DMA Breakthrough Award 2023

A DMA Awards category, the DMA Breakthrough Award gives aspiring creatives the opportunity to work on a creative brief for a well-known brand and get their ideas in front of senior marketers.

This is your opportunity to:

• Add real client work to your portfolio
• Experience what it's like to work on a real-life client brief
• Get feedback and advice from industry experts and creative directors on you work
• Win a major marketing industry award

This years’ brief is from Barclaycard, and their asking for your help to change Gen Z’s negative perceptions of credit cards and get them to start using Barclaycard in place of Buy Now Pay Later brands (BNPL) such as Karna and ClearPay, by refocusing on its benefits for younger customers that BNPL’s don’t offer.

All finalists will present their response to Barclays, and be invited to attend the prestigious DMA Awards in central London on the night of Tuesday 5 December. It's attended by some of the most successful advertising and marketing agencies in the country who have created some of the best campaigns of the year, and finalists will have the chance to network with them - The connections they make could be career-changing.

As part of the DMA Awards evening the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced, with the Gold winners being presented their certificates on stage.

As well as the prestige of winning an industry recognised award, the Gold winners receive £1,000, Silver £750 and Bronze £500.

Travel arrangements will be made for the finalists, and accommodation will be provided on the night of the 5 December 2023 in London.

Get your hands on the brief here - The award is open to students, interns and non-professionals.

Entries have now closed

If you have any questions, please email us on dmatalent@dma.org.uk and a member of the team will get back to you as quickly as possible.

The judging process

We will review all entries and, if we like your idea, will invite you to one of our regional heats taking place in:

Manchester: Friday 10 November 2023 at Manchester Met Uni Business School, Oxford Road, M15 6BH

Edinburgh: Monday 13 November 2023 at Design Informatics, 1 Crichton Street, Newington, EH8 9AB

Bristol: Wednesday 15 Novemebr 2023 at 3 Temple Quay, Temple Back East

London: Friday 17 November 2023 at 1 Newham Row, SE1 3UZ

Here, you will present a short pitch of your creative idea and approach. You will have a maximum of 15 mins to present to a small judging panel and there will be time for some questions at the end.

One team from each regional heat will be selected to go forward to the final heat in London on Tuesday 5 December 2023, and will be notified if they are a fanalist at the end of their regional heat.

Final heat

The final heat will take place on the morning of Tuesday 5 December 2023 in London, any necessary travel arrangements will be made for the finalists nearer to the time.

Finalists will be given 20 minutes to present their built out campaign, explaining the rationale, data and insight behind their proposed plan and how it changes Gen Z consumers’ minds about credit cards (and Barclaycard specifically). There will be 10 minutes at the end for questions from the client.

Get your hands on the brief here - The award is open to students, interns and non-professionals.

Entries have now closed

If you have any questions, please email us on dmatalent@dma.org.uk and a member of the team will get back to you as quickly as possible.