Northeast media buying agency, Smart Media Buying, received the prestigious Best (New) Use of Creativity in Cinema for its JD Sports King of the Game 2022 cinema campaign in the recent national Digital Cinema Awards 2023.
Smart Media Buying, based in Houghton-le-Spring, was recognised for its creative and innovative approach to cinema media buying by the 7th annual Digital Cinema Awards. The awards, held at BAFTA in partnership with Campaign, showcased and rewarded the best strategic use of cinema medium and work created by the media industry in the past year.
The category, Best (New) Use of Creativity in Cinema, celebrated campaigns that demonstrated the clever use of new ideas and innovative thinking for the cinema medium to deliver something tangible for the advertiser.
Hayley Shaw, JD Sports Fashion plc’s Media & Partnerships Manager said: “This award is a testament to all the teams at JD, Smart Media and DCM, who worked seamlessly together to ensure this media campaign was a success.
“As a first time buy for the business in this particular medium, we wanted to maximise every touchpoint of the cinema journey and create an authentic experience for our consumers. Using great insights and planning, we created a powerful and bold campaign that delivered excellent results and we are thrilled to have now also received industry recognition in the form of this award.”
The 7th annual Digital Cinema Awards saw intense competition among strong national media buying agencies of all sizes representing many of the most impressive national brands across the UK.
Nominees in the Best (New) Use of Creativity in Cinema included Havas Media Network, Havas PLAY on behalf of Kia, EssenceMediacom on behalf of No 7 Beauty Company, Wavemaker on behalf of Paramount +, Initiative on behalf of Prime Video, Starcom on behalf of Samsung, and OMD on behalf of Tourism Ireland.
Mark Clancey, Smart Media Buying Managing Director, said: “It’s truly an honour to receive this award among such prestigious nominees. It represents a culmination of months of hard work by the Smart Media Buying and JD teams to introduce the brand to a new advertising medium and creatively bring to life what you see on screen through engaging and eye-catching experiential activity.”
Smart Media Buying’s approach to cinema saw JD adopt cinema as their lead medium as they sought to reach 16-24-year-olds during a particularly busy 2022 Q4. The results of the campaign far exceeded typical benchmarks, proving Smart Media Buying’s creative approach to media buying enabled JD to reach its target audiences at the busiest time of year.
Rachael Cochrane, DCM Regional Sales Director, said: “Smart Media Buying encouraged and guided JD into cinema advertising, enabling them to embrace the medium whole-heartedly and truly make their investment count.
Using great insights and planning, they created something bespoke for the big screen that was contextually relevant and imbued with creative merit. It was a powerful and bold campaign that delivered excellent results.”
Smart Media Buying specialises in cinema, TV, radio, and press advertising together with DOOH / OOH and direct mail on both a hyper-local, national, and international level.
