2023 MARKETING MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE™ Case Study Winners from Around the World

Every year, The Internationalist highlights inspiring case studies of how brands and their marketing initiatives are making a world of difference by creating awareness, changing behaviors, and driving results for people, the planet, all living creatures… and for business.

Interestingly, this year’s winners focus largely on human issues, while highlighting a range of topics: from the needs of society’s most vulnerable, which include initiatives built around refugees, premature births, violence against women, racial incidents, and homelessness to demonstrating support for small business, overcoming drug addiction, as well as the challenges of Alzheimer’s and dyslexia. Plus, there are celebrations of Black History, demonstrations of love for inclusivity, a triumph over ageism, and ways to “kick the bucket” on plastic and care for shelter animals.

These 15 extraordinary initiatives represent work from 8 different countries, including 5 winners from Germany– the most winners from any one nation. Havas achieves the honor of having the most wins with six case studies. MEDIAPLUS Germany followed with three wins– also a remarkable number.

THE WINNERS in Alphabetic Order…

Amnesty International – Love is the Best Religion | Havas Media Peru & Havas Creative Peru
Asociación Lucha contra el Mal de Alzheimer – (Association Fighting Against Alzheimer’s Disease) I Don’t Remember | Hoy by Havas Buenos Aires
Audi – The Art of Progress | PHD Germany
Claro Colombia – De Local Podemos Todo (Locally We Can Do Everything) | Havas Media, HOY by Havas Colombia x Claro
Dove (Unilever) – Keep the Grey | PHD Canada
General Motors, Chevrolet, Buick, Kroger, Bounty, Charmin, Mastercard – More Than That with Gia Peppers | dentsu USA
Hinz&Kunzt – City Life Billboard | MEDIAPLUS Germany
Kickz.com | Color Crew – Jersey Color Swap | MEDIAPLUS Germany
La Société Protectrice des Animaux (Society for the Protection of Animals) – Adopt a Mod | Havas Play France
McDonald’s – Plastic Kicks the Bucket | OMD Germany
Narcotiques Anonymes (Narcotics Anonymous) – NAverse | Havas Play France
Préma-Québec – The 1.8 lb. Book | Touché! Montréal Canada
Procter & Gamble – Aussie Kids x BDG BeYOUtiful Hair Book | Carat USA
Stern (Gruner + Jahr) – Dyslexia Unetided | MEDIAPLUS Germany
TIM – Silent Hit | BETC Havas | Brazil

WINNING CASE STUDY HIGHLIGHTS (Alphabetical Order by Brand)…

Amnesty International –Love is the Best Religion (Peru)
International Amnesty demonstrated support for a bill to legalize equal marriage by working with Havas to create the campaign, “The best religion is love.” The goal was to show that love (genuinely represented by the colors of pride via actual stained glass windows in places of worship) can flourish in those places where doors are often closed.

Association Fighting Against Alzheimer’s Disease (Asociación Lucha contra el Mal de Alzheimer) – I Don’t Remember (Argentina)

To raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and early detection, Leonardo Sigali of Argentina’s Racing football club answered every question in a post-game interview by saying, “I don’t remember.” The repeated comments shocked fans and lit up social media until the truth was revealed that his answers were in support of Alzheimer’s. The effort reached 58 million people.

Audi – The Art of Progress (Germany)

To show how Audi’s “Future is an attitude” philosophy can inspire a positive future, the brand created an auction of 7000 NFTs of digital sculpture for UN Refugees at Germany’s biggest tech festival. Plus, blockchain settings will enable additional funding for UN Refugees on future sales. The result? The world’s most successful NFT charity auction ever!

Claro Colombia – De Local Podemos Todo (Locally We Can Do Everything)

Claro, the telecommunications and entertainment conglomerate, understood how COVID affected small businesses in Colombia. By offering free Claro internet to any organization interested in renting a vacant retail space, Claro solidified its purpose of connecting people through technology and being an active agent during the post-pandemic economic reactivation with 1,000+ rentals achieved.

Dove (Unilever) – Keep the Grey (Canada)

News broke in Canada that Lisa LaFlamme, long time news anchor and trailblazer for women in Canadian Journalism, had been relieved of her duties after 35 years. Shock turned to outrage when several reports claimed Lisa’s firing was partly due to a decision to let her hair go grey. #KeeptheGrey campaign began to impact the dialogue happening in culture, and to live up to the Dove brand promises and values.

General Motors, Chevrolet, Buick, Kroger, Bounty, Charmin, Mastercard-
More Than That with Gia Peppers (USA)

To help drive racial equity and reduce inequality in advertising, Dentsu helped its clients by creating a collaborative way for brands to engage with and invest in the Black community. Through a program authentically written by Black creatives and distributed exclusively on Black-owned radio networks, sponsorship messages outperformed 95% of radio norms, with the added benefit of increases of +25 in brand consideration and +18 in brand differentiation.

