stella for all her hard work around bringing awareness to this disease, and I applaud her for such a great campaign." 

As part of the campaign, the brand created the "Louise Listening" post-operative mastectomy compression bra, named after the designer's mother, Linda Louise McCartney. It was globally distributed for free. 

"There are so many emotions attached to the tragic realities of having had a double mastectomy," McCartney said. "We just wanted to make something that allows women undergoing this to have something to be proud of, something with no shame attached. We wanted women to know that you can still be feminine, have your sensuality, have all of the things that are attached to being a woman and that part of your body can still feel beautiful on the outside, as well as the inside." 

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Film

"The Truth Is Worth It" 

Entrant: Droga5 New York
Brand: The New York Times

The brilliantly crafted "The Truth Is Worth It" campaign won the Grand Clio in Film on the strength of four separate pieces: "Rigor," "Fearlessness," "Resolve" and "Courage." 

"In my mind, and I think in a lot of jurors' minds, this was the one to beat going in," says Peter Ignazi, global CCO at Cossette and a Film juror this year. "One of the wonderful things about judging a show like the Clios is that you never know what is going to surprise you. We saw a lot of great work but really nothing approached this campaign this year." 

"This campaign is a category breaker," adds another Film juror, Gerrit Zinke, managing director of creation at thjnk Hamburg GmbH. "It revolutionizes the format of a storytelling film with its totally new and unseen mechanic. The story is build up around a smart text structure that creates an intense experience that makes you feel like you're watching a thriller." 

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Innovation

"Changing the Game" 

Entrant: McCann New York
Brand: Microsoft

The "Changing the Game" campaign introduced Microsoft's Adaptive Controller—an Xbox controller, designed for gamers with disabilities, that adapts to their limited mobility. 

"I love 'Changing the Game' from Microsoft," says Burger King global CMO Fernando Machado, chair of the Brand Jury, which judged Innovation. "Not just because of the cause behind it and the beauty of the execution. What I love the most about it is that Microsoft went all-in. This is not an activation done in one location for one day only. This is not a prototype product. By tapping into a real need and a powerful product insight, Microsoft was able to create a product that is good for people, society and the company itself. It's something that shows the sweet spot between purpose and profit. Our industry needs more of that. More of real things that do good for people and for the business." 

"After our spot aired during the Super Bowl, we heard from people with disabilities who finally felt seen, and we heard from parents, teachers, friends and gamers saying thank you," McCann associate creative director Martha West told Muse for this week's Clio Creators feature. "I was grateful for the opportunity to shine a light on people who are rarely shown in the media, and to Microsoft for engineering a product that truly levels the playing field." 

Added fellow ACD Will Montgomery: "This niche product gave a mass audience a newfound appreciation for inclusive design. Meeting these kids changed the way I look at gaming. It's not the solitary, anti-social activity that many people assume it to be. It can provide real social and cognitive benefits and give kids the ability to compete and play with their friends when they might not be able to physically do so." 

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Integrated Campaign

"Viva La Vulva" 

Entrant: AMV BBDO
Brand: Essity Libresse/Bodyform

"Viva La Vulva is gorgeous, it's scandalous and it's provocative," says Ricardo Martin, vp of beauty and personal care at Unilever Russia Ukraine & Belorus and a member of the Brand Jury, which judged the Integrated campaigns. "It pushes us to see the world, ourselves and Libresse/Bodyform differently. A step forward in the right direction. Total genius from Essity." 

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Out of Home

"Air Max Graffiti Stores" 

Entrant: AKQA
Brand: Nike

Partnering with the Brazilian street-art collective InstaGraffiti, Nike and AKQA placed shoes on the feet of those who most represent São Paulo's street scene—the city's graffiti characters.

Graffiti artists updated existing characters with the most coveted Air Max models, with a new shoe line launching each week in another district of the city. Fans obtained the shoes by visiting the walls and unlocking purchases at Nike.com using geolocation. As an extra reward, an exclusive film brought the characters wearing the shoes to life.

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Partnerships & Collaborations

"Read More. Listen More." 

Entrant: Droga5 New York
Brand: The New York Times

For World Press Freedom Day, The New York Times asked the world’s most prominent news organizations to put aside the competitive nature of journalism and join in a groundbreaking initiative—asking their audiences to read, listen, and watch other publications, to encourage a better-informed society and world.

The campaign delivered 724 million impressions in a single day without any paid support, Droga5 says. Organic conversation was generated across 87 countries with 81 percent positive sentiment on social media, not to mention support from some of the world's most highly regarded journalists. There was also an increase of 361 percent in conversation around World Press Freedom Day.

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Public Relations

"A World Without Borders" 

Entrant: Aeromexico 
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Mexico

As tensions flared between the U.S. and Mexico, Aeromexico offered discounts to Americans who could prove they have Mexican DNA.

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Social Media

"Philly Philly" 

Entrant: Wieden + Kennedy New York
Brand: Bud Light

Bud Light and Wieden + Kennedy took their "Dilly Dilly" pop-culture phenomenon and custom-fit it to Philadelphia as "Philly Philly" during the Eagles' run to the Super Bowl.

"Philly Philly allows us to believe in magic," says Sandra Bold, digital creative director at Publicis Italy and a member of this year's Social Media jury. "It's a simple retweet that armed people with belief and generated a huge conversation and a massive campaign. That's the power of a good communication piece and brave people." 

"From a simple social media post to the motto of the winning team shouted by all the fans at the biggest sport event of the year, Philly Philly proves not only the power of the medium, but also that it is truly social," adds fellow jury member Felix Fenz, managing director ofcreative at Grabarz & Partner. "Philly Philly turned a wonderful underdog story into an emotional brand experience for a whole nation." 

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