Advertising agency MullenLowe wins the UK’s leading done in a day creative-for-good awards, scooping Carers UK as a new client, a £10,000 prize and the backing of a £250,000 media fund.
MullenLowe has been crowned winner of The Creative Shootout 2024, with Given in runner-up spot and Red Consultancy in third place.
MullenLowe will now go on to stage their winning campaign for The Creative Shootout’s Charity of the Year, Carers UK, backed by a £250,000 media fund.
Earlier in the day, the eight finalist agency teams received the pressing and live brief from Carers UK CEO, Helen Walker. They then had just four hours to work on their creative campaign before having only eight minutes each to pitch back their ideas to the live audience of hundreds and judging panel at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in the evening.
MullenLowe now walks off with Carers UK as a new client and the £10,000 prize and will bring their campaign to life later in the year, backed by a £250,000 media fund. This includes £100,000 worth of media inventory from Clear Channel, £50,000 worth of airtime from Sky Media, significant digital support from The Guardian, a research programme from OnePoll/72 Point, an audio package from podcast company Acast, and a broadcast campaign from Markettiers.
The brief given to the finalist agencies at lunchtime was to come up with a campaign to halve the time it takes for someone to recognise themselves as an unpaid carer in 2024, so that within a year they can access support quicker, better protect their mental health, stay in employment, and seek financial support. The eight finalist creative agencies were selected by a high-profile judging panel in late 2023, from entries submitted by marketing agencies right across the UK.
Carers UK provides information on accessing financial aid, emotional support, and advice on caring. It also helps combat loneliness by connecting carers, and campaigns for better rights and lasting change.
The team at MullenLowe focused their pitch on the everyday moments of care often not recognised as acts of caring, in a campaign titled ‘This is a Carer’. The team came up with an integrated multi-channel approach, making full use of partners with a particularly powerful out-of-home creative.
Founder of The Creative Shootout, Johnny Pitt, comments: “The 7th Creative Shootout felt like our biggest yet. From the significance of the cause and brief to the diversity of agencies involved and the scale of media support, it hit another level this year. I’m very grateful to all our Partners for their support and am really excited to see what MullenLowe and Carers UK now go on to do.”
Helen Walker, Chief Executive at Carers UK, added: “We are delighted to see MullenLowe chosen as winner of The Creative Shootout - and incredibly excited to work with them as they use their creativity, expertise, and enthusiasm to harness the potential of this campaign, which aims to halve the time it takes for someone to recognise themselves as an unpaid carer.
Two in three of us will care in our lifetime and too many carers simply do not recognise their caring role until it’s too late and they have missed out on vital financial, practical, and emotional advice and support. This campaign is an amazing opportunity to raise awareness of the realities of caring and help millions look after their own health and wellbeing alongside looking after someone else.”
The 2024 finalist agencies included (alphabetical order):