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Kiwi agencies put in strong showing at Andy, One Show and Webby Awards—UPDATED

Y&R NZ’s McWhopper of an idea took top spot at ANDY Awards while New Zealand agencies blitzed the fourth round of One Show finalists and gear up for the Webbys following the nominations.

Y&R NZ has been awarded Best in Show for its ‘McWhopper’ campaign at the International ANDY Awards held in New York, becoming the first New Zealand agency to receive the accolade.

The GRANDY is given to the agency that defines what it means to be a bold leader and a true risk-taker. Y&R was awarded for the ‘McWhopper’ event campaign in the Corporate Responsibility category.

To raise awareness of United Nations Peace Day, the campaign saw Burger King publish an open letter calling for a ‘burger cease fire’ with corporate rivals McDonald’s. It was proposed that the two restaurants join forces to create the ‘McWhopper’, a symbolic hybrid burger. Burger King invited McDonald’s to lean more about the burger at a hub of shareable content mcwhopper.com.

When McDonald’s contentiously turned down the offer, tens of thousands of people created and shared DIY McWhoppers online, further spreading the peace message. Meanwhile, four other restaurants got onboard, and together, the historic ‘Peace Day Burger’ was created and served on Peace Day last year. The campaign ultimately achieved +8.9 billion impressions and increased Peace Day awareness by 40 percent.

Y&R NZ CEO and CCO Josh Moore said it’s an honour for ‘McWhopper’ to be ranked alongside previous GRANDY winners.

“Gatorade ‘Replay’, Nike ‘FuelBand’, Chipotle ‘Back to the start’ and Marcel ‘Inglorious Vegetables’ – these campaigns were the absolute pinnacle of our industry in the years they won the GRANDY, so for ‘McWhopper’ to be recognised at that level is obviously a huge achievement for Y&R NZ and all of our local production partners; Assembly, Flying Fish, Match, Liquid Studios, Mandy, and Resn.

“Whilst Y&R CD Tom Paine, head of planning, Jono Key, and myself are in New York to collect the GRANDY, full credit is due to the entire team back home across Y&R media, creative, production, design, digital and account service. This was a huge team effort and a testament to an integrated offering at its very best.”

As the GRANDY winner, Y&R NZ receives the recognition of Best in Show along with a USD$50,000 cash award.

President and CEO of The AD Club of New York and The International ANDY Awards Gina Grillo said the ANDYs are driven by the best creative work the industry has to offer.

“Colleen and our jury have set the bar high by honoring those who are daring and who are not afraid to support ideas and projects they care about.”

As the first advertising award show of the season, the ANDY Awards predicts how the work places in subsequent awards shows throughout the year.

In other New York Award news, Y&R NZ could soon be on a winning streak as it picked up four finalists spots in the fourth round of the One Show finalists.

The Burger King ‘DIY McWhoppers’ and Jaguar ‘Actual Reality’ campaigns were listed in the Branded Entertainment category and the Burger King ‘The McWhopper Proposal’ and Brake ‘Living Memories‘ were listed in the Public Relations category.

DDB was also listed in the Branded Entertainment category for Sky TV ‘Unforgotten Soldiers’ and FCB in the Radio category for Paper Plus Group ‘Read Better Stories’.

After four rounds, Y&R has nine finalists, Colenso BBDO eight, DDB and Special Group both five, Saatchi & Saatchi four and FCB three. The winners will be announced 11 to 13 May.

And finally, New Zealand agencies are on fire in New York following the announcement of the Webby nominations.

Colenso BBDO and Special Group are both trumpeting two nominations while DDB, FCB, Saatchi & Saatchi, Method Studios, and Y&R are all celebrating one finalist spot.

Both Colenso BBDO’s nominations are for Pedigree ‘Found’, and Special Group’s are both for 2degrees ‘Play The Bridge’.

All finalists can be seen here.

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