The Grocer's MAP Awards reward the top cats of marketing

Of the 12 brilliant campaigns recognised at The Grocer’s MAP Awards this week, two stood out - one for demonstrating the power of the oldest marketing tricks in the book and the other for showcasing the newest.

Outdoor advertising can trace its history back 4,000 years to Egyptian papyrus wall posters and was represented in stunning form by the Big Cat Little Cat campaign, which was created for Whiskas by AMV BBDO and boasted visuals that wouldn’t look out of place in an art gallery. Carat, meanwhile, made brilliant use of social media to respond to consumer criticism of client Bodyform’s marketing with a witty campaign that went viral and brought huge traffic to Bodyform’s Facebook page and YouTube channels.

Both campaigns actually left the MAP Awards party at the London Film Museum on Thursday night with two awards: Big Cat Little Cat also won the press ad category while MAP awards chairman Louis Loizou picked the Bodyform activity for his Chairman’s Award.

“Bodyform’s spoof video cranked up the levels of engagement, information and entertainment to 11,” said Loizou, creative director at OgilvyAction.

Across every category, the MAP Awards highlighted the skill and creativity agencies are bringing to the fmcg sector. As The Grocer’s editor Adam Leyland put it: “These awards help me appreciate the incredible amount of research, trial, ingenuity and technical prowess that goes into a creative.”

And once again, the MAP Awards did not only recognise the standout campaigns, they also gave credit to the agencies and teams that make the magic happen. Eight Agency Awards were given out by Leyland and co-host and TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith, with Richmond Towers taking the inaugural award for client team of the year for its work with the Alpro brand.

Our list of the winners reveals the identities of the other top cats of fmcg marketing - and just what they did to impress our expert judges so much.

For more on the awards, visit the MAP Awards website.