4A’s Reveals Winners of 2018 Partner Awards

RPA Takes Home Top Honors for “Imaginary Friend Society” Campaign Created for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

April 9, 2018 (New York/Miami)—Today the 4A’s, the leading trade organization for marketing communication agencies, wrapped up the first day of its 4A’s Accelerate conference by revealing the winners of the fourth annual 4A’s Partner Awards.

This year’s top honor—Partnership of the Year—was awarded to Los Angeles–based agency Rubin Postaer and Associates (RPA) for its “Imaginary Friend Society” campaign for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The campaign featured 20 animated films designed to help educate and empower families impacted by childhood cancer. The films were produced in collaboration with 23 partners, including The Mill, Elastic, Strange Beast, Lobo, MPC, Giant Ant, Gentleman Scholar, Flux Animation, Trunk, Airplan, Hornet, Renegade Animation, Titmouse, StarBeast, Not To Scale, What Is Cancer, Studio Pigeon, Psyop, Laundry, Roof Studio, Wolf & Crow, Nexus and Logan. The Partnership of the Year award is selected from the winners of the eight categories: Brand, Creative, Media, Cause, Diversity, Pro Bono, Technology, and Health & Wellness.

The campaign also landed wins in the Pro Bono Partnership: Large Agency category and the Health & Wellness Partnership: Large Agency category.

“Amidst a pool of such incredible creative work and great examples of partnership, ‘Imaginary Friend’ really stood out because of its heart,” said David Angelo, jury chair of the 4A’s Partner Awards, and founder and chairman of David&Goliath. “It’s a real testament to the beauty, the impact and the good we can create through partnership.”

“Brands are increasingly leaning toward creating more purpose-driven content,” said Marla Kaplowitz, President and CEO of the 4A’s. “We are pleased to see meaningful creativity receive increasing recognition.”

Other winners from last night’s ceremony included:

  • Brand Partnership: Mid-Sized Agency – TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles: In celebration of the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles partnered with The Recording Academy and Uber and for its “Play The City | 60th GRAMMYs” campaign, launching specially outfitted Uber cars that enabled passengers to explore the sounds of New York.
  • Brand Partnership: Large Agency – Hearts & Science: Hearts & Science partnered with P&G, Egami Consulting, Khalabo Ink Society and ABC for “The Talk,” a sobering campaign that shines light on the conversations African-American parents have with their children about racial bias and prejudice. The campaign was integrated into an episode of ABC’s Black-ish, where one of the main characters—a marketing executive—is selected to lead the development of a campaign that focuses on “The Talk,” inspiring him to have “the talk” with his colleagues at work.
  • Creative Partnership: Small Agency – Spinifex Group: Spinifex Group partnered with Elton John, Rocket Entertainment and Google/YouTube to announce the retirement of the music legend in a stunning virtual-reality showcase.
  • Creative Partnership: Large Agency – Deutsch: Deutsch worked with Taco Bell and OpenTable to bring Taco Bell’s infamous Test Kitchen—the birthplace of the Doritos Locos Taco and the Quesalupa—to the masses.
  • Media Partnership: Large Agency – VML: VML, the United Nations and Facebook worked together to make selfies a little more selfless. In recognition of UN World Humanitarian Day, they developed augmented-reality camera filters that highlighted the plight of refugees across the world.
  • Cause Partnership: Large Agency – Mother: Mother teamed up with Stella Artois, Water.org, Snarkitecture, Mediacom and 3PM to invite commuters to celebrate World Water Day with the unveiling of a public art installation at The Oculus in New York City’s World Trade Center.
  • Diversity Partnership: Mid-Sized Agency – The Ad Council: Celebrating Valentine’s Day and the iconic “Love Has No Labels” campaign, the Ad Council teamed up with the NFL to film a suite of PSAs honoring love in all its forms. Partners on the PSAs included R/GA, NFL, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, State Farm, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Google, Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Law Center, Human Rights Campaign, American Association of People with Disabilities, AARP, Perception Institute, Jack Morton Worldwide, Facebook, Twitter, Sap, Fox True[X], PAC-12 and Upworthy.
  • Diversity Partnership: Large Agency – BBDO: BBDO’s “Balance the Equation” campaign for GE explored a world where female scientists are treated like celebrities. The creative was executed in partnership with Obscura Digital, Nicole Holofcener of Bob Industries and Grand Central Terminal.
  • Pro Bono Partnership: Mid-Sized Agency – 22squared: 22squared took home the award with its partners—the Ad Council and Grads of Life—for “7 Second Résumés,” which captures real candidates’ work experience in just seven seconds, the average amount of time recruiters spend reviewing a résumé.
  • Technology Partnership: Small Agency – Spinifex Group: Spinifex Group nabbed its second award for giving Elton John’s career new life in a virtual-reality showcase.

The 4A’s Partner Awards, sponsored this year by Pinterest, is the marketing communications industry’s only awards program recognizing great partnerships that create extraordinary work.

This year’s winners were selected by a panel of jurors comprised of esteemed leaders from a wide range of agencies, publishers and brands. View the full list of winners here.

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About the 4A’s Partner Awards
The 4A’s Partner Awards is the ad industry’s only awards program recognizing great creative partnerships. As marketing communications becomes increasingly complex, smart business requires more partnership and collaboration among brands, media companies, technology platforms, agencies and their creative partners. Powerful partnershipsproduce work that raises the creative bar, while positively impacting the client’s bottom line. Great partnerships are built on trust, respect, complementary resources, constant communication and aligned goals. The Partner Awards provide a badge that lets clients know that an agency plays well with others.

About the 4A’s
Founded in 1917, the 4A’s was established to promote, advance and defend the interests of our member agencies, their employees and the industry at large. The organization serves 700+ member agencies across 1,300 offices, which control more than 85% of total U.S. advertising spend. As the leading trade organization for marketing communication agencies, the 4A’s purpose is to help empower its members to deliver insightful creativity that drives commerce, and influences culture all while moving the industry forward. The organization provides community, leadership, advocacy, guidance and best-in-class training that help enable agencies to innovate, evolve and grow. 4A’s Benefits division insures more than 160,000 employees and its D.C. office advocates for policies that best support a thriving advertising industry. The 4A’s Foundation fuels a robust diversity pipeline of talent for its members and the marketing and media industry, fostering the next generation of leaders. The organization is dedicated to, and vested in, our members’ success just as they are dedicated to helping brands create, distribute, and measure effective and insightful advertising and marketing. Visit the 4A’s at www.aaaa.org.

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