An international panel of expert judges has named M&C Saatchi’s “Game of Balls” campaign for the Blue Balls Foundation as the winner of IAB’s Creative Showcase Best of the Best Award. As the best campaign of Creative Showcase Round 10, the campaign is automatically entered into this year’s prestigious IAB MIXX Awards which will be held in New York on 26 and 27 September.

The judges also made special mention of Deepend’s “Ed and the Curious Crew” campaign for The Royal Children’s Hospital, “Qantas Instameet” by Razorfish Australia and VLM’s “Loaded” campaign for McDonald’s Australia.

“The tenth year of Creative Showcase has delivered some amazing work, with an emphasis on video and integrated campaigns,” said Mike Zeederberg, managing director of Zuni and Creative Showcase’s chair ofjJudges. “The judges had a tough time choosing a winner from the year’s entrants, which shows the incredible creativity and technical depth prevalent in the industry today.”

M&C Saatchi’s “Game of Balls” sought to raise awareness of testicular cancer with a unique and cheeky campaign. In an industry first, M&C Saatchi partnered with Digital Playground, one of the world’s biggest adult film studios, to be part of their biggest pornographic release of the year, a tribute to “Game of Thrones”.  In the middle of the action, the star stops, turns to the viewer and shows how to check himself for testicular cancer.  Viewers were then directed to the Blue Ball Foundation, an Australian awareness charity. The campaign achieved staggering results: the message spread organically across the net, with 1.5-plus million views in its first four weeks and as of January 2016, over 15 million views. (You can view the case study here.)

“This collaboration between The Blue Ball Foundation and Digital Playground seriously raised awareness and ensured they reached their target with their pants down,” said judge Elke Klinkhammer, Chief Creative Officer at McCann Worldgroup in Germany.

Judge Federico Garcia, ‎Creative Director at ‎Translation LLC, USA said the Game of Balls campaign was the winner thanks to its unique take on a big issue, done in a fun and light-hearted way. “Great insight, perfect media placement,” he said.

M&C Saatchi’s campaign joins a distinguished list of Australian creative campaigns which have been award winning at the IAB MIXX Awards in previous years. At the 2015 awards Soap Creative and JWT Australia won gold in the “Public Service” category for their “I Touch Myself” campaign for the Cancer Council of NSW, while M&C Saatchi secured gold in the “Special Innovation – Can’t be Contained – People’s Choice” category for its “Clever Buoy” campaign for Optus. VLM Australia, Clemenger BBDO and Isobar Australia also received Silver and Bronze awards in 2015.

The panel of international judges who reviewed the campaigns of IAB Australia’s Creative Showcase Round 10 to choose the Best of the Best were:

• Scott Ex Rodgers, Senior Creative Director, SVP at BBDO New York, USA
• Daniel Granatta, Freelance Creative Director, USA
• Duncan Gray, Chief Creative Officer Europe at Fenton, UK
• Federico Garcia, ‎Creative Director – ‎Translation LLC, USA
• Elke Klinkhammer, Chief Creative Officer at McCann Worldgroup, Germany
• Jonny Watson, ‎Digital Creative Director at VCCP Blue, UK

Creative Showcase Round 10 Best of the Best Winner
Creative agency: M&C Saatchi
Brand: The Blueball Foundation