2020 Silver Best Creative Solution
22 Jan 2021
Agency: MRM London
Client: D&AD
Campaign Name: D&AD Masterclassics
Campaign Overview
A twist on classic awards programmes
Unlike many awards shows D&AD is not for profit. That made the promotional budget tiny - so the annual campaign needed to call on its secret weapon: expert masterclasses.
Strategy
D&AD revels in calling itself the toughest creative awards programme to win. Everything that wins a coveted D&AD pencil has to be flawless.
Yet creative perfection is no mean feat. It starts with a whole agency, from the person who took the brief, to the writer of the brief, the people who create the idea, the team selling the idea, the client who buys it and the whole production process.
Masterclasses are D&AD's lifeblood. Pencil winners are invited to teach the next generation how to scoop an award. The organisation needed to reach creative budget holders: senior creative leaders who had won a D&AD pencil in a dramatic, creative way. But all on a shoestring budget.
Creativity
The campaign ‘committed sacrilege’. For the past 57 years, the D&AD annual of winners has been a bible for creatives, most of whom have a hardback copy on their bookshelf, with fewer actually featuring on their hallowed pages. The books are cherished - so MRM London decided to destroy them.
The campaign targeted ECDs and CCOs who had won a D&AD pencil and secured a coveted spot in an annual. Their work was ripped out, and the torn page mailed directly to them with the message: “You know where great work ends up. But does the rest of your agency know where it begins?”
Results
They were sent the direct mail two weeks before lockdown in Spring 2020. That was just a fortnight before budgets started being slashed; training coffers being amongst the first to go. Despite that, the initiative managed to garner a 9.1% response.
The Team
MRM - Nicky Bullard, Chief Creative Officer - Michael Poole, Associate Creative Director - Andrew Pogson, Associate Creative Director - Lucy Kinmond, Business Director - Alex Tooze, Strategy
D&AD - Laura Kelly, Marketing Director