MARKies Awards 2024 Hong Kong winners revealed

HSBC Fraud Fair and DDB Group Hong Kong have won big at MARKIES Awards 2024 and were crowned Best of Show - Campaign and Best of Show - Agency respectively. 

As a platform dedicated to showcasing the unique and deserving brilliance of agencies in Hong Kong, this year’s MARKIES Awards brought together industry experts at JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong on 9 May, to compete for recognition for their outstanding works. All entries were carefully evaluated by a high-profile panel of 29 professionals.

See the full list of winners here.

See the full jury here.

HSBC Fraud Fair won three gold awards and one silver award. This campaign successfully won the hearts of the judging panel.

Done in collaboration with creative agency Hungry Digital, PR agency Hill & Knowlton and media agency OMG Hong Kong, the “HSBC Fraud (呃) Fair” campaign ran from 16 November to 11 December last year. It is a fraud exhibition that used real-life fraud cases to create relatable experiences.

The campaign aimed to create easily understandable content to raise awareness about fraud prevention and position the bank as the vanguard of customer protection, thus enhancing trust and brand loyalty.

With the concept of “When taken to an extreme, anything can become art, including fraud”, the exhibition leveraged wordplay between “art” and “fraud” in English and Cantonese. The exhibition brought the fraud stories to life with 20 installations across nine distinct sections, utilising touchscreens, motion sensors, and audio-visual storytelling to peel back the layers of deception in "Unmasking fraudsters through art”. The exhibition was also strategically located in AIRSIDE, a new shopping mall in Kai Tak, aiming to ensure maximum footfall.

To promote the exhibition, HSBC employed a multi-channel approach, including placing ads in newspapers, MTR billboards, bus bodies, cinemas, online video channels, and social media. Before the event went public, HSBC also invited local singer Jackson Wan (尹光) and local DJ Ah Jeng (阿正) to host two press conferences, with the objective of attracting the attention of local media outlets and establish a stronger connection with audiences.

Additionally, HSBC organised educational tours to engage and inform diverse age groups, from primary and secondary school students to university scholars and elderly citizens, aiming to enhance their awareness and understanding of fraud prevention.

Meanwhile, DDB Group Hong Kong took home the large haul of four golds, four silvers and one bronze with a number of thought-provoking campaigns, including the “The McNuggets Art World”, “McDonald’s Coffee Retirement” and “McDiploma” for McDonald’s Hong Kong; ’Little Big Acts“ and “Home Is Wherever We Are Together” for McDonald’s Hong Kong X Ronald McDonald House Charities; and the “Octopus – CVS x Easy Earn Campaign” for Octopus Cards.

"The McNuggets Art World" campaign created for McDonald's Hong Kong impressed the judges the most among the campaigns DDB Group Hong Kong had created. Targeting the mass audience, the campaign aimed to celebrate Chicken McNuggets’ 40th anniversary and nurture love for Chicken McNuggets to younger generations.

With an ambition to make McNuggets the next pop art food icon, the campaign collaborated with Hong Kong-based pop art curator Kevin Poon to enlist a range of multi-national artists including Vandy the Pink, Jon Burgerman, UFO907, Frank Nitty 3000, and Gyuhan Lee. Together, they created an array of McNuggets-inspired artwork.

After that, an exhibition named “The McNuggets Art World” was launched at the Arts Pavilion in West Kowloon Cultural District from 29 July to 8 August last year. It featured a time tunnel that introduced the history of Chicken McNuggets, a collection of McNuggets-inspired art and various immersive experiences.

Furthermore, the campaign partnered with THE SANDBOX to extend the exhibition experience to the metaverse, creating a McNuggets Land that acted as both a virtual exhibition and a playground. By completing various McNuggets-themed games, players had the chance to win a year of free McNuggets.

Additionally, the campaign heavily featured the McNuggets-inspired artwork to drive sales. For example, Poon was featured in a TVC which told the story of a night at the museum with McNuggets artwork coming to life. The artwork was also featured across different touchpoints of McDonald's, from digital to in-store items. Meanwhile, the packaging for McNuggets was designed by Vandy the Pink, featuring his own creation – the Team McNuggets characters.

This year’s entries were filled with unrivalled creativity and innovative marketing professionals who pushed boundaries. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE would like to thank the esteemed panel of judges for dedicating their time and effort to reviewing over 760 entries across 35 categories. A total of 111 trophies were awarded to the leading brands and agencies across the region. 

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