Hinz&Kunzt – City Life Billboard (Germany)

Hinz&Kunzt, a non-profit street magazine, strives to protect the homeless, while working to abolish homelessness. Their idea was to transform mobile billboards into shelters, while raising awareness of the cause. The tent-shaped space between mobile billboards was made into pleasant and safe individual retreats with insulation, an intelligent ventilation system, and frosted glass windows that allow light, but still afford privacy.

Kickz.com | Color Crew –Jersey Color Swap (Germany)
One of the deadliest racist attacks in Germany was committed in Hanau. Following this tragedy, the basketball teams– White Wings Hanau and Depant Giessen 46ers– wanted to offer a symbolic gesture against racism to honor the victims. In a historic match up, the two teams broke with the statutes of their clubs by swapping the colors of their traditional jerseys by wearing the opponent’s color. While spectators were unprepared for the change, the significance of the match became a permanent sign against racism with the hashtag: #ColorMakesNoDifference”

La Société Protectrice des Animaux (Society for the Protection of Animals) – Adopt a Mod (France)

Every year in France, 15.000 cats are abandoned and struggle to survive. Stray, the most popular video game of 2022, showcased a one-of-a-kind stray cat living extraordinary adventures. However, La Société Protectrice des Animaux, also known as La SPA, worked with Havas Play to modify the gameplay of Stray to depict what stray cats truly go through and introduced #AdoptAMod. They recreated 3D models of abandoned cats waiting for adoption and made them playable to show in-game how these strays endure in real life. The modelized cats got adopted in 24 hours and helped others in need of homes.

McDonald’s – Plastic Kicks the Bucket (Germany)
To credibly communicate McDonald’s progress in sustainable action, the brand believed that the chosen communication vehicles should also be sustainable. If messages about “plastic-free packaging” were to resonate authentically, then the advertising media must also be sustainable– whether via recycled paper or posters without plastic components.

Narcotiques Anonymes (Narcotics Anonymous) – NAverse (France)

Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is a respected international non-profit organization, but not well-known in France. Often people are reluctant to attend NA meeting as they are ashamed of their issues with drugs or being recognized as an addict. Havas Play worked with Les Narcotiques Anonymes to design the NAVerse, the first NA meeting in the metaverse as a space to share, listen, and support each other but with full anonymity thanks to the virtual avatars.

Préma-Québec – The 1.8 lb. Book (Canada)

Each year, over 6,000 Quebec families struggle with the trauma of a preterm birth. Préma-Québec is the only organization in the province to provide financial and psychological support. To raise awareness and encourage Quebecers to give to the cause, they created the 1.8 Pound Book– the average weight of a premature baby. Readers can follow an illustrated evolution of a child’s head as it changes in diameter from 24 to 40 weeks. The book was also released early– one month ahead of World Prematurity Day.

Procter & Gamble – Aussie Kids x BDG BeYOUtiful Hair Book

Aussie Kids embarked on a brand re-staging initiative to capture the attention of multicultural Gen Z parents by launching a kids’ line. The brand forged a content collaboration with Bustle Digital Group to initiate a dialogue with parents about hair inclusivity and care. “BeYOUtiful Hair” narrates a tale of five friends on a journey of self-discovery, learning to embrace and celebrate their distinct hair types.

Stern – Dyslexia Unetided (Germany)

Problem 1 in 5 peple is dislexic. however, thy are often viewed as les inteligent based on there inabilletyto spell properly. this is despite there beeing severeal sucsessful wrigthers CEOs and nobel oriats. In the mainstreem media dislexia is etided out.

Dislexia Unetided is an inishative to make dislexia more visable. lanched by Kai West Schlosser, an artdirector living with dislexia on dislexia awarnesday germanys leading magazine stern publisged an artikle full of spelling errors for the fist time…. with overwhelming response.

TIM – Silent Hit (Brazil)

In Brazil, a woman is harassed every second, and 93% do not report the aggression. Telecommunications company TIM with BETC Havas encouraged three rising female singers– Agnes Nunes, Marina Sena and Cynthia Luz– to create a song called “Silent Hit”– with no lyrics! The idea was to connect the absence of words with all the female voices that have been silenced by fear. The lyrics were added on International Women’s Day and garnered 96% positive comments.

While many of these programs are tremendously worthy and beneficial to many, it is their marketing strategies and media tactics they have played a pivot role in contributing to truly making a world of difference.

Rather than ranking each case study as gold, silver, or bronze, the limited number of winners are simply shining examples of inspirational, authentic, and well-aligned purposeful marketing programs that drive growth and indeed make a world of difference. Each winner is quite literally a “grand prix.” This is the largest number of winners named since the program began twelve years ago.

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