This category awards the most effective use of audio platforms, including streaming music, digital radio, and podcasts. Judges will be looking for how the audio environment was leveraged to capture listener attention, seamlessly integrate brand messaging, and drive measurable engagement or conversion.

This awards campaigns that championed a social, environmental, or community cause. Media owners should demonstrate how they utilised their inventory, audience reach, or partnerships to drive public awareness and positive action. Judges will look for authenticity, strategic execution, and measurable real-world impact.

This celebrates the creative and production capabilities of a media owner’s internal studio. Entrants should showcase a campaign ideated and produced entirely in-house for a brand client. Judges will evaluate the creative concept, the quality of production, and how perfectly it was tailored to the media owner’s specific audience and platform.

Designed for media owners this awards credit highly customised, non-standard physical executions that pushed the boundaries of real-world inventory (e.g., 3D billboards, station dominations, tram wraps, special builds or bespoke structural installations). Judges will evaluate structural and creative innovation, engineering/operational delivery and safety, how effectively the execution used the physical environment to amplify the brand idea, and evidence of impact such as attention, footfall, earned media, social amplification and brand visibility.

This rewards the sophisticated use of a media owner’s first-party audience data. Entrants must demonstrate how proprietary insights and data were used to target a specific audience, inform the creative, or optimise delivery. Judges will look for rigorous data application and demonstrable ROI for the brand.

This awards excellence in campaigns running on digital screens in public spaces. Judges will look for dynamic creative executions, smart use of day-parting or environmental triggers (e.g., weather or traffic data), and clear evidence of audience engagement or brand lift.

This celebrates campaigns executed across a digital publisher’s ecosystem (websites, apps, newsletters). Judges will evaluate the contextual relevance of the ad placements, the integration of the brand into the publisher’s editorial environment, and the resulting traffic or engagement metrics.

Awarding the best event or experiential activation created and delivered by a media owner to enhance or extend a media partnership. Judges will evaluate the strength of the experience concept and design, how participation and engagement were engineered on-site, operational excellence (including production, staffing, safety and logistics), how the activation was amplified through media and content, and measurable outcomes such as attendance, engagement quality, leads, brand lift and/or sales impact where applicable.

This category focuses strictly on location-based strategies. It awards media owners who leveraged geo-fencing, location data, or specific district inventory to run a hyper-local campaign. Judges will look for the strategic rationale behind the location choices and the effectiveness of reaching that specific local audience.

Designed for super-apps, delivery platforms, and marketplaces. This awards campaigns that seamlessly bridged media engagement with transactions in a non-traditional retail environment. Judges will look for a frictionless user journey from ad exposure to purchase, and clear metrics on transaction volume or customer acquisition.

This awards campaigns that required active audience participation. This could include gamified ads, AR/VR experiences, shoppable video, or interactive DOOH screens. Judges will evaluate the user experience, the level of active engagement, and how the interaction drove the brand’s objectives.

This awards campaigns where a media owner took brand assets and meaningfully localised them for Hong Kong audiences through culturally relevant execution. Judges will evaluate the depth of local insight, the quality of adaptation across messaging, visuals, language and talent/creators where relevant, the use of locally meaningful moments or community contexts, and evidence that localisation improved resonance and performance.

This awards bespoke editorial, video, audio or platform-native content created by a media owner to deliver a brand’s message in a way that audiences chose to engage with. Judges will evaluate originality and craft, editorial integrity and authenticity of integration, format and distribution choices within the owner’s ecosystem, audience attention/retention signals, and evidence of effectiveness against the sponsor’s objectives (e.g., engagement quality, brand lift, traffic, subscriptions or conversion).

This awards traditional, static out-of-home campaigns. Judges will look for striking visual impact, strategic site selection, and how the physical placement of the media captured audience attention and generated buzz.

Designed for traditional retailers monetising their physical and digital footprints. This awards campaigns that leveraged a retailer’s on-site search, digital displays, or in-store media. Judges will look for effective shopper marketing strategies, use of retail data, and direct impact on sales or basket size.

This category recognises the most effective brand sponsorships of a media owner’s property (e.g., a broadcast show, a digital series, or a major editorial pillar). Judges will look for a natural brand fit, innovative integration beyond simple logo placement, and mutual value delivered to both the brand and the audience.

