2016 Shorty Award Winners for Best Brands on Social Media

• March 22, 2016, 11:59 AM EDT
• Advertising & Branding

Diageo's "My Tales of Whisky Yule Log" won for Best Influencer and Celebrity Campaign. YouTube

The Shorty Awards announced its 2016 winners today, once again recognizing individuals and organizations that produce great content on Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram and every other social platform.

In addition to crowning winners in each category, the awards honored high-scoring entries with gold, silver and bronze honors. The ceremony will be held on April 11 at theTimesCenter in New York.

A record number of brands entered the competition this year, said Gregory Galant, co-founder of the Shorty Awards and CEO of Muck Rack. "Academy members told us they were astounded by the quality of work entered, as well as the new and innovative ways our entrants are using social media," he added. "This year's winning entries show that brands and agencies are eager to give back, raise awareness and promote social-good campaigns. The winners were bold—not afraid to jump on new platforms while still telling powerful stories."

Check out the list of winners below, and check out the Shorty Awards Snapchat account to see the full awards announcement. 

Agency of the Year

Large Agency of the Year: R/GA
Mid-Size Agency of the Year: DDB Chicago
Small Agency of the Year Atomic: 212 Sydney

Best Overall Facebook Presence

Winner
AJ+
produced by AJ+

Best Overall Instagram Presence

Winner
Airbnb 
produced by Airbnb

Best Overall Tumblr Presence

Winner
The Real Cost: Reaching youth at risk of experimenting with cigarettes
produced by FCB Garfinkel

Silver Honor
HUNT the TRUTH Audio Series
produced by Ayzenberg Group for Xbox/343 Industries

Silver Honor
Mic Tumblr Page for Best Overall Tumblr Presence
produced by Mic Network

Bronze Honor
Girls
produced by HBO

Bronze Honor
San Diego Zoo Tumblr
produced by San Diego Zoo Global

Best Overall Twitter Presence

Winner
Casper: The Tweeting Mattress
produced by Casper

Bronze Honor
@SportsCenter
produced by ESPN

Bronze Honor
Doctor Who
produced by Everybody at Once

Best Overall YouTube Presence

Winner
Last Week Tonight
produced by HBO

Best Use of Facebook

Winner
Silent Ads
produced by CP+B and Hotels.com

Silver Honor
Ultimate Immersion: GoPro Spherical and VR
produced by GoPro

Bronze Honor
IKEA Germany Facebook Page
produced by IKEA Deutschland, Razorfish Germany

Bronze Honor
LEGO Kronkiwongi
produced by LEGO

Best Use of Instagram

Winner
Beats By Dre Straight Outta Compton
produced by R/GA's Hustle

Silver Honor
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
produced by NBC Entertainment

Best Use of Pinterest

Winner
The First Ever Pinterest Yard Sale
produced by Deutsch and Krylon

Best Use of Snapchat

Winner
Call of Duty: Hack in Black
produced by Activision with Edelman & AKQA

Best Use of Tumblr

Winner
Critics' Choice Awards Fan Art Red Carpet
produced by A&E Television

Bronze Honor
Bates Motel Fan Art Guestbook
produced by A&E Television

Best Use of Twitter

Winner
Lovin' The Super Bowl
produced by DDB Chicago and McDonald's

Silver Honor
#SmartGirlsAsk Launch at the Emmys Red Carpet
produced by Television Academy, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls, Twitter

Bronze Honor
Dove and Twitter #SpeakBeautiful
produced by VaynerMedia, Edelman, Mindshare

Best Use of Vine

Winner
Disney Vine
produced by Disney Interactive

Best Use of YouTube

Winner
Do You Adventure?
produced by North

Bronze Honor
Always Unstoppable
produced by Leo Burnett Toronto/Chicago, Starcom MediaVest Group, MSLGROUP New York

Best Use of an Emerging Platform

Winner
Mr. Robot: Debt Deletion
produced by ISL and USA Network

Gold Honor
Ex Machina Tinder Turing Test
produced by Watson Design Group Inc.

