This year we are dealing with a huge metamorphosis of advertising festivals. Apart from the very formula of the gala and the way of communication during the sessions, we observe the appearance of new “COVID” categories. In the case of Golden Arrow it is “Marketing during a pandemic” category. It is worth following the list of nominated projects (Żywiec, Allegro, Żabka, MasterCard, or Lotto) to be able to deduce what was important to the Jury in this competition:
1. Achieving a higher goal– this was the dominant trend. Both Allegro and Żywiec (by means of a special limited edition of beer from the Żywiec group) helped the health service. The activation for the K.I.D.S. foundation, carried out by the Publicis Lion and MSL, supported the development of telemedicine, inexpensive from Żabka generated traffic in shops, but were important for people who found the masks at extreme prices. In turn, MasterCard, thanks to its app, helped select the time when there were smaller queues in the shops, which allowed the risk of infection to be reduced. It is visible that the “Storydoing” theme was popular. – building a campaign narrative based on real actions.
2. Content that goes beyond the category – this is particularly evident in the case of Lotto in the Million Ways to tackle boredom. But also Citi Bank stopped being a bank for a while and generated social media activations based on cooking with Okrasa (stay at home, cook at home). Apparently, the jury was looking for a way out of its standard media framework.
3. Solving some “pandemic problem” – the nominees included such problems as: health care support, lack of masks, boredom at home, problems of small business, the problem of safe car servicing or the desire to avoid queues in shops. The popularity of campaigns created on the basis of the problem-solution principle are visible.
