The Seven Network has recognised the most innovative, creative and culturally impactful advertising campaigns shown during coverage of the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, judged by a panel of four creative experts in Australia.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was the biggest broadcast and digital viewing event in Australian history, reaching over 14.8 million people on Seven and 3.82 million on 7plus. The mass audience reach of Seven’s coverage provided advertisers and brands with an opportunity to achieve unparalleled results with their creative campaigns.
To celebrate those moments, Seven brought together four of the biggest creative names in advertising to analyse and determine the most effective ads: Mandie van der Merwe, chief creative officer at Dentsu Creative; Cam Blackley, chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi Australia; Micah Walker, founder/CCO at Bear Meets Eagle on Fire; and Nick Garrett, global leader – marketing and commerce at Deloitte Digital.
The winning campaigns were judged against criteria including innovation, creativity and cultural impact.
The overall winner for a campaign shown on Seven during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was Adidas’ Play Until They Can't Look Away campaign, which was praised for its impactful creativity. Orange’s The Crazy Actions Of The French Team That We Have All Forgotten ad was recognised as the best campaign in the overseas category.
Campaigns shown on Seven during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023:
Best Overall Creative: Adidas, Play Until They Can't Look Away
Best Local Brand Creative: Qantas, Feels Like Home Again
Campaigns shown overseas during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023:
Best Overall Creative: Orange, The Crazy Actions Of The French Team That We Have All Forgotten
Highly Commended: Nike, What The Football
Seven’s chief marketing and audience officer, Melissa Hopkins, said Seven loves to champion the best creative content in the country that entertains, has an influential cultural impact and unites Australians – and today is about celebrating Seven's brand partners and agencies who mirror that excellence in their creative campaigns.
“Brands in Australia are built on mass cultural moments," she said.
"I’m thrilled to see so many advertisers raise the bar during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 with captivating content that, together with Seven, drove impact, created conversations and helped shape change. My thanks to our incredible judges and congratulations to those recognised.”
Blackley said the Adidas campaign was super entertaining in the way it delivered the message – the power of pure entertainment is often overlooked in our advertising locally.
"I’d encourage all marketers to be braver and aspire not just to create work that stands out in Australia, but that can stand up against the best work globally. More than ever campaigns need to grab viewers’ attention and be as good as the content that Seven is putting around it," he said.
Commenting on the Orange ad, van der Merwe said the success of this ad is that it went beyond just being paid media; it became popular culture and people started to share it with their friends and on social media.
"For campaigns to deliver the best results, it’s critical clients and agencies are in firm partnership on the goal of their campaigns and create the biggest impact by maximising the huge cultural moments that only TV can deliver," she said.
Walker said good creative makes the fundamental difference to a campaign’s success.
"It's how you make the greatest leaps in building brand value. Make something that demands people’s attention, whether it’s funny, visual or emotive. Push past the obvious ideas to get to space where it’s worthy of your viewers’ time," he said.
Seven West Media chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette, said Seven is proud to be a part of delivering the massive moments of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to millions of Australians.
"We love that our brand partners got the nation pumped through powerful messages that emotionally connected and entertained millions of engaged viewers on every device, in and out of the home," he said.
“Our coverage of the tournament and the Superbowl-style ads within it became part of the national conversation, truly shaping culture and changing behaviours. It proved once again there is nothing like fantastic creative appearing in context across total television to drive results.
“There are more huge cultural moments still to come on the screens of Seven in 2023, including the new AFLW season, the AFL Finals – including the AFL Grand Final, which for the first time will be streamed across all devices – the Repco Bathurst 1000, SAS Australia, new Big Brother and a summer of women’s and men’s cricket. Though these moments, we'll continue to provide brands with unparalleled opportunities to create impactful connections and drive conversations.”
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