International competition Ad Stars has revealed its Grand Prix of the Year winners, which will both be awarded with a $10,000 prize.

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia won Grand Prix of the Year for “Donation Dollar,” created for the Royal Australian Mint. This campaign also won three Grand Prix awards in the Brand Experience & Activation, Design and Direct categories. The innovative redesign of the Australian $1 coin was minted as a call to action and stamped with the message Donation Dollar “Give To Help Others.”  The Donation Dollar is the first Australian $1 coin to feature a color and an interactive design. The coin’s green center, designed to wear down the more the coin is donated, reveals golden ripples from the coin’s center--a symbol of the ongoing impact the coin is making in the lives of those in need.

“Donation Dollar stood out for me personally for its simplicity of thought--the idea changes the way we know the mechanics of charity, and influences behavior positively. It’s impossible to not be affected by this campaign. The craft is also sublime,” said Ali Rez, regional executive creative director at Impact BBDO MENAP and an executive judge at Ad Stars 2021.

Gabriela Scardaccione, global creative director at Mother in London and an Ad Stars 2021 executive judge, added, “Donation Dollar is an amazing example of a brilliant creative idea with purpose and longevity. Brilliant ideas for me are the ones that are so simple and rounded that you just can’t believe they haven’t been made yet. For me, the greatest design is the one that is at the service of the idea, almost invisible, the one that doesn’t overcome the message.”

Meanwhile Cheil Hong Kong came up the winner of this year’s Grand Prix of the Year Award in the Public Service Advertising (PSA) category for “The Cost of Bullying,” created for Samsung. This campaign also won a PSA Grand Prix.

“‘The Cost of Bullying’ is a masterful example of brilliant targeting and strategically going to the heart of the problem to fix it; I’ve seen plenty of work around bullying, but this is one of those few cases where the solve is highly effective in the very space where the problem exists,” said Rez.

Scardaccione observed, “I love when brands produce ideas that the world needs. It’s feels like thinking with an environmental brand brain. The cost of bullying is one of those things that the world needs. I can’t be objective as I am the mother of an 11 year-old boy and know how much bullying there is around gaming online. Paying the cost of bullying is the right answer to this problem.”

Special Awards
Ad Stars’ Special Award honorees were:

• Network of the Year: dentsu
• Agency of the Year: Dentsu Inc.
• Advertiser of the Year: WWF
• Production Company of the Year: Good Oil

 
Grand Prix rundown
Ad Stars 2021 also unveiled it’s overall Grand Prix field as well as Gold, Silver and Bronze winners during its online awards ceremony this evening (8/27 in Korea)  hich tallied a total of 619 winners, chosen from 1,726 finalists from 54 countries. 

Eight Grand Prix trophies were awarded to six creative companies:

• Saatchi & Saatchi Australia: “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australian Mint (Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix, Design Grand Prix and Direct Grand Prix)
• Dentsu Inc. Japan: “The Toxic Dictionary” for Nikkei Inc. (Print Grand Prix)
• Happiness Saigon, Vietnam: “Lays Crispy Subtitles” for Le Thi Yen (Radio & Audio Grand Prix)
• VMLY&R Singapore: “Pride Pass” for Manpower Group Workforce Solutions (Public Service Advertising Grand Prix)
• Cheil Hong Kong: “The Cost of Bullying” for Samsung (Public Service Advertising Grand Prix)
• TBWA Hakuhodo Japan: “The First Take” for The First Take (Video Stars Grand Prix).

 
Gold winners are summarized below.  A complete list of winners can be downloaded here.

There were seven Gold trophies awarded in Film, but no Grand Prix.

The Gold winners were:

• Wunderman Thompson Thailand: “This creative is thanking a client for cancelling its work in the pandemic” for TCP Group
• Taproot Dentsu India: “Pooja Didi” for Facebook
• POL Oslo, Norway: “Don’t hate.Imitate – The Super Bowl Clapback” for Audi Norway
• Ogilvy Group Thailand: “Library” for Monde Nissin Co. Ltd.
• Amber Communication Shanghai, China: “Safely feel the real world” for Durex
• dentsu mcgarrybowen, Taiwan: “In Love We Trust” for Sinyi Realty
• BBH Singapore: “It’s in Our Spirit” for The Absolut Company.           

Video Stars
In the Video Stars category, the Grand Prix was awarded to TBWA Hakuhodo for “The First Take” for The First Take.

