The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas 2025 have revealed their winners, with the Grand Prix and Gold in Digital Commerce awarded to MRM for General Motors/CarBravo’s Used Barbie Dream Cars campaign. This initiative creatively capitalized on the Barbie toy car trend, using a Shopify site to promote fair pricing and boost actual car sales, achieving a 91x return on investment.
The President’s Award, presented by jury leader Prateek Sood of Mastercard, went to Dentsu Creative New York for their Returning Creativity campaign for Crayola. The campaign used nostalgia, original research, and a multi-channel earned media strategy to emphasize creativity as a vital priority for children and parents, sparking nationwide conversation and encouraging family engagement with creativity. This campaign also won Gold in the PR category.
The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas is the final leg of a global series, following recent events for APAC and EMEA regions. All events were streamed live and are available on-demand via The Drum TV.
Below are highlights of the Gold winners across various categories:
- Grand Prix: Used Barbie Dream Cars – MRM for General Motors/CarBravo
- President’s Award: Returning Creativity – Dentsu Creative New York for Crayola
- AI: Smarter Campaigns, Better Results: How AI Helped Headspace Deliver Joy and Reduce Stress – Monks for Headspace
- Advertising: David and Dave – Artists Equity for Stella Artois
- B2B: Workday Presents: The Rock Stars of Business World Tour – Ogilvy for Workday; By America’s Side: Driving Mack Trucks Forward into the Future – Stein IAS for Mack Trucks
- CPG/FMCG: Sasquatch in the Skies: Jack Link’s Takes National Jerky Day 2024 to New Heights – Padilla for Jack Link’s Snacks
- Charity or Not for Profit: Doors of Opportunity – Fuse Create for Soles4Souls
- Consumer Tech: Reimagining Oura Ring’s E-Commerce Experience – Instrument for Oura
- Content: Undone – Turbo Tax Canada; Diss-Mas – Virtue Worldwide for MGA Entertainment
- Creative: Reese’s at the Big Game. It’s Lava Time, Baby! – Erich & Kallman for The Hershey Company
- Creative Innovation: Wäsche of the Wild – Zulu Alpha Kilo for Destination BC
- Digital Commerce: Used Barbie Dream Cars – MRM for General Motors/CarBravo
- Digital Experience: Lipton Zero: The Virtual Sampling Hack That Changed the Game – RocknRolla Guatemala for Lipton – CBC Guatemala
- Disruption: Change the Board Game/SMD – Billups for Elf Beauty
- Energy and Industry: Push Unleaded 88: Nature Will Thank You – Little Big Engine for Growth Energy
- Entertainment: The Last Barf Bag – FCB Chicago for Dramamine; It’s Showtime: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice – Hearts & Science for Warner Bros
- Experience: Ford’s Michigan Central Open – Civic for Ford Motor Company
- Fashion and Beauty: Disney x Balmain, celebrating 30 years of the beloved film for a fashion-loving audience – Disney Consumer Products for The Walt Disney Company
- Finance: Undone – Turbo Tax Canada
- Food and Beverage: Shake That Ess – Artists Equity for Dunkin’ by Inspire Brands; Arby’s Free Sandwich Month – Fallon for Arby’s
- Gaming: Leveling Up Reality: Qiddiya’s Global Gaming Takeover – Mas for Qiddiya
- Government or Public Sector: OECTA Know More – Pound & Grain Digital Inc for Ontario English Catholic School Teachers
- Healthcare and Pharma: Serious Foreplay – Fuck Cancer & The Variable for Fuck Cancer
- Media: It’s Showtime: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice – Hearts & Science for Warner Bros
- Media Innovation: Moon Music Lands on Roblox: Coldplay Reels in the Next Generation of Fans – Gamefam, Warner Music Group & Parlophone Records; 10 Bricks Infinite Play – Snapchat for The Lego Group
- Metaverse: It’s Showtime: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice – Hearts & Science for Warner Bros
- OOH: Verizon Super Bowl FanFest – Momentum Worldwide for Verizon
- PR: Returning Creativity – Dentsu Creative New York for Crayola
- Rebrand or Relaunch: Getting There Starts Here – McCann New York for State Street Global Advisors
- Retail: Diss-Mas – Virtue Worldwide for MGA Entertainment
- Rising Star: Rising Star: Olivia Clarke Turns Limits into Leadership – Nebo
- Search: The Mixer: The Perfect Serve of Cocktails and Search – Greenpark for Campari Group
- Social Media: Shake That Ess – Artists Equity for Dunkin’, Inspire Brands; Nutter Butter, You Good? – Dentsu Creative New York for Mondelez International
- Social Purpose: Change the Board Game/SMD – Billups for Elf Beauty
- Sustainability & Responsibility: Endless Runway – Edelman for eBay; Indeed’s Rising Voices Season 4 – Indeed
- Technology Innovation: NBC Big Board: Setting the Standard for Data Journalism – Code and Theory for NBCUniversal
- Travel and Tourism: Hopper’s Travel Deal Tuesday – Hopper
For detailed case studies and the full list of winners, visit The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas website.