This awards campaigns executed across video-on-demand (VOD), OTT platforms, or digital video networks. Judges will evaluate the creative use of the video format, audience targeting capabilities, and completion rates or subsequent audience actions.

This awards media strategies strictly focused on the customer lifecycle. Judges will look for how media was deployed to acquire new customers at scale, and the subsequent retargeting or loyalty media strategies used to retain them and increase lifetime value.

This awards the strategic use of branded content for a clear communication across the platforms. Judges will evaluate the strength and consistency of the content idea, the seamlessness and credibility of brand integration (e.g., native, sponsored, branded entertainment), distribution and amplification planning, and evidence that the content resonated with the intended audience and drove measurable outcomes such as engagement quality, brand affinity, consideration, traffic or conversion.

This celebrates agencies that used a traditional media channel in an entirely unexpected or unconventional way. Judges will evaluate the ingenuity of the media placement, how it surprised and delighted the audience, and how the creative use of the space amplified the core message.

This rewards agencies that put data at the very heart of their media planning. Entrants must show how complex data sets (first, second, or third-party) dictated the channel mix, targeting, and ongoing optimisation. Judges will look for sophisticated data application and its direct correlation to campaign success.

This category awards exceptional planning and execution across the digital ecosystem. Judges will evaluate the full digital mix (display, search, social, programmatic), how the channels worked together, and the digital KPIs achieved for the client.

This awards the innovation and effective use of game mechanics to increase participation, deepen engagement, and drive measurable outcomes. Judges will evaluate the strategic role of gamification in the customer journey, the quality of the interactive design and user experience (e.g., challenges, missions, rewards, leaderboards, AR games), how it was distributed and optimised across channels, and evidence that the mechanics delivered incremental uplift in engagement, retention, data capture, leads and/or sales (with appropriate consent where relevant).

This recognises the most effective use of content creators and influencers within a media plan. Judges will look for strategic talent selection, authenticity of the creator content, and how the agency amplified the creator’s assets through paid media to drive measurable results.

This is the pinnacle category for multi-channel campaigns. Agencies must demonstrate how they orchestrated a complex media mix across digital, traditional, and experiential touchpoints. Judges will evaluate the cohesive strategy, the specific role defined for each channel, and the overarching commercial impact.

This awards the media strategy behind introducing a new product, service, or entirely new brand identity. Judges will look for how the media plan generated immediate mass awareness, managed audience education, and successfully shifted brand perception or drove initial sales.

This rewards agencies that brokered highly effective collaborations between their client and a media owner or third-party brand. Judges will look for the strategic rationale behind the partnership, the negotiation of unique value, and how the collaboration delivered results that standard media buying could not achieve.

This awards original content strategies that built audience attention and delivered results through distinctive IP or editorial-led programming. Judges will evaluate the originality and craft of the content, how the content ecosystem was planned (formats, cadence, channel roles), how distribution and paid/owned/earned amplification were orchestrated, and how the strategy contributed to defined KPIs such as reach quality, time spent, subscribers, brand lift, leads or conversion.

This category is strictly about the bottom line. It awards campaigns focused purely on conversion, lead generation, or sales. Judges will look for rigorous A/B testing, agile bid management, relentless optimisation, and the ultimate return on ad spend (ROAS) or cost per acquisition (CPA).

This recognises media plans designed to educate the public, change behaviour, or promote a social cause. Judges will evaluate the sensitivity and reach of the messaging, the strategic channel selection to reach specific demographics, and the measurable shift in public awareness or action.

This awards agile media planning that capitalised on a live event, a cultural moment, or sudden market changes. Judges will look for the speed of execution, the relevance of the media response, and how the real-time activation captured outsized attention for the brand.

This category recognises the best use of social media strategies to successfully amplify campaigns through planned, multi-platform execution. Judges will evaluate the crafting of the social strategy, including the orchestration of platform-specific formats, timing, and channel roles, as well as the integration of amplification tactics.

This focuses on campaigns designed to reach a highly niche, hard-to-find, or specific demographic. Judges will evaluate the research and insights used to identify the audience, the precision of the media targeting, and the effectiveness of the engagement within that specific cohort.