“The First Take was designed to create an entirely new way for artists to record and share their music. It wasn’t just a one-off piece: it was designed to scale and did just that. It was beautifully executed, and supremely fit for purpose. In short, an ambitious idea executed flawlessly, that sets a very high bar for video content. I think for a few years, whenever I’m interrogating a branded content piece, I’ll be using The First Take as a benchmark. Wonderful, wonderful work,” says Mescall.

There are three Gold winners in Video Stars:

• GIGIL, Philippines: ‘“Netflix ‘Cupids” for Netflix
• Ogilvy Group Thailand: “Library” for Monde Nissin Co., Ltd.
• Wunderman Thompson Thailand: “This creative is thanking a client for canceling its work in the pandemic” for TCP Group.

Design 
In Design, the Grand Prix was awarded to Saatchi & Saatchi Australia for “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australian Mint.

The judges awarded two Gold trophies in Design:

• AKQA Japan: “Create with Air Max” for Nike
• Hakuhodo Indonesia: “Sake Sushi House” for Sushi Sei.

Pivot, Public Service Advertising, Diverse Insights, Place Brand
Last year, Ad Stars introduced the “Pivot” category to celebrate campaigns that have amplified and repositioned brands in response to a crisis like COVID-19. There were 3 Gold Pivot winners:

• Saatchi & Saatchi Australia: “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australia Mint
• Wunderman Thompson Thailand: “Destination Menu” for THAI Airways
• Dentsu Inc. Japan: “Tuna Scope 2020” for Kura Sushi Inc.

In Public Service Advertising (PSA), there are two Grand Prix winners: VMLY&R Singapore’s “Pride Pass” for Manpower Group Workforce Solutions and Cheil Hong Kong’s “The Cost of Bullying” for Samsung.       

There were also 5 Gold PSA trophies awarded:

• Havas Worldwide Portugal: “The Day-After-Women’s-Day Newspapers” for Raparigas da Bola
• Thinkerbell Australia: “The Purple Hive Project” for Bega Foods     
• Havas Costa Rica: “The Check Ball” for BlueCross BlueShield
• Saatchi & Saatchi Australia: “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australian Mint
• Special Group New Zealand: “Meddle in the New Zealand Election” for Every Kiwi Vote Counts.

There were no Grand Prix or Gold awards in the Diverse Insights category.           

There was one Gold winner in the Place Brand category this year: MullenLowe MENA FZLLC’s “Double Moon” for UAE Government Media Office.

Innovation, Integrated, Interactive, Mobile, Data Insights, Social & Influencer

There were no Grand Prix or Gold winners in the Innovation and Integrated categories this year, and no Grand Prix winner in Interactive.

The three Gold winners in the Interactive category were:

• AKQA Brazil won Gold for “Beck’s Frequency” for Beck’s
• Dentsu Craft Tokyo: “Yakushima Treasure – Another Live from Yakushima” for Yakushima Treasure
• Zulu Alpha Kilo, Canada: “World’s Oldest E-Sports Team” for HomeEquity Bank.

In Mobile, Deloitte Australia won Gold for “Carbon Thumbprint” for Belong.

In the Data Insights category, there were two Gold winners:

Dentsu Craft Tokyo: “Yakushima Treasure – Another Live from Yakushima” for Yakushima Treasure
Deloitte Australia: “Carbon Thumbprint” for Belong.   
 

In Social & Influencer, the jury awarded three Golds:

• POL Oslo, Norway: “Don’t hate. Imitate - The Super Bowl Clapback” for Audi Norway (two Golds)
• Rothco, part of Accenture Interactive, Ireland: “Sleeping Flags” for O.N.E.

 
Brand Experience & Activation, Creative eCommerce, Direct, Media

In Brand Experience & Activation, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia won Grand Prix for “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australian Mint.

There were also three Gold winners:

• BBH Singapore: “Running Stories” for BBH
• Clemenger BBDO Wellington, New Zealand: “Voice of Racism” for New Zealand Human Rights Commission
• Grey: “Contract Translator” for Reclame Aqui. 

The Creative eCommerce celebrates ideas that optimize the customer journey through creative eCommerce solutions. Wunderman Thompson, United Arab Emirates, won Gold for “Pay Cut Whopper” for Burger King.

In Direct, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia won Grand Prix for “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australia Mint. There were also two Gold winners in Direct:

• Impact BBDO, United Arab Emirates: “The Wider Web” for Etisalat
• MullenLowe, USA: “Shamecards” for Change the Ref.

 
In Media, there was one Gold winner: Saatchi & Saatchi Australia’s “Donation Dollar” for Royal Australian Mint.