SAMPLE CASES
Entrants are encouraged to review past winning cases as a guide to writing a successful entry (note that the entrants have the option to create a publishable version of their cases after they are selected as winners. In some cases, more details may have been included in their original entry). These case studies are typically behind an ARF membership paywall, but these special cases are accessible to the public.
Like other industry awards, the ARF David Ogilvy Awards does not endorse a single formula for constructing an effective entry. Please refer to the entry kit, written explanation, and all other resources on the How to Enter page when preparing your submission.
2021 – SILVER – Best Consumer Experience |
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Case Study Brand: Creative Agency: Media Company/Agency: Additional Affiliated Companies: |
Project Understood Summary: For people with Down syndrome, access to voice technology is more than just convenience—it’s life-changing independence. However, voice technology’s algorithm often doesn’t understand the community’s unique speech patterns. Project Understood reimagined the role of people with Down syndrome by turning them into Google’s teachers—proving the capabilities of this much stigmatized community and giving them access to technology that could support their goal to live independently. The campaign resulted in over one million voices being donated to Google’s speech recognition database, changing how the world’s largest technology company’s voice AI works to better serve the 78 million people around the world with atypical speech. Consumer Insight: For people with Down syndrome, access to voice technology is more than just convenience—it’s life-changing independence. To note: Not only is this an example of experiential marketing, but their efforts also had a real impact on improving consumers’ lives. In addition to winning SILVER in the Best Consumer Experience category, this campaign also won SILVER in Data Innovation, SILVER in Government, Public Service & Non-Profit, GOLD in Electronics, Technology & Telecommunications and BRONZE in Social Responsibility. |
2020 – GOLD – Food and Beverage |
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Brand: Category: Creative Agency: Media Company/Agency: Research Company: |
No is Beautiful Summary: After years of growth behind the once unique functional benefit, “Real Brewed Tea,” Pure Leaf’s [Pepsi & Unilever] sales were hitting maturity. Through research, Pure Leaf discovered a clear tension in mastering simplicity in an overly complicated world. To grow the brand, they launched a masterbrand campaign with a brand purpose to appeal to a wider audience and their emotions. The first phase of the campaign had nearly 1 billion impressions as well as improved brand distinction for Pure Leaf and a 10.5% sales lift from 2019. Consumer Insight: A need to focus on what’s important in life, however, it’s difficult to block out the “clutter of daily life.” In addition to winning GOLD in the Food & Beverage category, this campaign also won GOLD in Best Brand Transformation and BRONZE in Social Responsibility. |
2020 – GOLD – Data Innovation |
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Brand: Additional Affiliated Companies: |
Zillow Offers Launch Summary: The Zillow Group needed to define and size a new opportunity for customer growth, communicate a resonant message, and deliver it to a highly targeted audience. A combination of insights, tools for data generation, and multi-phase analytics helped create a new business model. The campaign performance exceeded expectations, with the Zillow Offers line reaching $1.4 billion in revenue in 2019, which was 3x higher than their competitors. Consumer Insight: The negative feelings that home sellers have when selling traditionally are linked to a lack of certainty, coordination, and convenience. In addition to winning GOLD in the Data Innovation category, this campaign also won GOLD in the Direct-to-Consumer, Professional Services, and Tech & Telecommuncations categories. |
2020 – GOLD – Best New or Emerging Brand |
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Case Study Brand: Affiliated Companies: |
Bublé vs. bubly Summary: The marketing challenge for this brand was to expand its presence within a fast-growing category and unleash bubly’s playful personality on the world’s biggest stage AND become the most memorable name in sparkling water. Methodology included consumer interviews, social Listening, quant/qual message testing and google search/trend analysis. Through this research it was discovered that millennials dealing with adulting want an everyday sparkling water brand that felt as fun, colorful, and playful as soda. For its 2019 Super Bowl debut, everything bubly did was with a laser focus on breaking up the mundane and getting consumers to simply ‘crack a smile’. Bubly brought this mission to life by partnering with talent, programming and millennial-driven platforms that shared a similar ‘playful instigator’ role in culture. Positioned at the center of the Super Bowl Stage, bubly successfully gave consumers a much-needed laugh and infused fun and refreshment into millennial routines. As a result, brand awareness grew by 77% among category users, doubled retail sales in FY 2019 and tripled category share Consumer Insight: The main insight from this campaign is that “adulting” is hard for millennials but a little bit of play is a good reprieve. |
2020 – GOLD – Social Responsibility |
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Case Study Brand: Category: Creative Agency: Additional Affiliated Companies: |
Not a Gun Summary: The marketing challenge for this campaign was to raise awareness of the implicit racial biases in police officers that lead to violence against people of color. By getting people to check their own implicit biases, the goal of this campaign was to push the police officers to also check their biases while trying to not make the situation concerning police violence and racial biases worse. The creative execution of this campaign included making a short film, “Not a Gun” that juxtaposed the perceived danger of people of color with something innocuous like a candy bar. After viewing “Not a Gun,” it was found that people who have had experience with fear-based visual inaccuracies were more likely to see the man as armed. Following the initial launch in Austin, the Austin Police Department began CCGF’s award-winning training protocol, whose goal was to have increased conversations about interracial dialogue. Along with the training program, the campaign was later extended to become “Not a Crime,” which was a short video, billboards, a window exhibit, and a print ad. Consumer Insight: Police officers’ implicit racial biases cause them to misidentify items carried by people of color, which could lead to violent confrontations. In addition to winning GOLD in the Social Responsibility Category, this campaign also won GOLD in the Government, Public Service & Non-Profit category and the 2020 GRAND OGILVY award winner. |
2019 – Bronze – Retail & Restaurants |
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Brand: Category: Creative Agency: Media Company/Agency: |
Holiday Tails Summary: To gain cultural relevance and position itself as the place to purchase pet gifts during the 2018 holiday season in a competitive category, Petco launched a caused-based holiday campaign around the key insight that the love pet parents feel goes beyond their pets; they want to give back to all pets during the holidays. Petco’s ecommerce sales on Black Friday shattered previous company records with double-digit growth sales lift. Consumer Insight: The love pet parents feel goes beyond their pets: they want to give back to all pets during the holidays. |
TIPS
When drafting your entry, focus on –
- The consumer insight—clearly described and defined (not just a statistic).
- Meaningful and measurable business metrics (the clear description of this is very important to the jury).
- Clearly state or emphasize your novel or best-in-class use of research and research methods. This is a key differentiator for the ARF David Ogilvy Awards compared to other advertising awards. (Clear statement of methods matter in your application!)
- A well-written and organized entry can make or break a winning campaign.