Bronze Honor
Selfie Induced Horror
produced by Agency OMD/Ignition Factory

Best Influencer and Celebrity Campaign

Winner
My Tales of Whisky Yule Log
produced by Hunter Public Relations for Diageo

Silver Honor
Apartments.com: #MovinOnUp
produced by RPA

Bronze Honor
"I Am a Witness" Bullying Prevention Campaign
produced by the Ad Council

Bronze Honor
Molly Hartley's Social Media Exorcism
produced by Digital Media Management

Best Integrated Campaign

Winner
Love Has No Labels
produced by R/GA and The Ad Council

Silver Honor
Lucy The Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney

Best Mobile Campaign

Winner
Taco Bell Mobile Ordering Application
produced by DigitasLBi

Bronze Honor
2015 MTV EMA
produced by Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN)

Best Multi-Platform Campaign

Winners
#NewWords — Dictionary.com
produced by Collab and Dictionary.com

Endless Table
produced by Havas Worldwide Chicago for Reynolds

Bronze Honor
Wells Fargo 2015 African American Celebratory Campaign: The Untold Stories Collection
produced by Wells Fargo

Best Social Good Campaign

Winners
"Love Has No Labels" Diversity & Inclusion Campaign
produced by The Ad Council and R/GA

Connor's Cure
produced by WWE

Bronze Honor
Tall order, months in the making
produced by the Calgary Zoo

Bronze Honor
TOMS One Day Without Shoes 2015
produced by TOMS Shoes

Bronze Honor
#PrankItFWD
produced by DEFY Media

Best Use of Animated GIFs

Winner
Hulu: The Perfect GIF
produced by Good People

Bronze Honor
Hannibal Travel Posters
produced by bpg and NBC Universal

Best Contest or Promotion

Winner
Mr. Robot: Debt Deletion
produced by ISL and USA Network

Best Data Visualization

Winner
#Cokenomics
produced by Mistress and Netflix

Bronze Honor
Clorox: For When Things Go Viral
produced by Ketchum, Critical Mass, AKQA

Bronze Honor
Spotify Singles
produced by Razorfish New York/Stink Digital

Best Use of Emojis

Winner
Emoji Ordering
produced by CP+B and Domino's

Bronze Honor
Jordan Brand, Emoji Battle
produced by Laundry Service

Best Use of a Hashtag

Winner
#GayIsOK
produced by Lush Cosmetics + AllOut

Gold Honor
MasterCard #AcceptanceMatters
produced by VaynerMedia

Silver Honor
#FeelsLikeHome Best Hashtag
produced by Quantas Airlines

Silver Honor
#FlipOffFur
produced by breensmith

Silver Honor
Freedom to Marry - Love Must Win
produced by Blue State Digital

Bronze Honor
#StandUp4
produced by Carat, McCann

Bronze Honor
Chevrolet #BestDayEver
produced by Carat, Dentsu Aegis Network, The Story Lab, Commonwealth // McCann, Jash, Fleishman

Bronze Honor
Vikings Hashtag Raids
produced by 360i

Bronze Honor
M&M's Red Nose Day Campaign
produced by Weber Shandwick

Best Use of Livestreaming Video

Winner
Mr. Robot: Debt Deletion
produced by ISL and USA Network

Best Use of a Meme

Winner
Straight Outta Somewhere
produced by PMG and Beats by Dre

Best Photography and Graphics

Winner
High-Five. Give $5. Save Big Cats.
produced by National Geographic

Gold Honor
Hulu, The Mindy Project Season 4
produced by GLOW

Bronze Honor
Endless Table
produced by Havas Worldwide Chicago

Best Use of Video

Winner
Wish Writer
produced by Carat and J. Walter Thompson for Macy's

Gold Honor
Coca-Cola: Dark Iftar "No Labels"
produced by Memac Ogilvy & Mather

Gold Honor
Orange Is the New Black 'Twas a Night in Litchfield Holiday Video
produced by New Wave Entertainment

