Communications marketing agency Edelman leads the 2018 Digiday Content Marketing Awards with eight nominations total. Its “Make The Cut” campaign for Adobe is up for Best User-Generated Content, Best Brand/Influencer Collaboration and Most Effective/Measurable Campaign; its “Pumpkin Spice Latte Hatch” campaign for Starbucks is nominated for Most Original Use of Facebook, Best New Product Launch or Campaign and Best Use of Real-Time Streaming Video; the “By Air, By Land, or By Sea” campaign for the Department of Defense Warrior Games is up for Best Use of Video and Best New Product Launch or Campaign.

Content teams from Allstate, Reebok, Delta, KPMG and Cards Against Humanity are up for Content Marketing Team of the Year. In the past year, all five nominated teams have shown the potential of content marketing, from innovating around new technologies to participating in cultural discourse.

Insurance firm Allstate focused on new content initiatives, including Google Quick Answers and bringing in guest bloggers to build on existing content.

Athletic brand Reebok jumped in to the cultural conversation — rare for a consumer brand. In July, it responded to President Donald Trump’s remarks about Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, with a barbed tweet that has been shared over 40,000 times.

Party game manufacturer Cards Against Humanity also pushed back against Trump. In November, the company bought a plot of land on the U.S.-Mexico border and retained a law firm to exercise its right to eminent domain, aiming to fight Trump’s proposed border wall.

Delta Air Lines used high-quality, engaging imagery around the launch of its newest aircraft, the Airbus A350, to take people “on board” the A350 and even pre-book seats, driving revenue.

KPMG stood out in a crowded field of golf sponsors by focusing on content and social media. The tax auditing firm used rich media content such as GIFs and animations to help drive its authority around leadership in golf and engage its target clients that may consider its services.

“There was no dearth of talent in this year’s entries, and it’s thrilling to see branded content not just fizzing with innovation and creativity, but also delivering real consumer value and some phenomenal business results,” said David Moynihan, awards judge and director of digital consumer engagement at Lego.

Julia Blanter, head of content at Boxed, added: “This year’s best entries were not only innovative and engaging, but were super smart about addressing their challenges — and most importantly, putting their audience first. As content marketers, that should always be at the forefront of everything we do.”

View the complete list of winners below. Winners of this year’s content marketing awards will be announced at the Digiday Content Marketing Awards gala on May 9 at Sony Hall in New York City. Tickets to the gala are available for purchase here.

Content Marketer of the Year
Ann D’Adamo, director of content, Women’s Marketing
John Dillon, CMO, Denny’s
Jeremy Elias, creative director, Atlantic Re:think
Kurt A. Kane, chief concept and marketing officer, Wendy’s
Claire Daugherty, growth marketing manager, Uber

Content Marketing Team of the Year
Allstate – Allstate digital content team
Reebok – Reebok newsroom
Intersport – KPMG sports marketing social media team
Delta Air Lines
Cards Against Humanity – “Cards Against Humanity Saves America”

Best Content Marketing Agency of the Year
Imprint
Redbird
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Atlantic 57
Collectively

Best Agency/Client Collaboration
Kovert Creative and Howler Media – “The Soccer Ball Phone”

DEG – Beauty Brands Liter Sale Campaign

AT&T Business – Solutions Pillars Content Campaign
MassMutual and Giant Spoon – “The Unsung”

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Rogers & Cowan – “Dear Basketball”

Best Brand/Influencer Collaboration
Bark Bark and Orbitz – “It’s A Great Big World”
Viacom Velocity and BeatsX – “BeatsX In Action”
Digital Media Management and DreamWorks – “Spirit Riding Free”

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Periscope and Trolli – “Most Valuable Beard” series
Edelman & Adobe – Make The Cut

Best Experiential Marketing Campaign
Lost Angels – “The Mission”
23 Stories – Teen Vogue Summit
Refinery29 – 29Rooms 2017
Giant Spoon – “Blade Runner 2049” Comic-Con Experience
The Macallan and M Booth – The Macallan 12 AR Experience

Best New Product or Launch Campaign
Weber Shandwick and M&M’s – Caramel launch

DEG – Dri Duck launch social campaign
Edelman and the Department of Defense Warrior Games – “By Air, By Land, or By Sea”

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Periscope and Trolli – “Weirdly Woven”
Edelman and Starbucks – “Pumpkin Spice Latte Hatch”

Best Use of Native Advertising/Sponsored Content
Bustle Digital Group and Luna Bar – “Let’s Fix Things”
23 Stories and Bank of America – “The Joy Index”
Hearst Magazines Digital Media and Fitbit – “The Adventurist”
Havas Sports & Entertainment, Havas Media, Elle and Prada – “The Job Interview”

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CNN Courageous Studio and Volvo – “Racing the Sun”

Best Brand Publication – Print and/or Digital
Meredith Xcelerated Marketing – WebMD Magazine 2017
MM.LaFleur – The M Dash
Delta Sky magazine

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The Players’ Tribune
Reebok Blog

Best Branded Content Site – B2B
Situation Publishing – The Register
Dell Inc. – Perspectives
IBM Originals – Reinventing the Network
AT&T Business and WP BrandStudio – Connected Commerce
Intel and Variety Content Studio – Unleashing Creativity in Entertainment

