The Epica Awards are distinct in being the only advertising and design awards judged by the industry’s press. This year a diverse range of work was given the top gongs, from an innovative piece of design for the emergency services in Germany which features a QR code warning passers-by not to stop and stare at accidents, to a witty ad for Samsung featuring a love-lorn spider.

Seven Grand Prix awards were handed out across six categories, with two awarded in PR. No Grand Prix was chosen in both the Design and Print categories, where it was felt that no one piece of work rose significantly above the selection of Gold winners. The network of the year was McCann Worldgroup, while the agency of the year was Rethink Canada.

The list of Grand Prix winners can be viewed below, while the full results for this year can be found at epica-awards.com.

DIGITAL: Ketchup AI for Heinz. Agency: Rethink Canada

Ketchup AI is the latest in a series of smart campaigns for Heinz which aim to show how recognisable the brand is within the sauce sector. This time around, the agency discovered that asking artificial intelligence to draw a ketchup bottle invariably results in one that looks like the iconic Heinz bottle.

FILM: The Spider and the Window for Samsung Electronics. Agency: Leo Burnett Germany

This entertaining spot for Samsung tells the tale of a large spider who falls in love with a Samsung phone due to the device’s distinctive camera lenses, which resemble the spider’s eyes.

INNOVATION: Touch Card for Mastercard. Agency: McCann New York

Created in collaboration with Mastercard, the Touch Card initiative enables the blind and partially sighted to distinguish between different payment cards thanks to a series of notches in the plastic.

MEDIA: The Pirate Match for Directv Go. Agency: Mirum Brasil

The Pirate Match steered online viewers trying to illegally stream major soccer matches to fake, clumsy (and very funny) pirate matches, which then encouraged them to pay for the genuine article.

PR: The Name Catalogue for Ikea. Agency: Try, Norway

The Name Catalogue is a witty campaign for Ikea which aims to inspire parents in search of baby name ideas to use names from the brand’s furniture catalogue.

PR: The Missing Chapter for Procter & Gamble. Agency: Leo Burnett India

Created for sanitary product brand Whisper (known as Always in the UK), the Missing Chapter formed part of the brand’s Keep Girls in School initiative, which looks to change the fact that one in five girls (around 23 million) in India currently drop out of school at the onset of puberty. The campaign title refers to the fact that there is no chapter on menstruation in schoolbooks in India, so instead information on periods was shared in towns and villages on leaflets and on paintings and murals placed in public places.

RESPONSIBILITY: Anti-Look – The Life-Saving QR Design for Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe. Agency: Scholz & Friends, Germany

Sponsored by ACT Responsible, the responsibility category celebrates work for good causes. The top prize went to this piece of design for German first responders Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe. When people pause at the site of an accident to take pictures with their phone, a QR design on emergency vehicles and uniforms activates a message warning the gawkers that they are cluttering the area and may prevent rescuers from saving a life.

epica-awards.com