Silver Honor
The Fight for $15 Veteran's Day Video
produced by Fight for $15

Bronze Honor
#LeftSwipeDat
produced by truth, 72andSunny, Assembly, Ketchum

Bronze Honor
First Haircut
produced by MullenLowe Winston Salem and ULTA

Bronze Honor
Slurpee Tastes Like...
produced by Isobar and 7-Eleven Australia

Best Use of Virtual Reality

Winner
Discovery VR
produced by Discovery Communications

Bronze Honor
Step Into the "Circle of Life" — The Lion King VR Experience
produced by Disney Theatrical Group

Best in Customer Service

Winner
Tale of tiger's big adventure highlights airport's commitment to customer service
produced by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority

Best Integration with Live Television

Winner
The Voice
produced by NBC Entertainment

Silver Honor
Lovin' the Super Bowl
produced by DDB Chicago and McDonald'sSilver Honor

Silver Honor
Visa One Handed Catch: Super Bowl Guinness World Record
produced by FleishmanHillard

Best Use of Gamification

Winner
#CatchDrogon
produced by 360i, HBO's 'Game of Thrones'

Best Use of Humor

Winner
Mustang Speed Dating
produced by Team Detroit and Ford

Best Online Community

Winner
@SummerBreak, a single summer told over multiple platforms
produced by AT&T, Fullscreen, The Chernin Group, Astonauts Wanted

Gold Honor
Doctor Who
produced by Everybody at Once

Silver Honor
#AirbnbSundance
produced by Airbnb

Silver Honor
American Horror Story: Hotel
produced by FX Networks

Silver Honor
Good Tweeting, great eating!
produced by GrubHub

Silver Honor
Planet of Triumphs
produced by Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners

Bronze Honor
@CBC's "Valentines for Canada"
produced by CBC

Bronze Honor
Bowser Takes Over the Mario Party 10 Virtual Launch Party
produced by Golin LA

Bronze Honor
Furious 7
produced by Brigade and Universal Pictures

Bronze Honor
Jane the Virgin x Wattpad
produced by Agency OMD/Ignition Factory

Bronze Honor
Microsoft Brand Social
produced by Assembly

Bronze Honor
Orphan Black
produced by Everybody at Once

Bronze Honor
Taking Stoked to the Next Level: GoPro
produced by GoPro

Best Physical and Digital Convergence

Winner
WestJet Christmas Miracle: 12,000 mini miracles
produced by Studio M

Gold Honor
Uber Safe
produced by Rethink

Bronze Honor
#HavasPeepShow
produced by Havas Worldwide Chicago

Bronze Honor
Come Seek Live
produced by MullenLowe U.S.

Bronze Honor
Priceless Elevator Pitch
produced by McCann XBC

Best Real Time Response

Winner
Adopt A Life Partner
produced by DigitasLBi New York

Silver Honor
Jordan Brand, Emoji Battle
produced by Laundry Service

Bronze Honor
The World Through Mr. Robot
produced by USA Network

Bronze Honor
Wingstop #SquashTheBeef
produced by Barkley

Best Media Buying Strategy

Winner
Lucy The Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney for Double Robotics

Bronze Honor
Impractical Jokers Live Punishment Special
produced by truTV

Best Social Media Tool

Winner
#EveryDayCare — Whirlpool, DigitasLBi and Crowdtap
produced by DigitasLBi, Crowdtap and Whirlpool

Most Creative Use of Technology

Winner
Netflix socks
produced by Deeplocal

Gold Honor
Rickstaverse
produced by Carrot Creative and Adult Swim

Silver Honor
Lucy the Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney

Best in Auto

Winner
The Greatest Interception Ever
produced by Volvo Car USA

Bronze Honor
Beyond Utility: 1,000 to 1
produced by Team One and Lexus

Bronze Honor
Mustang Speed Dating
produced by Team Detroit and Ford

Best in Business to Business

Winner
#BallotBriefcase on Snapchat
produced by PwC

Bronze Honor
Say No To Spec
produced by Zulu Alpha Kilo & Zulubot

Bronze Honor
The Intermodals
produced by MullenLowe Winston Salem

Best Consumer Brand

Winner
Lucy The Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney for Double Records