 
Best Branded Content Site – B2C
iQiyi and McDonald’s China – Rising: The Rap of China
Newell Brands – elmers.com
Alkemy SpA – he110, this is Inter
Honda, RPA and Amobee – Honda Odyssey
Amazon and Acura – This Is What We Make

Best Branded Content Series
Invisalign Brand – “Made to Move”
AwesomenessTV and Gatorade – “Versus Aims to Keep Girls in the Game”

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WSJ. Custom Studios, National Geographic and Star Alliance – #StarAlliance20
CNN Courageous Studio – “Return to Catalunya”
Muh-tay-zik Hof-fer and Audi – “Think Faster: The World’s Fastest AMA”

Most Original Email Campaign
Outsell and DSplus – 2018 Toyota C-HR launch campaign
DEG – Nikon Birthday Email Journey
Merkle Inc. and Perrier – Flavors Journey

Most Original Use of Facebook
Coty Inc. and Calvin Klein – Obsessed E-Sampling
Merkle Inc. – ReadyRefresh Weather Social
Oxygen Network – The Pursuit
Edelman and Starbucks – “Pumpkin Spice Latte Hatch”
Fullscreen and Turner – “The Alienist”

Most Original Use of Twitter
RT – #1917LIVE
NASCAR – #NASCARPlayoffs
Viacom Media Networks and Taco Bell – Best New Artist Twitter voting bot

Best Use of Instagram
Coty Inc. and Calvin Klein – Obsessed E-Sampling
Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media – Club Mickey Mouse
Ruder Finn and Subway – #SubYAY campaign

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL2szW-m6udjp05haGKAUtcEOO356u6_uB&v=C7BV1w5vUSg

Sony Electronics – “Alpha Universe”
Paramount Pictures and Fullscreen – “mother!” marketing campaign

Best Use of Snapchat
Movement and Fanta – “Taking Over Halloween”

Viacom Velocity – “2 Truths & a Lie with the Justice League”
Awesomeness TV – “Freakish” Snapchat lens

Marriott International – “Six Days, Seven Nights”

TEN + TEC – Conan and Pepsi Turn Up The Heat

Best Use of Real-Time Streaming Video
Viacom Velocity International – 2017 Isle of MTV
Sweety High and Musical.ly – “After the Bell” and VidCon Livestream Rock partnership
Havas Media – Veuve Clicquot 10th Anniversary Polo Classic
Muh-tay-zik Hof-fer and Audi – “Think Faster: The World’s Fastest AMA”
Edelman and Starbucks – “Pumpkin Spice Latte Hatch”

Best User-Generated Content
Wattpad, Tongal and Lionsgate – #WonderTheMovie campaign

Newell Brands – Sharpie.com
Viacom Media Networks and Rimmel London – #ANTMLook
OneTeam and Citi/AAdvantage – 30 Years of Wow
Edelman and Adobe – Make The Cut

Best Use of Video
Kovert Creative and Method – “Fight Dirty”

Havas Media, Arena Media and 1800 Tequila – “The Refined Players”
Viacom Velocity – “The Big Sick: Life in the Laugh Lane”

Edelman and the Department of Defense Warrior Games – “By Air, By Land, or By Sea”
Havas Media Group – “Imagine Dubai”

Most Influential Brand Community
Aaptiv – Facebook community
The Players’ Tribune
Beck Media & Marketing and National Geographic – “Chasing Genius”
OneTeam and Citi – “No Kid Hungry”
DeVries Global and Sephora – Sephora Beauty Insider Community

Most Innovative Use of Content
iQiyi and McDonald’s China – Rising: The Rap of China
Expedia Media Solutions and VisitBritain – “The Only Place You Need To Go”

Kovert Creative and Method – “Fight Dirty”
The Economist Group and HPE – “Yeasayers”
CNN Courageous Studio and Volvo – “Racing the Sun”

Best In-House Content/Brand Studio
23 Stories
24sata – 24sata Native Studio

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CNN Courageous Studio
Refinery29
Sephora LA Content Studio

Most Effective/Measurable Campaign
BBC StoryWorks and Huawei – “The Explorers”
Cadreon and BMW – “The Ultimate Data Machine”
Edelman and Adobe – “Make The Cut”
Madwell and New York Road Runners – “It Will Move You”

Cards Against Humanity – “Cards Against Humanity Saves America”

Best Interactive Content Piece or Series
Group Nine Media – NowThis and Samsung Gear VR

IBM Originals – “Deconstructing the Future: IoT in the Industrial Age”
The Economist Group and HPE – “Yeasayers”
Giant Spoon, Spotify and Netflix – “Stranger Things” Spotify playlists
The Macallan and M Booth – The Macallan 12 AR Experience

Best Content Marketing Tech Platform
LeadDog Marketing Group – opendorse
Pressboard
Fooji – “The X-Files UFO Deliveries”
inPowered and Mazda – inPowered Content Amplification Platform
MediaCom and Dell Inc. – “Down To Earth”

Best Branded Podcast
Response Marketing & McAfee – “Hackable?”
Havas Sports & Entertainment and TNT – “The Alienist” podcast takeover
NASCAR – “Glass Case of Emotion”
Atlantic Re:think and Fidelity Investments – “The Future According to Now”
Dell Inc. – “Perspectives”