LONDON, April 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Warc has announced the winners of its inaugural Prize for Social Strategy. Warc, the global online resource with best practice evidence and insights for every step of the advertising process, created the Warc Prize for Social Strategy to recognize the best examples of strategy that drive conversation, sharing, participation or advocacy. Entries were asked to show how their strategies had delivered credible business results.

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In all, eighteen (18) campaigns were awarded. Four came from BBDO including the Grand Prix for a campaign from AMV BBDO in London for PepsiCo UK's Doritos ("Mariachi"). As a result, BBDO was the best-performing Network competing for the Warc Prize for Social Strategy. AMV BBDO also won Gold for Mercedes A Class "#YouDrive." Only four Golds were awarded in total.

Two other BBDO agencies were also winners: BBDO Toronto won Silver for its work on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. And BBDO Guerrero won a Bronze for the Philippines Department of Tourism.

"I was really impressed with both the quantity and the quality of entries," said Prize Chairman Pete Blackshaw, Global Head of Digital and Social Media at Nestle. He added that the Prize had left him "really encouraged" about the efforts to show the business impact of social strategy and he hoped to take advantage of what he had learned "from the origination of the core idea and the insight all the way to the social strategy and ultimately to... business results."

"The best social work works best," said Andrew Robertson, President & CEO, BBDO Worldwide. "These awards recognize social ideas designed to generate earned media and drive business results."

"We were delighted to receive 130 entries from all over the world showcasing a range of work which proves that smart social strategies are delivering great performance," said Louise Ainsworth, CEO Warc.

The Warc Prize for Social Strategy is a search for social ideas (any strategy designed to generate 'earned media') that drive business results. It is a case study competition with a $10,000 prize fund to reward the best social strategy cases in the world. Further details, including a list of all the winning entries, can be found at http://www.warc.com/socialprize. Details for other Warc Prizes can be found at http://www.warc.com/.

ABOUT BBDO
BBDO's mantra is "The Work. The Work. The Work." Every day, BBDO people in 289 offices in 81 countries work day by day, job by job and client by client to create and deliver the world's most compelling commercial content. For eight years in a row, BBDO has been the most creative agency network in the world in The Gunn Report and for six years in a row, BBDO was also ranked the most awarded agency network across all marketing communications in The Directory Big Won. In addition, BBDO has been named Network of the Year at Cannes five times and was named the world's most Effective Agency Network in the inaugural Effie Effectiveness Index. BBDO has been chosen Agency of the Year multiple times by the leading industry trade publications.

BBDO is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.

ABOUT WARC
Warc is the global provider of ideas and evidence to marketing people.

Warc's premium online intelligence service, warc.com, includes more than 8,000 case studies and a huge resource of articles on new thinking and best practice across all areas of marketing and advertising effectiveness. With users in over 100 countries, it is a unique resource relied upon by agencies, brands and media groups. Warc Prizes recognize and reward advertising effectiveness, of which the Warc Prize for Social Strategy sits alongside the Warc Prize for Innovation and Warc Prize for Asian Strategy.

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SOURCE BBDO Worldwide