Bronze Honor
Straight Outta Somewhere
produced by PMG and Beats by Dre

Best in Education

Winner
John Jay College Insta-Challenge
produced by VGD

Best in Entertainment

Winner
Peanutize me!
produced by Ludomade

Gold Honor
Furious 7
produced by Brigade for Universal Pictures

Gold Honor
Night of Too Many Stars- America Comes Together for Autism Programs 
produced by Comedy Central, Busboy Productions

Gold Honor
STX Entertainment's "The Gift"
produced by Giant Spoon

Gold Honor
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
produced by WWE

Silver Honor
Back to the Future 30th Anniversary Edition
produced by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Silver Honor
Spotify Found Them First
produced by Razorfish New York / Stink Digital

Silver Honor
Spotify Taste Rewind
produced by Razorfish New York / Stink Digital

Silver Honor
Universal Unfriended Social Campaign
produced by bpg and Universal Pictures

Bronze Honor
#BeatlesOnSpotify
produced by Spotify

Bronze Honor
Luke Bryan Digital Autograph Application
produced by Telescope

Bronze Honor
Oxygen's Very Real
produced by Oxygen Media

Bronze Honor
Selfie Induced Horror
produced by Agency OMD/Ignition Factory

Bronze Honor
Spotify Singles
produced by Razorfish New York / Stink Digital

Bronze Honor
Trainwreck Social Campaign
produced by BPG and Universal Pictures

Best in Family and Parenting

Winner
Plum Organics: Parenting Unfiltered
produced by Something Massive

Bronze Honor
LEGO Kronkiwongi
produced by LEGO

Best in Fashion, Beauty and Luxury

Winner
Carol's Daughter #BornandMade
produced by Love Social

Best in Financial Services

Winner
Meet Halfway
produced by CP+B and PayPal

Best in Food & Beverage

Winner
Lovin' The Super Bowl
produced by DDB Chicago and McDonald's

Best in Games

Winners
Hunt the Truth Audio Series
produced by Ayzenberg Group for Xbox/343 Industries

Lego Dimensions: The Ultimate Social Media Collaboration
produced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Bronze Honor
Madden: The Movie
produced by Heat

Best in Government and Politics

Winner
The Royal Navy Engineers Recruitment Campaign
produced by e3

Gold Honor
The Fight for $15
produced by Fight for $15

Best in Health and Fitness

Winner
#CignaRunTogether at #DisneylandHalf Marathon Weekend
produced by Cigna

Best in Home and Decor

Winner
The First Ever Pinterest Yard Sale
produced by Deutsch and Krylon

Best in Hospitality

Winner
Two Bellmen
produced by Marriott International, Marriott Content Studio, SubstanceOver Hype, Platform Media Group

Best in Live Events

Winner
2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival
produced by iHeartRadio

Gold Honor
2015 iHeartRadio MusicAwards
produced by iHeartRadio

Bronze Honor
#AirbnbSundance Live
produced by Airbnb

Bronze Honor
#IAmAgent23
produced by TBWA - Nissan United

Best in News

Winner
The New Yorker on Social Media
produced by The New Yorker

Best in Nonprofit

Winners
Crossroads Community Street Fare Social Campaign
produced by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness

Love Has No Labels
produced by R/GA and The Ad Council

Best in Pets and Animals

RuffLife
produced by breensmith

Gold Honor
I Get Beggin'
produced by Big Spaceship LLC

Gold Honor
Zico Coconut Water Taps "Spokespawson" for #DogDaysofWinter Campaign
produced by Zico Coconut Water

