The 4A’s Announces Winners of the 2015 Partner Awards

Austin, TX – March 23, 2015 – The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) today announced the winners of its first-ever 4A’s Partner Awards. The Partner Awards recognize and celebrate creativity and collaboration among agencies, brands, media and technology companies. The Awards were presented today at a ceremony during the 4A’s Transformation Conference, held in Austin, Texas.

Exclusively presented by MediaLink, the 4A’s Partner Awards winners were selected in the following six categories:

Brand Partnership:
Large Agency
TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles,
“What’s in the Box?”
Partners: Nissan, OMD, Amazon.com

Creative Partnership:
Large Agency
72andSunny
“Meet Me at Starbucks”
Partners: Co.MISSION Content Group, Ideas United,
m ssng p eces, Starbucks Coffee Company, Stopp/Family

Mid-Sized Agency
theAudience
“Spent: Looking for Change”
Partners: American Express, Tag

Media Partnership:
Large Agency
DigitasLBi/New York
“MOTO X Print”
Partners: Motorola, Razorfish, WIRED

Technology Partnership:
Large Agency
VML
“Rip Curl SearchGPS”
Partners: Rip Curl

Small Agency
Firstborn
“Dew VR Skate Experience”
Partners: Mountain Dew, Brain Farm, Antfood, Immersive Media

Diversity Partnership:
Large Agency
72andSunny
“Made with Code: Holiday Lights”
Partners: Google, Nexus, National Park Foundation

>Cause Partnership:
Large Agency
BBDO
“American Red Cross Hope.ly”
Partners: American Red Cross, Bitly

Mid-Sized Agency
Spark
“A Hero’s Welcome”
Partners: ConAgra Foods, DDB San Francisco, Tris3ct, POSSIBLE,
Edelman, Scripps

Small Agency
Mekanism
“It’s On Us: Partnership to End Sexual Assault”
Partners: The White House, Generation Progress, PVBLIC Foundation

In addition to category winners, there were two special jury-nominated awards:

Most Innovative Partnership
72andSunny
“Made with Code: Holiday Lights”
Partners: Google, Nexus, National Park Foundation

Partnership of the Year
TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles
“What’s in the Box?”
Partners: Nissan, OMD, Amazon.com

Jury Chair Chuck Porter, Co-Founder and Chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, said, “TBWA’s ‘What’s in the Box’ idea was pretty brilliant. It generated huge buzz, and the payoff wasn’t just a gag, it was a true demonstration of real news—for the first time ever people can buy a car on Amazon. It was just a great way to dramatize a new service. 72andSunny’s ‘Made with Code: Holiday Lights’ was fresh and contemporary and engaging. It wasn’t such a revolutionary idea, but it was a really smart strategy, executed beautifully. Everyone loved it.”

4A’s Chief Marketing Officer, Alison Fahey, noted that all of this year’s winners demonstrated how great partnerships can elevate creativity to new levels. “We realize there are unique challenges that occur when individuals and companies with different personalities and cultures collaborate to achieve a common goal on behalf of a client,” Fahey said. “We wanted to salute those who put their egos aside for the greater good of creating meaningful work. The jury did a great job of choosing the best creative collaborations in the marketing and communications industry.”

Fahey also cited that entries were up significantly from last year’s O’Toole Awards, which were replaced by the Partner Awards.

The A-list jury for the 4A’s Partner Awards featured creative, digital, media and PR agency leaders as well as marketers and technology executives. partnerawards.aaaa.org/jury

About the 4A’s
The 4A’s is the catalyst for bringing together the right people in the right place at the right time to address the advertising industry’s most critical business issues. We provide leadership, advocacy, guidance and community to our members and the industry at large, with proprietary access to the people, information and tools needed to make smarter management decisions. Our mission is to help agencies become more successful. www.aaaa.org.