The Finalists Of The 2022 MFA Awards Are Here!

Close to 150 judges have worked to select 48 finalists for the 2022 MFA Awards, set to be held on October 13, 2022.

The finalists were chosen for demonstrating effectiveness, business growth and media agencies’ industry purpose of ‘We Are The Changers’.

MediaCom, Initiative, PHD and OMD were among the media agencies that scored multiple finalists. Initiative also dominated the NGEN Award category, with four teams from the agency chosen as finalists, alongside a team from Match & Wood and a solo entrant from Carat completing the NGEN finalists.

The Grand Prix (presented by Seven), and awards for Industry Contribution and Hall of Fame will also be announced at the MFA Awards gala dinner on Thursday 13 October 2022 at Royal Randwick Sydney. The awards will follow on from the MFA EX: Media For All effectiveness conference. MFA EX will also be held in Melbourne the week prior, on 6 October 2022.

The judges – leaders from clients, agencies, industry bodies and media partners – commended this year’s entries for displaying high calibre media thinking, innovative solutions and strong results for clients.

Judge Tim Kenward, marketing director at McDonald’s, said: “It was a pleasure to judge the 2022 MFA Awards and see the high calibre of work within the industry. It was impressive to see agency and client partnerships demonstrating innovative ways to overcome their brand challenges through sound strategic thinking and execution and I was most inspired by how brands used media influence to create meaningful conversations in the community to make a difference.”

Katie Rigg-Smith, chief strategy officer of WPP Australia & New Zealand, added: “It is always a privilege to judge the MFAs, but this year felt even more special judging the new ESG category. As a panel we were inspired to see the steps our industry is clearly taking in delivering the ESG ambitions of our clients. The strongest entries linked the ESG objectives to the role media played in delivering those, as well as the consideration given to the type of media and their own ESG approaches. It is early days but the entries gave so much promise for what is to come next for the whole industry in this space and I can’t wait to see how this category continues to evolve.”

MFA CEO Sophie Madden said: “The MFA Awards recognise and reward work that has delivered tangible brand and business results for clients in the short and long term, living up to our industry’s ability to influence change. The judges were blown away by the quality of the strategic thinking and the level of effectiveness delivered through innovation and collaboration. The entries in the 2022 MFA Awards demonstrate that the work being produced by Australian media agencies is up there with the best in the world, so all finalists should be incredibly proud of their achievement.”

The 2022 MFA Awards finalists are:

Agency Talent & Culture
Initiative’s Choice Charter, Initiative
Value-driven culture shines under pressure, The Media Store
The Flow Profit Share, This is Flow

Behaviour Change
Australian Government – Department of Social Services, Stop it at the Start – Phase 3, UM
City of Melbourne, Get to the city or get FOMO, Zenith Media
Gotcha4Life, Boys Do Cry, Initiative
McDonald’s, Macca’s Monopoly – Game on!, OMD
NSW Government – Department of Customer Services, Let’s Do This NSW!, UM

Best Long-term Results
KFC, Did someone say KFC?, MediaCom
Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, Love delivers long-term trust – elevating actions through adversity, The Media Store
Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate Smile Strong, Wavemaker

Best Use of Content – sponsored by ThinkPremiumDigital
IAG, A Fire Inside, Initiative
KFC, KFC Degustation, MediaCom
Grey Goose, The Grey Goose Garden Bar: Smooth Sounds of Audio Enhanced Cocktails, OMD
UN Women Australia, #EmpowerMoves, UM

Best Use of Data & Analytics – sponsored by News Corp
McDonald’s, Macca’s Monopoly – Game on!, OMD
Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Real-Time Routes, PHD

Brand Impact – sponsored by OMA
Repco, High Octane Highjacks, Initiative
IAG, A Fire Inside, Initiative
National Australia Bank, NAB JAB – One jab closer to, Mindshare
Suncorp, Suncorp One House, OMD & Leo Burnett
Volkswagen Group Australia, Golf Ad Break Championship, PHD

Bravery – sponsored by Nine
IAG, CGU Tall Poppy, Initiative
KFC, KFC Degustation, MediaCom
Volkswagen Group Australia, Golf Ad Break Championship, PHD

Business Impact – sponsored by Quantcast
Mars Petcare Australia, #CatsinBoxes by WHISKAS, MediaCom
Mars Petcare Australia, Caturday Nights with Dine, MediaCom

Environmental, Social & Governance Award – sponsored by SBS Media
Goodman Fielder, Wonder Recycling Rewards, Initiative
Gotcha4Life, Boys Do Cry, Initiative
Google Australia, In Our Image, PHD & Google

Innovation in Media
Amazon Prime Video, The wheel of Time, LADbible Group & Rufus by Initiative
Mars Petcare Australia, #CatsinBoxes by WHISKAS, MediaCom
Volkswagen Group Australia, Golf Ad Break Championship, PHD

Partnerships
Mars Petcare Australia, #CatsinBoxes by WHISKAS, MediaCom
Suncorp, Suncorp One House, OMD & Leo Burnett
Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, A “mobile” Partnership accelerates Toyota’s mobility reinvention, The Media Store & The Seven Network

Pro Bono/Cause Marketing Incentive – In recognition of Pam Lane
Gotcha4Life, Boys Do Cry, Initiative
Dolly’s Dream, MediaCom x Dolly’s Dream, MediaCom
UN Women Australia, #EmpowerMoves, UM

Real-time Marketing
Mars Wrigley Australia, M&M’s commentate from the Gogglebox couch, MediaCom
National Australia Bank, NAB Federal Budget 2021, Mindshare
Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Real-Time Routes, PHD

NGEN Award
Alice-Maree Raitt, Carat
Ben Breden & Olivia Coxon, Initiative
Kate O’Loughlin & Leah Franco, Initiative
Rikki Stern & Summer Treseder, Initiative
Bobbie Hansen & Charles Cripps, Initiative
Cameron Ho & Vedant Agarwal, Match & Wood

The sponsors of the 2022 MFA Awards are:

Grand Prix Sponsor: Seven

Platinum Sponsors: News Corp Australia, Nine, Outdoor Media Association, Quantcast, SBS Media, ThinkPremiumDigital

Gold Sponsors: Ad Standards, Foxtel Media, Google, Meta, OzTam, Paramount, SCA, Snapchat, Tik Tok

Silver Sponsors: IAB Australia, Lion, Nielsen, Yahoo!