We start a new decade of the BIAs giving equal weight to brand campaigns and brand identities once again.
(Image credit: Future/Taxi Studio)
For the first time in almost a decade, there are two Best of Show Awards at the Brand Impact Awards.
Why? Because we feel it’s important to acknowledge, at the highest level of the scheme, that the DNA of a high-impact campaign and a beautiful-yet-robust identity system, built for longevity, are fundamentally different.
And when pitting them directly against each other for a Best of Show accolade, the wow factor and rich in-the-moment storytelling of the former cannot be easily compared to the rigour and craft of the latter.
A tale of two streams
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Art on the Underground: Labyrinth by Mark Wallinger won Best of Show (Campaigns) for Rose in 2014(Image credit: Rose)
Coast's branding for Smets department store won Best of Show (Branding Programmes) in 2014(Image credit: Coast)
At the inaugural BIAs way back in 2014, entries were formally sorted into two ‘streams’. We called them branding programmes and branded campaigns, and they were considered independently: two roomfuls of in-person judges was each tasked with determining a set of category winners, and a Best of Show.
As the scheme developed, these streams became increasingly intertwined. With no set number of trophies in any given category, world-class campaigns and identities could happily both win Gold alongside each other – and we could draw on a rich blend of cross-sector judging expertise for each category, rather than splitting our panel in half.
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Johnson Banks' Best-of-Show winning campaign for Unicef UK in 2015(Image credit: Johnson Banks)
The Partners' Best-of-Show winning identity for Tusk Conservation Awards in 2015(Image credit: The Partners)
2015 was the last time we had two Best of Show Awards, with Johnson Banks’ striking campaign for UNICEF UK taking the top prize alongside The Partners’ ingenious identity for the Tusk Conservation Awards.
One project to rule them all
Since then, for the most part one Best of Show emerged naturally and conclusively from one stream or another with near-unanimous acclaim from the panel – Johnson Banks took it again in 2016 with its thought-provoking campaign for the University of Cambridge, following by three wins in a row for The Partners and its post-merger successor Superunion, with London Symphony Orchestra (another campaign), Elliptic and BBC Two (both identity systems).
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Dear World, Yours... Cambridge, Best of Show for Johnson Banks in 2016(Image credit: Johnson Banks)
London Symphony Orchestra, Best of Show for The Partners in 2017(Image credit: The Partners/Superunion)
Elliptic, Best of Show for Superunion in 2018
BBC Two, Best of Show for Superunion in 2019(Image credit: Superunion)
Over this time, Best of Show at the Brand Impact Awards naturally evolved into a singular thing: the very best project in contention that year, regardless of its wider context or from which stream it originated.
When lockdown forced us to shift to remote judging in 2020, we took the opportunity to expand our once primarily London-based panel around the world. As well as unlocking a richer and more diverse bank of expertise, we also re-thought the judging process. In place of two distinct judging rooms, one large global panel that could split into smaller, specialist groups as and when needed.
A bone of contention
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Britain Get Talking, Best of Show in 2020 for Uncommon(Image credit: Uncommon Creative Studio)
San Francisco Symphony, Best of Show in 2021 for COLLINS(Image credit: COLLINS)
Seed Library, Best of Show in 2022 for Magpie(Image credit: Magpie Studio)
Veg NI, Best of Show in 2023 for Jack Renwick Studio(Image credit: Jack Renwick Studio)
2020 was also the year that Uncommon Creative Studio’s arresting Britain Get Talking campaign for ITV, our unanimous Social Impact winner, took the Best of Show accolade – but only after a fierce debate about its merits relative to double-Gold winner All Watched Over, a complex, poetic, thought-provoking identity system by Accept & Proceed and Thomas Sharp.
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The poetic identity system for All Watched Over by Accept & Proceed x Thomas Sharp(Image credit: Accept & Proceed x Thomas Sharp)
Superunion's psychedelic Surreal Island installation for China Duty Free(Image credit: Superunion)
ManvsMachine's Make The Next campaign for Squarespace(Image credit: ManvsMachine)
Three brand identities went on to take the top prize in succession.
It was unanimous to award COLLINS’ dynamic scheme for San Francisco Symphony in 2021, but subsequent years again saw close-run fights between an identity and a campaign: Seed Library by Magpie Studio clinched it against Superunion’s Surreal Island campaign for China Duty Free in 2022, and Veg NI by Jack Renwick Studio narrowly triumphed against ManvsMachine’s Make The Next campaign for Squarespace in 2023.
Our new direction
Compared to those early years of the BIAs, the global spread of the panel – and the intense rigour of the judging process, which includes a three-week independent review period following by small-group discussions to determine the final winners – ensures every project submitted gets the scrutiny it deserves from a broad cross-section of branding experts.
So with all the above in mind, when faced with another chalk-and-cheese ultra-close voting battle between a campaign and an identity system in 2024, the time felt right to reintroduce two Best of Show Awards, rewarding the best in each respective ‘stream’ for the first time since 2015.
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Samsung Micro Miracles takes Best of Show (Campaign) in 2024 for ManvsMachine(Image credit: ManvsMachine)
Jones Knowles Ritchie's rebrand of RSPCA takes Best of Show (Identity) in 2024(Image credit: RSPCA/JKR/Studio DRAMA)
So congratulations to both ManvsMachine and Jones Knowles Ritchie for your world-class work for Samsung (campaign) and RSPCA (identity). We look forward to rewarding the very best in branding, in all its forms, for many more years to come at the BIAs.
Nick has worked with world-class agencies including Wolff Olins, Taxi Studio and Vault49 on brand storytelling, tone of voice and verbal strategy for global brands such as Virgin, TikTok, and Bite Back 2030. Nick launched the Brand Impact Awards in 2013 while editor of Computer Arts, and remains chair of judges. He's written for Creative Bloq on design and branding matters since the site's launch.
