The Mx Awards have expanded beyond just awards to become a true learning opportunity for people around the network – the Best of Mx Show is an opportunity for winning teams to showcase their work and explain what made it great. We spoke to Dan Hagen, Global Head of Media Experience for Havas Media Group, to learn more about the show.
Tell us about the Best of Mx Show!
We launched the Best of Mx Show in January this year to create a global platform to share the case studies that are awarded in the Mx Awards. Winning and celebrating our work and the teams behind it is great, but if we’re going to learn what drives the work and makes it great, we need to unpack it and understand the process and inspiration behind it.
‘The Best of Mx’ is a monthly show hosted by me, Denh Dip, Seema Patel and Daniel Arenas, and it gives the teams behind the work an opportunity to showcase how they developed it, as well as the audience a chance to ask questions and hopefully, get inspired.
Tell us about the Best of Mx Logistics?
Each month three Mx Award winning teams present how Connection, Context and Content created a great Media Experience that drove effective client outcomes.
Each team gets 10 minutes to present with the whole event lasting 45 minutes to make space for a Q&A session.
Our Global Awards Team composed of Daniel Arenas and Marina Balduz help teams prepare their best presentation by organizing a kickoff meeting to connect with those presenting, and a rehearsal where they can boost the quality of the presentation and help the teams create the most compelling delivery of their work.
“Initiatives like the Best of Mx Show help foster a culture of celebrating the work and the people behind the work across our network.”
How does the Best of Mx Show help our network?
Initiatives like the Best of Mx Show help foster a culture of celebrating the work and the people behind the work across our network. It also allows teams to share their work and have colleagues appreciate it and learn from it in an informal setting.
It’s a great way for teams to get more familiar with our Mx System and learn how to go beyond the usual media plan and focus on where and when the money is spent, how the team hit the sweet spot of connection with the right audience, in a context where they were in the right mindset, with the right content to create an impact.
What has been the reception since it was launched in March?
We are happy to say that since we launched, many teams are now taking the initiative and contacting us to be guests on our future shows, even before we get in touch with them.
Moreover, every show has seen uplifts in attendance, our show which happens on TEAMS drew more than 200 colleagues in October, and during our last one in November we reached 289. And once we upload the episode on AGORA, we are getting 150-200 downloads and views. We’ve also had a number of teams organising watch parties to make it more of a social event in the office, with drinks and nibbles.
Below are the teams that presented in our last episodes:
EPISODE 6
| Campaign: Helpline on the Cover Client: Laisha About: A Meaningful campaign that has been shortlisted 15 times and taken home 10 awards in international festivals this year. Our Tel Aviv colleagues changed the cover of a popular Women’s Magazine (Laisha) for the first time in its 75 years of their existence. They replaced the usual fashionable models with the phone number of a helpline that helps women in Israel get help when caught in the spiral of domestic violence. The work drove a cultural conversation in national media and brought massive awareness to the helpline. Agency: Havas Tel Aviv. Mx Awards Win: BRONZE in BEST USE OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA Presenting: Ben Sever, Chief Creative Officer, CEO & Partner at Havas Tel-Aviv. |
| Campaign: Raisin House Client: Sun-Maid Raisins About: This case is a great example of how to embrace and use brand stigma to its own favor. Nobody likes to receive a box of raisins when trick or treating in the US, so our US team used unlocked insights that helped create a real-life interactive “haunted” house in New Jersey dedicated to the horror of receiving dried fruit while trick-or-treating. Sun-Maid was brave enough to acknowledge its Achilles’ heel rather than try to pretend that this holiday has room for anything besides candy. Agency: Havas Media US Mx Awards Win: SILVER in BEST EVENT / EXPERIENTIAL CAMPAIGN Presenter: Alison Bruder, Vice President Havas Formula, Krissy Ambrookian, Director Havas Media & Maria Duque, Planner at Havas Media |
| Campaign: Silent Hit Client: TIM About: The team over at BETC Havas in Brazil, addressed a sensitive topic that is still a taboo subject in Brazil: Female harassment and the fear women have to speak up and denounce the perpetrators. They created a hit song with 3 upcoming stars, and the twist was that it had no lyrics or words, so as to symbolically highlight the silence of harassed women. It was incredibly meaningful, highly creative, it was a brilliant use of Audio and of course, an amazing Media Experience. Agency: BETC Havas Mx Awards Win: GOLD in the Best use of Content / Influencer Mx Presenter: Renata Barbosa, Strategy Director at BETC Havas. |
EPISODE 5
| Campaign: Pedidos Ya! Delivery APP Client: Pedidos Ya! About: Delivery APP Pedidos YA aligned with the most popular sport in Chile: Football. To stand out in a crowded space they managed to find some white space, quite literally, by placing the brand’s iconic logo on the player’s socs. They had brand integration throughout the games’ broadcast including the delivery of the ball just before kick off Agency: Havas Creative, Arena Media, Havas Sports & Entertainment Mx Awards Win: Bronze in Best Better Together Campaign Presenter: Sebastián Haritcalde, Head of Business Development Havas Group Chile |
| Campaign: MANGO Man x Griezmann – The Game Changer Client: MANGO About: MANGO MAN is not well known, particularly in Spain and France, the most important markets for the brand. So, when Antoine Griezman, a football star popular in both markets, became the brand’s ambassador, our Havas International team launched a campaign that dominated SOV using the most important media touchpoints, including print and OOH with massive front page and billboard takeovers. The strategy guaranteed the awareness needed to launch a new spokesperson, and to drive the results the brand needed. Agency: Havas International Mx Awards Win: Gold in Best Use of Traditional Media Presenter: Ferrán Juani Solans, Business Managing Director at Havas International |
| Campaign: NAverse Client: Narcotiques Anonymes About: The team tapped into the insight that the first reason why drug users tend to avoid NA is because of shame, so they designed the first ever narcotics anonymous meeting in the metaverse, where attendees could be truly anonymous. Agency: Havas Play Mx Awards Win: Grand Prix + Gold in Best Use of Event/Experiential Campaign Presenter: Emmanuel Quéré, Strategic Planner at Havas Play |
