The world’s most-awarded retail campaigns

1. Back Market ‘Hack Market’ by Marcel Paris

The most-awarded retail campaign last year was ‘Hack Market,’ where for Earth Day, Back Market, the global marketplace for refurbished devices, teamed up with Marcel to encourage shoppers to consider renovated devices over new ones. The initiative utilized Apple’s AirDrop in six European Apple Stores to inform customers about the ecological and economic benefits of refurbished tech. Display models were repurposed to spread the message, garnering significant PR and recognition from YouTube France for a successful promotional video.

2. Makro ‘Life Extending Stickers’ by Grey Colombia

The second-most-awarded retail campaign of last year came from Grey Colombia, which collaborated with Makro stores in the country to combat food waste by introducing ‘Life Extending Stickers’ for fruits and vegetables. These stickers, launched in April 2023, indicate ripeness progression and offer cooking suggestions, challenging the misconception that ripe produce is spoiled. As well as winning awards and earning praise for its innovation, the campaign significantly reduced food waste in stores and homes, with social media engagement exceeding 85,000 interactions as it reached over 264 million people globally.

3. McDonald’s ‘Unbranded Menu’ by Leo Burnett Manila

The third-most-awarded retail campaign last year came from Leo Burnett Manila for its collaboration with McDonald’s on its ‘Unbranded Menu’ work in the Philippines, using the #ThisIsMcDonalds hashtag to engage gamers. Players were incentivized to find McDonald’s-like food items within gaming universes, earning them real-life McDonald’s products. The playful approach tapped into the abundance of unbranded food in gaming, offering a unique and non-traditional way to connect with the brand and its audience.

The World Creative Rankings are compiled by exhaustively analyzing the performance of thousands of pieces of creative work across 22 major industry awards programs throughout the previous calendar year.

That data is then used to determine the people rankings – the CCOs, ECDs, creative directors, art directors and copywriters responsible for the most creatively awarded work in 2023. Their companies are then ranked, with these rankings including the best agencies, networks and holding companies, which are then split by country and region. The advertisers who fund the world’s most awarded work are also ranked, while the sectors that offer the richest return in creative gongs, whether that be Food & Drink, Automotive, Retail or Charity, are also evaluated.

Head over to our dedicated World Creative Rankings hub to see the full list of most-awarded retail campaigns in the world, plus all of our other tables and breakdowns, as well as full details of the methodology that goes into the production of the rankings.