Spotlight on Creativity: The MMA Impact and SMARTIES Awards Vietnam 2024

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Nov. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The MMA Impact 2024 event took place on October 25 at the JW Marriott Hotel & Suites Saigon, marking the 13th anniversary of its organization in Vietnam. With the theme "Navigating Marketing: Leadership, Innovation, and Future Strategies," this year's event gathered over 1,500 C-levels and marketing managers from nearly 1,000 major brands and organizations, alongside 35 partners. That evening, MMA also honored 39 brands that successfully created innovative and effective marketing strategies as part of the SMARTIES Vietnam 2024 awards.

Breakthrough Marketing Strategies and Engaging Discussions

As a lively discussion hub on AI and new marketing trends, MMA Impact 2024 attracted significant interest from leaders and experts, providing numerous networking opportunities and exploring future collaboration projects. Exclusive reports from leading regional experts, representatives from MMA Global APAC, shared in-depth analyses of the latest trends and strategies in the industry.

One of the standout morning sessions was a discussion on the award-winning campaign by Nestlé Vietnam titled "Winning with AI - Nestlé's YouTube Works Winning Campaign." Moderated by Rafael Scislowski, Industry Director of Google Vietnam, the discussion featured Yannis Dramis, CMS Director of Nestlé Vietnam; Nguyễn Trà My, Executive Deputy Director and Marketing Director from Ogilvy Vietnam; and Quý Đoàn, Client Director from Mindshare Vietnam. The success story of the Tet campaign implemented by Nestlé provided deep insights into the power of AI technology in marketing and its impact on consumers.

Two special discussions for CEOs and CMOs also attracted many senior leaders. The CEO discussion, titled "The Digital Leadership Compass – Navigate Change with Data, Agility, and People," shared leadership strategies in the digital age, emphasizing the role of data and people in guiding businesses. Key speakers included Vishnu Mohan, Chairman of Avyan Holdings; Lê Huỳnh Phương Thục, Executive Director of Guardian Vietnam; and Dirk E.G Van Motman, Founder and Chairman of UN.

The CMO discussion, titled "Experiential Marketing: Creating Immersive Consumer Journeys," focused on how experiential marketing can create deep connections and loyalty from customers. Speakers like Mohinder Jakhar, Marketing Director of Pernod Ricard Vietnam and Cambodia; Nguyễn Thị Mai, Vice President of Marketing at Unilever; and Harjyot Singh Arora, APAC Data Director of PepsiCo, shared successful examples from experiential marketing campaigns.

The SMARTIES Vietnam 2024 Awards Celebrate Creative Campaigns

As part of the program, the SMARTIES Vietnam 2024 awards ceremony also took place that evening to honor the most innovative and effective marketing campaigns from 500 entries submitted by nearly 120 brands. The intense competition among 144 campaigns in the preliminary round across 25 categories created a thrilling atmosphere, featuring major brands like Suntory PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Samsung Vietnam, alongside renowned agencies such as Publicis Media, Dentsu, Leo Burnett Vietnam, and Ogilvy. The final results were determined by 100 Pre-Screeners and 30 Juries, consisting of C-level executives from prestigious global and domestic brands. Depending on the category, the criteria varied, but the ultimate goal remained to identify the most creative campaigns that deliver significant brand impact and foster positive social influence.

Among the award-winning campaigns this year, VINFAST stood out with its "1ST Car Pre-Order on Livestream" campaign in the E-commerce Marketing category, achieving over 27,000 orders for the VF3 car within just three days of livestreaming. Nestlé Vietnam also made an impression, winning Gold in the AI-Driven Creative Excellence category with its "La Vie Uses AI in E2E Journey to GET Users Fast" campaign, which utilized AI to outline the key visual and advertising concepts for new products, resulting in a 3.7% market share increase in the southern region within three months.

Equally impressive, Grab Vietnam received Gold in the Customer Experience (CX) / User Experience (UX) & Design category within the Creative section for its "Find Me Here" Benches campaign, which highlighted user experience through creative design. Additionally, Vietnam Airlines won Silver in the Personalization category, also in the Creative section, offering unique personalized experiences for customers through its "Million Miles of Wonder Experiences" campaign. Furthermore, Abbott Vietnam's Ensure Gold brand won Gold with its "Increase Lifetime Value by 47%" campaign, falling under the Customer Journey Marketing - Lead Generation/CRM category within Marketing Impact. By utilizing CRM technology to track and analyze customer journeys, Abbott developed personalized marketing programs that reinforced current customer loyalty and opened up opportunities for sustainable growth in the future.

In the Diversity & Inclusion category within Purpose Driven Marketing, Gold was awarded to the campaign "Internet Safety Education for the Elderly," by Google and Dentsu Creative. This campaign not only raised awareness but also contributed to building a more equitable society by providing seniors with the necessary skills to use the internet safely. The creativity in delivering this message resonated strongly, creating positive change in the community. Another honored campaign was "Join the Flip Side" from the Samsung Galaxy Z5 brand. In the Omnichannel Marketing category within Impact Media, the campaign was designed to provide a seamless customer experience across multiple communication channels. The synchronized coordination among channels helped the brand create a positive and memorable customer experience while increasing sales.

Additionally, the judging panel recognized the outstanding brands and agencies with the "Industry Award" including Brand of the Year – Coca-Cola; Media Agency of the Year – EssenceMediacom; Digital Agency of the Year – PMAX; Enabling Technology Company of the Year – Zalo AI; Publisher of the Year – Grab; Advertiser of the Year – Nestlé Vietnam; Holding Agency Company of the Year – WPP; Resilient Brand of the Year – Grab Vietnam; and Best of Show – Coca-Cola Foodmarks. Notably, Ogilvy and Publicis Media jointly won the Creative Media Agency of the Year award for their exceptional contributions to the industry!

The campaigns honored at SMARTIES Vietnam 2024 not only demonstrated exceptional creativity but also showcased the strong growth of the Vietnamese marketing industry in the face of challenging economic conditions.

View the list of SMARTIES Vietnam 2024 winners at: https://www.mmaglobal.com/smarties-2024/finalists/winners/region:10

PR Newswire is the official news distribution partner of MMA Impact 2024.

source: MMA Vietnam