Best in Retail and E-Commerce

Winner
Live The Fresh Blade Shave
produced by Dollar Shave Club

Gold Honor
Casper: Bringing Bedtime Back
produced by Casper

Gold Honor
Lucy the Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney

Bronze Honor
Allston Christmas
produced by Hill Holliday

Best in Technology

Winner
Lucy the Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney for Double Robotics

Bronze Honor
Motorola: #MotoSelfieStick
produced by Razorfish/DigitasLBi

Best in Television

Winner
Netflix Narcos Original Series Social Media Campaign
produced by Mistress and Netflix

Gold Honor
The Voice
produced by NBC Entertainment

Silver Honor
Empire: 2015 Social Media Campaign
produced by Fox Broadcasting Company

Bronze Honor
Lucy the Robot
produced by Atomic 212 Sydney

Bronze Honor
The World Through Mr. Robot
produced by USA Network

Best in Wine, Beer and Spirits

Winners
Hockey Heaven
produced by Rethink for Molson Canadian

My Tales of Whisky Yule Log
produced by Hunter Public Relations for Diageo

Best in Travel and Tourism

Winner
Blah Airlines
produced by Eleven Inc. and Virgin America

Best in Sports

Winner
#MyPlayoffsMoment
produced by National Hockey League

J. Crew: Bringing the Brand to Life Through Content

J. Crew is one of those brands that truly captures a particular aesthetic and loyal following. Their clothing is described as timeless, day to night, and a whimsical play on masculine and feminine silhouettes. On their site, their share a bit of insight onto their stylistic vision by saying “we don’t believe there’s just one way to wear an outfit, but we do have a few ideas on how to pull one together. For us, the magic is in the mix.”

With that sort of mission statement, there is no doubt that their content game is on point. Their blog,Hello J. Crew, is a beautifully crafted and editorially driven content hub that highlights their clothing, designers, travel guides, intriguing tastemakers, and much more. They bring their brand to life through the use of designers and “behind the scenes” features, stunning photography and design, and the perfect mix of content that maps the entire buyer journey.

Featuring Designers and “Behind the Scenes” Content

What better way to infuse brand purpose into a content hub than to showcase its designers and employees hard at work doing what they love? In their Travel Notes: Mexico piece, J. Crew gives its audience a behind the scenes look at their trip to Mexico City to shoot the March Style Guide. They include an array of outtake shots, quotes from their Art Director and Photo Director, and even a collection of Instagram shots taken on location. By also including a handy travel guide and giving tips on how to get there, places to visit, and the best restaurants to eat and drink, this piece becomes a must-read for anyone interested in the area. Their December Style Guide took place in Ireland and others include France and Majorca. 

They also frequently showcase their Creative Director, Jenna Lyons, with Jenna’s Picks (Lately) which details her latest inspirations ranging from her favorite book to her latest donut obsession. This gives their audience an inside look at Jenna’s life and what interests her outside of working at J. Crew.  Another featured section is The Wedding Edit: 11 Big-Day Ideas where they documented one of their stylists’ wedding. By highlighting everything from invitations, outfits, and beauty tips with personal quotes next to each, the reader gets a personal look at the stylist’s wedding with her story intertwined throughout.

Featuring Creative Directors, Stylists, and Designers in a “behind the scenes” approach is an easy way for retailers to add an extra layer of character to the blog and humanizes the brand. It’s also a great way to create compelling stories around ongoing campaigns and real life events. Are you a B2B marketer and need advice on how this can fit into your content strategy? At NewsCred, we always infuse our Instagram with employee generated content using “employee takeovers” and encourage our employees to create content for our blog, featuring team members across design, engineering, marketing, and more. 

Photography, Aesthetic and Design

Many marketers creating blogs focus so much time and effort on getting the content right that they forget that visual storytelling and overall aesthetic matter just as much.  According to HubSpot, content with compelling visual elements and graphics can generate up to 94% more views and 37% more engagement. That’s a huge opportunity for retailers! The photography not only increases engagement on the blog, but also is vital to your social distribution strategy for visual channels like Pinterest and Instagram.

