OMD wins NZME Imprint competition celebrating innovation in print advertising

The winner of a New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) competition aimed at celebrating innovation and uniqueness in print advertising has been announced today, with media agency OMD taking out the top spot.

NZME’s Imprint award has recognised OMD and McDonald’s for their ‘cheesy’ takeover of The New Zealand Herald, in which a slice of McDonald’s cheese covered the front page of the paper. The 'Cheese' campaign was created by DDB and designed to be a striking celebration of one of McDonald’s most famous ingredients, capturing readers and serving up a powerful hunger trigger.

OMD will now join NZME’s creative competition winners, Motion Sickness, on the greatest paper run of their lives in New York. The trip includes five nights of exploring the very best that the Big Apple has to offer, including attending the annual, highly esteemed AdWeek event in New York.

NZME Chief Commercial Officer, Paul Hancox, commended the high calibre of entries received for the inaugural Imprint competition, saying they showcased the continued effectiveness and strength of print advertising.

“Across all entries we saw impressively disruptive creative, displaying how print advertising can be reimagined to serve a diverse range of purposes. The entries showed just how versatile and effective the print medium continues to be.

“As reflected in the winning advertisement, clever creative and smart placement can transform a page into a huge opportunity to connect with an audience and drive action. This advertisement proved the power of keeping things simple and demonstrated the immediate impact of successful design,” says Hancox.  

The esteemed judging panel featured a number of well-known advertising and marketing experts including Paul Catmur - Founder and former CEO of BC&F Dentsu, writer and podcaster; Ally Young – Skinny Brand Lead Spark and Carl Sarney - Head of Strategy TRA.

“We were very lucky to have such an experienced panel of judges, who know the craft of great advertising and marketing, and we thank them for their time and expertise,” he says.

The award judges praised the following finalists: KFC’s Lollipop and St John’s The Hello Project. In addition, the judges highly commended the following entries: Steinlager’s Unconditional Supporters, TAB’s It’s Football Time, World Visions’ Turkey and Syria and Subaru’s Spotlight.

Following the success of this year’s competition, NZME has confirmed it will return in 2024.