WINNER
Essence
WPP’s Essence had the highest scores overall for its Tech Awards entries this year but, in the end, it was the agency’s cut above in terms of sophistication that set it apart from a very strong field. And, as one judge noted, the package of its award entries showed "great, consistent application of the agency's thinking."
Its category wins for Breakthrough Tech (Services) and Creative Personalisation, each were won for truly outstanding Google projects that, crucially, are showing the industry how digital advertising may look in a world where privacy controls are stronger and data security is higher.
Merkle and MediaCom also drew particular praise and were singled out as contenders in a very strong field. Dentsu’s Merkle, which had the most shortlists, showed how well it can deploy AI through Twitter via the standout "Magpie" work for Twitter, while WPP stablemate MediaCom was lauded for strong work across disciplines and for having particularly intelligent creative.