The layout of J. Crew’s blog is very visually appealing, with beautiful photography custom to each article.

In the article, “Meet… Guillaume Guevara of Miscelanea”, they profile a shop owner in New York City and snap photos of the store and the owner in J. Crew clothing. They also show pictures of his favorite products weaved in with quotes from their interview with the tastemaker. Each of the featured J. Crew products he is wearing has links to shop the look, but it’s done in a tasteful manner that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the article.  Also, each photograph has a “Pin It” call to action so readers can easily save the image to their Pinterest boards. 

What can you learn from J. Crew’s impeccable design and style? Make sure you pay attention to the photography and aesthetic of your blog! It should capture the ethos of your brand, from design to typography. Want great photography but on a budget? Use rising talent or hire content marketers internally that know how to take photos. You can also use rights cleared UGC imagery to capture a more authentic look. For blog layouts, there are many templated clean designs on WordPress you can license, like these, if creating a custom design is out of the question. 

Content that Maps the Customer Journey 

J. Crew’s editorial team definitely understands that their consumers are interested in their products, but also a number of other topics like travel, food, and family. By adding content topics outside of clothing, J. Crew is able to capture the attention of new customers that may share the same interests. This broader and more shareable type of content is called “early-stage content” and is essential to drive visibility and engagement to content hubs. Here’s an example of an article, “In the Kitchen: The Best Blueberry Scone Recipe (Ever)” that features a bakery in London and a recipe from the bakery’s owner. They don’t force J. Crew products into the story because it would appear unnatural given they don’t specialize in cooking products. Instead, they offer their reader an educational and inspiring piece of content in the hopes that they can gain a loyal fan who will continue to engage with J. Crew’s content. 

Once they have the reader’s attention, they can move them into the evaluation or “middle-stage content”. This stage speaks more specifically to the brand’s products, how they are made, and how to style them. For example, their article, “How to: Find a Suit that Fits” is designed to help their customers figure out how to buy the right suit for their body type. Once their consumer is ready to buy a suit, this piece of content will be extremely valuable and help them in their purchase decision. It clearly shows models in their suits, but also offers great tips for anyone and waits until the bottom of the page to add the call to action of visiting the J. Crew Suit Shop. Not only does this content live on the blog, but they also add it to the suit’s product description page, so if people are interested in buying this suit and reading the description, they can now learn how it fits and have a better shopping experience. 

The last stage of the buyers path to purchase is the “late-stage content” which is the most overt custom content that promotes the brand or product.  This type of content is intended for consumers that are ready to buy a certain product and just need that final push over the edge. J. Crew created a video and blog post about the new partnership with New Balance, “J. Crew on Film: Introducing the J. Crew X New Balance 99 Butterscotch”. The video is clearly promotional, and shows how the shoe is crafted and what it looks like on the model. In the blog post you learn when the shoe becomes available for purchase online and what stores it’s available to buy in. Again, they do a great job of adding this video and blog post to the product details of the shoe, so people that are looking to buy have access to this extra information. 

J.Crew on Film: J.Crew X New Balance® 997 Butterscotch by J.Crew

I’ve highlighted the stages in the funnel that NewsCred uses to help our clients create a cohesive buyer journey. The last stage is retain or “customer stage content”, which is a combination of the above mentioned content types in a regular cadence and personalized if possible. Frequently publishing content is extremely important in order to move your consumers through each funnel and keep your loyal consumers interested in your brand even when they aren’t necessarily ready to buy. 

Today’s shoppers have an ability to choose from thousands of brands and are using multiple devices and touch points on any given day to inform their purchasing decisions. In fact, 90% of consumers find custom content useful (Demand Metric, 2014) and 61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content (Custom Content Council, 2011). Retailers like J. Crew understand that in order to have this two way conversation with their consumers, they must build a content strategy that truly embodies the brand, has a clear vision for it’s design, and maps content to every stage of the buyer’s journey.