9 Grand Clios in TV/Streaming Set a New Bar for Inventive Storytelling

Video promos still matter hugely in the TV business, but this year's crop of Grand Clio winners in Television/Streaming at the Clio Entertainment Awards show just how much the industry has embraced nontraditional storytelling—with multimedia rollouts that brilliantly reflect the ever-proliferating consumer touchpoints.

The Clio Entertainment juries bestowed no fewer than nine Grand Clios on Tuesday. And while a few of them went to traditional key art and promos, the vast majority celebrated fresh ways of thinking about media—from inspired partnerships (Marvel and General Mills, Lifetime and KFC) to Covid-era innovation (Michelob Ultra) to inventive rethinks of in-house assets (HBO and FX).

See below for more about the nine Grand winners, and check out the winners gallery for a full view of all the gold, silver and bronze Clio winners, too.

2020 NBA Finals | Courtside

The perfect example of how Covid forced sports brands and TV networks to innovate the fan experience. Michelob Ultra "Courtside" was a first-of-its-kind virtual experience that completely redefined live sports viewing. An immersive experience designed for fans and players alike, groundbreaking technology brought fans Courtside via Microsoft's never-before-seen Together Mode and a ring of 17-foot LED screens that created a virtual "crowd." 

Unlike anything the sports industry or live broadcasting had seen before, the impossible was made possible through immense dedication to digital craft and innovation, in mere weeks, during a global pandemic. And game-changing experience design changed the game forever.

HBO | It's OK

For Mental Health Awareness Month 2019, HBO sought to use its role as a media/entertainment company to destigmatize the one-dimensional view of people with mental illness, encouraging conversation around the subject and assuring people that not only are mental health issues common, they're normal.

Partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Health, the "It's OK" campaign featured specific "bumpers" before shows that put the mental health issues in every episode front and center. The work also included "Doctor Commentaries," in which Dr. Ali Mattu—a cognitive behavioral therapist—"diagnosed" individual shows as though they were patients.

The Oscars | The Stage Is Yours

To celebrate the 93rd Oscars, the Academy invited seven international artists—Temi Coker, Petra Eriksson, Magnus Voll Mathiassen, Michelle Robinson, Karan Singh, Victoria Villasana and Shawna X—to interpret the Oscar statuette.

To inspire them, the artists were asked: What do movies mean to you? The resulting designs revealed that cinema can imbue a wide range of visually represented meaning: everything from color, connection, movement and vision, to a healthy dose of the unexpected. The art was used to create the visual identity for the ceremony itself as well as the marketing collateral and advertising campaign (TV, digital, print and OOH).

Marvel Studios' Loki & Lucky Charms | Mischievously Delicious

Playing off the fan-favorite wordplay of "Loki Charms," Marvel Studios and General Mills joined forces to create a limited-edition "Loki Charms" cereal box inspired by Marvel Studios' Loki on Disney+. The partnership earned over 782 million impressions in just one week.

Lifetime & KFC | A Recipe For Seduction

It wasn't just comfort food that was getting people through Covid, it was comfort content. This was the insight that led KFC to partner with A+E's Lifetime on an inspired bit of escapist pleasure—a 15-minute branded mini-movie titled "A Recipe for Seduction," starring Mario Lopez as Colonel Sanders, done in the style of a campy, turn-your-brain-off Lifetime Movie.

The trailer became the No. 1 trending video on you Tube. The mini-movie itself generated 1.8 billion impressions, outperformed the previous 4-week ratings average with the 18-49 audience by 173 percent, brought 55,000 new KFC buyers into the brand, and helped drive a 54 percent year-on-year sales lift for KFC on UberEats.

Comedy Central | Awkwafina 7 Train

To launch Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Comedy Central created an experiential stunt to draw attention to the premiere and pay homage to the series' titular borough. The network took over NYC's 7 Train subway, which runs directly through Queens. Awkwafina became the 7 Train guest announcer, with her voice recordings announcing all stops & PSAs.

The takeover was the first activation of its kind, received widespread coverage and press attention, and generated more than $10 million worth of media value and 36 million impressions.

TNT4 Channel | SEAMLESS MOVIES

A sequel to this Russian network's previous Grand Clio winner, "Equally Powerful Movies," this marvel of editing created a seamless story using shots from more than 20 different movies.

The Harder They Fall | No Mercy

Buddha Jones brilliantly established The Harder They Fall, an all-Black western, with untraditional Western cues (also featured in the film) to set up this world dominated by a powerful cast. 

This trailer has plenty of swagger and attitude, drawing the audience's attention in spectacular ways, for viewers who aren't necessarily privy to the genre.

FX Networks | FX on Hulu

The "FX on Hulu" campaign was a daunting challenge from the beginning: how to embody the scope of the premium television brand, and announce a new home for streaming its programming? The answer was a series of videos that perfectly balanced those demands and was unmistakably FX.