This awards the agency’s strategic planning and buying of the outdoor environment. Judges will evaluate how the agency selected the physical inventory, integrated location data, and leveraged the outdoor medium to achieve the client’s specific objectives.

This category recognises campaigns that best used the power of storytelling to build emotional connections, capture attention, and bring a brand’s narrative to life in a compelling and memorable way through media and content formats. Judges will evaluate the clarity and originality of the narrative, creative execution and craft, how the story was adapted across channels and touchpoints, and evidence that the storytelling approach improved attention, engagement quality, brand metrics and/or behavioural outcomes.

This category recognises campaigns that achieved significant organic spread by tapping into cultural relevance, social behaviours, and shareable creative—without relying primarily on paid reach. Judges will evaluate the strength of the core viral idea, how the strategy was designed to trigger sharing and conversation (e.g., formats, timing, community/creator seeding where relevant), brand fit and safety, and evidence of earned impact such as organic reach, engagement, conversation volume, sentiment, media pickup, and downstream effects on brand metrics or business results.

This awards the smartest practical application of AI, machine learning, or GenAI within an advertising or marketing workflow. Judges will evaluate how the entrant implemented AI/ML to predict behaviour, automate complex optimisation, enhance targeting, or dynamically generate/scale creative—resulting in clear performance improvement and/or operational efficiency versus a baseline.

This awards the use of data and analytics to turn fragmented information into actionable audience and media insights. Judges will evaluate how the entrant unified and analysed relevant datasets, translated insights into concrete planning/activation decisions, and used analytics to improve media investment efficiency and outcomes.

This awards measurement approaches that credibly demonstrate media contribution to business outcomes—especially in privacy-constrained or post-cookie environments. Judges will evaluate the robustness of the methodology, cross-channel coverage, and how measurement learnings directly improved decision-making and delivered provable ROI impact.

This awards the most effective implementation of programmatic buying and/or supply technologies to improve quality, efficiency, and results. Judges will evaluate the strategy and setup (e.g., bidding approach, deal structures, SPO, brand-safety controls), how automation reduced operational friction, and the tangible value delivered through stronger performance, improved inventory quality, or cost efficiency versus benchmark.

This category is not open for entry and will be awarded to the media entity that has performed best across Track 1, 2 and 3, based solely on the number and type of awards won as determined by the awards jury.

Points allocation for multiple media entities:
Lead entity: When multiple entities collaborate on a winning entry and a lead entity is identified, the lead entity receives full points towards the overall awards. Each non-lead entity on that entry will receive 25% of the points.
Joint submission: If two entities declare an equal partnership on a winning entry, each entity will receive 50% of the points towards the overall awards.

Points system:
Gold: 4 points
Silver: 2 points
Bronze: 1 point

Tie-breakers:
Most gold: If total points are tied, the media entity with the highest number of gold awards wins.
Most silver: If gold awards are also tied, the media entity with the highest number of silver awards wins.
Highest average score: If a tie still persists, the media entity with the highest average score percentage (as assigned by the judges across all their winning entries) will win.

This category is not open for entry and will be awarded to the agency that has performed best across Track 1, 2 and 3, based solely on the number and type of awards won as determined by the awards jury.

Points allocation for multiple media agencies:
Lead agency: When multiple agencies collaborate on a winning entry and a lead agency is identified, the lead agency receives full points towards the overall awards. Each non-lead agency on that entry will receive 25% of the points.
Joint submission: If two agencies declare an equal partnership on a winning entry, each entity will receive 50% of the points towards the overall awards.

Points system:
Gold: 4 points
Silver: 2 points
Bronze: 1 point

Tie-breakers:
Most gold: If total points are tied, the agency with the highest number of gold awards wins.
Most silver: If gold awards are also tied, the agency with the highest number of silver awards wins.
Highest average score: If a tie still persists, the agency with the highest average score percentage (as assigned by the judges across all their winning entries) will win.

Points system:
Gold: 4 points
Silver: 2 points
Bronze: 1 point

Tie-breakers:
Most gold: If total points are tied, the campaign with the highest number of gold awards wins.
Most silver: If gold awards are also tied, the campaign with the highest number of silver awards wins.
Highest average score: If a tie still persists, the campaign with the highest average score percentage (as assigned by the judges across all their winning entries) will win.