2020 Shop! Award winners crowned
In a year punctuated by the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing business and retail challenges, digital marketing campaigns took pride of place at the Shop! ANZ 2020 Retail Marketing Awards, showcasing the ingenuity and success of the Australian and New Zealand retail marketing industry.
Taking home the biggest prize of the night, the Tom Harris Retail Marketing Best in Show Award, was POP This for Revlon Australia with the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Carousel and Virtual Mirror – a dual purpose display featuring digital lip colour testing.
The display was a unanimous favourite among Shop! ANZ’s more than 90 industry judges, also taking the crown in a swag of other categories, including Best Design and Innovation; Best Shopper Experience; Large or Department Store; Health & Beauty, Permanent Display; and Digital Instore, Mobile, Social & Online.
Stand out entries emerged from either one of two camps – traditional displays re-engineered in clever and eye catching ways, or traditional ‘experiences’ reinvented with the use of technology.
Fitting into the former was Allen’s Modular Snakes Unit by Indica Worldwide and id8 Studio for Nestle - the winner of overall Best Display, as well as Grocery Store (Food), Permanent. Other stand out displays were Ferrero’s Nutella x Smeg Winter Campaign by Opal Specialty Packaging and The Mix Agency, which recreated a larger than life Smeg toaster, and Unwrap Christmas for Ferrero Rocher.
Another big winner of the night was The Neat Agency with its Swarovski ‘Naughty or Nice’ Vending machine – a giant digital vending machine displaying a series of randomly generated Christmas
themed questions to ascertain if the user was ‘naughty or nice’ and dispensing a card at the end that contained a 'Naughty Gift' or a 'Nice Surprise’ from Swarovski.
The People’s Choice Award was won by Dashing Group’s Spread the Merry Christmas campaign across Australia Post stores.
Shop! ANZ introduced three new categories to the 2020 Awards - the Centrum Printing Produced in ANZ Award aims to foster local home grown design and manufacture; and in acknowledgement of the upheaval caused by the Covid-19 pandemic – the Covid-Safe Retail Continuity Product and Campaign Response to a Covid-19 Changing Shopper categories.
Double Impact Displays was awarded Gold for Centrum Printing Produced in ANZ; followed by Point Retail for the Husqvarna Modular Experiential Display; and Active Display Group for Myer Giftorium.
Covid-Safe Retail Continuity Product Gold was won by Neat Agency for ELFie with Santa for Retail first – a no-touch alternative to Santa photos, with DisplayWise’s Bare Hygiene hand sanitising station taking Silver and POP This and Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipstick Carousel and Virtual Mirror taking Bronze.
XPO Brands earned the Gold for Campaign Response to a Covid-19 Changing Shopper; Red Bull and Boo Group, Silver, for Red Bull Music Hotel, and Traffik, Bronze, for How Ikea Inspired Australians to renovate.
Despite the setbacks of 2020, Shop! ANZ General Manager, Carla Bridge, said the standard and quality of entries to the Awards only increased.
“Australian and New Zealand retail marketers appear to have used the challenges of the past 12 months as fuel to work harder and smarter, producing some of the best work we’ve seen for years,” Ms Bridge said.
“This year’s winners combined ingenuity, design flair and solid insights to win the hearts, minds and wallets of shoppers in what has inarguably been the toughest environment in living memory.
“These Awards are an incredibly special one for the Shop! Awards Program, having introduced a brand new trophy in the ‘Point’, taking over from the Cigar Shop Indian that has served as the symbol of retail marketing excellence for the past 21 Awards programs.”
Ms Bridge congratulated all winners of the 2020 Awards. “Last night’s results are a true testament to the strength and success of retail marketing in Australia and New Zealand and prove that the sector is a robust and indispensable element in the retail mix,” she said.
To view the full 2020 Shop! ANZ Award winners list and entry gallery, click here.
