Annual Media Strategies Recognition: Innovative Approaches with Triumphant Tactics
2025 Media Plan of the Year Awards: Celebrating Innovative and Culturally Relevant Campaigns
The 2025 Media Plan of the Year awards honoured media agencies and brand-side planners for their innovative and culturally relevant media plans. A jury of industry peers assessed entries across multiple categories, focusing on innovation, cultural relevance, strategic risk-taking, and quantifiable outcomes to select the winning media plans of the year.
One of the standout campaigns was United24's "#TheDonationMap", which won the Best Cause Marketing award. The campaign showcased museum objects related to various hobbies across billboards, print, digital, and social media, including having creators craft items featuring the campaign's slogan.
Another notable winner was Jameson Irish Whiskey's "St. Patrick's Eve" campaign, which won Total Campaign $500,000-$1 Million and Best Use of Out of Home Over $500,000 awards. The campaign used humor and emotion with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon raising a baby Ford Bronco, showcasing Ford's evolving identity as a lifestyle brand.
Google's "50 States 50 Stories" campaign, which showcased how real people are using Google's Gemini AI in everyday ways, with each state getting its own 30-second spot during the Super Bowl in its home state, also received recognition.
HBO's "Raise Your Banners" campaign for House of the Dragon won Best Use of Experiential Less Than $1 Million and Best Use of Out of Home Less Than $1 Million awards. The campaign included dueling trailers, real and augmented reality banners on landmarks, themed restaurant menu items, and a 270-foot dragon wrapped around the Empire State Building.
Atlassian's "It Starts With Jira" campaign won the Total Campaign ($1 Million-$5 Million) award. The campaign aimed to reposition Jira as an essential tool for creatives and solved inefficiencies in non-technical workflows.
Mondelēz's "Elevate Your Snacking Playbook" campaign won the Best Use of Insights award. The campaign executed a series of activations ranging from custom tattoos to a Twitch stream to metal detecting, resulting in over 37 million impressions, searches for the V&A rising 23%, and awareness up 28%.
Dove's "Real Beauty Redefined for the AI Era" campaign won Best Use of AI/Machine Learning award. The campaign used prompts to train Pinterest's AI to favor greater inclusivity in beauty standards.
Sheba's "Gravy Race" campaign won the Best Use of Branded Content/Entertainment Less Than $500,000, Total Campaign Less Than $500,000 award. The campaign centred on a shoppable connected TV experience, allowing viewers to add featured snacks directly to their Walmart cart via a QR code.
Cesar x TripAdvisor's "Dog-Friendly Travel" campaign won Best Use of Branded Content/Entertainment ($500,000-$1 Million) award. The campaign created a digital content hub for pet-friendly itineraries, including an AI trip builder, and introduced a Travelers' Choice Awards category for pet-friendly hotels.
Jordan Brand's "You Can't Ban Greatness" campaign won the Total Campaign $5 Million-$10 Million award. The campaign aimed to reframe antisemitism as part of the broader fight against all forms of hate and partnered with eight major U.S. sports leagues.
Nike's "Winning Isn't For Everyone" campaign won the Total Campaign Over $10 Million award. The campaign launched on Nike's social channels days before the Opening Ceremonies of the Paris Olympics and generated 12 billion impressions and over 4 billion global views.
The Victoria and Albert Museum's "If You're Into It, It's in the V&A" campaign won Best Use of Alternative Media and Best International Campaign awards. The campaign garnered 6.4 billion media impressions globally, with a 59% lift in awareness and 29% increased intent to watch.
The Best Use of Native Advertising award goes to Havas Media Network Madrid for their campaign "The Authorized Hack" for Telefónica. Domino's "Emergency Pizza 2.0" campaign won the Best Use of Streaming Media/OTT award.
The University of Oregon Foundation's "B1G Duck" campaign won the Best Use of Out of Home Less Than $500,000 award. The campaign placed a 65-foot inflatable Oregon Duck on the White River in downtown Indianapolis to make it known that the Oregon Ducks football team would be a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten conference.
The podcast "Raising Awareness" took a bold, sex-positive stance in discussing gay men's lives, created within the community and designed to disrupt the narrative around HIV prevention medication PrEP. The campaign tapped into online gaming communities to raise funds for Ukraine, with a special Donation Map inside the massively popular battle royale game Fortnite.
Gilead's "Sniffies Cruising Confessions" podcast won Best Use of Voice award. Havas Media Network Madrid transformed commercials of six clients into synchronized, personalized tributes for Spanish telecom Telefónica.
The campaign for the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism's #TimeOutAgainstHate won the Best Cause Marketing Campaign Over $1 Million award. Mindshare and VML are the media and creative agencies respectively for the winning campaign. The campaign reached nearly 20 million viewers and secured 57 earned media mentions.
Lastly, Škoda's "The Redditor Edit" campaign won Best Use of Social award. Reddit users were allowed to redesign the Škoda Octavia sedan to how they want it to be, with their customizations becoming a real, purchasable model.
These winning campaigns demonstrate the power of innovation, strategic risk-taking, and cultural relevance in the evolving media landscape. They showcase how brands can connect with their audiences in meaningful and impactful ways, while also delivering impressive results.
- The 2025 Media Plan of the Year awards highlighted the significance of growth through innovation, cultural relevance, and strategic risk in the media landscape.
- Google's "50 States 50 Stories" campaign utilized funds effectively to showcase real people's lives and Gemini AI usage, demonstrating a strategic positioning in the AI era.
- Inflation of impressions, searches, and awareness was a tangible outcome for Mondelez's "Elevate Your Snacking Playbook" campaign, which won the Best Use of Insights award.
- The Victoria and Albert Museum's "If You're Into It, It's in the V&A" campaign increased intent to watch, showcasing the impact of general-news campaigns.
- The podcast "Raising Awareness" tackled a controversial topic, taking a stance on HIV prevention medication PrEP, demonstrating the impact of lifestyle-based content.
- The University of Oregon Foundation's "B1G Duck" campaign creatively used out-of-home advertising to raise awareness for the Oregon Ducks football team, demonstrating the power of positioning in sports marketing.
- The Defi-based campaign within the online gaming communities to raise funds for Ukraine showcased the potential of blockchain technologies in addressing real-world risks and causes.
