We're delighted to reveal the winners of the Brand Impact Awards 2023.
We had a record 232 entries in our 10th year. To mark this milestone, our biggest-ever judging panel was packed with world-class expertise from the agencies and clients behind Best of Show-winning projects over the past decade, a constellation of previous Gold and Silver Award winners, plus other hand-picked branding specialists from across the globe.
In a new judging process for 2023, every judge had three weeks to review and rate the entries independently – and then small specialist panels of 5-6 came together to debate the final results in their allocated categories.
Around a third of entries made it through to the shortlist stage: a total of 65 projects, from 38 different agencies. Several received multiple awards apiece: in our largest-ever crop of trophies, we're proud to announce 7x Gold Awards, 41x Silver Awards and 30x Bronze Awards, plus our overall Best of Show.
Scroll down or click the links above to jump straight to each award tier. All projects are also featured in a special 90-page winners showcase:
Download the 2023 winners showcase
Decade Awards
To mark 10 years of the Brand Impact Awards in 2023, we also presented two special awards at the winners' drinks reception on 5th October.
Client of the Decade
The BBC
- Client of the Decade: Winner
- 1x Best of Show (2019)
- 5x Gold, 1x Silver, 1x Bronze (2015–2023)
- bbc.co.uk
Marking 10 years of the Brand Impact Awards in 2023, the first of our two special Decade Awards recognises the brands and client-side teams that have performed consistently well at the BIAs.
It was a no-brainer for our panel: one client stood head and shoulders above the others, with its partner agencies picking up eight trophies in total – including five Golds – for a range of different brand projects since 2015.
Congratulations to the BBC: our Client of the Decade, adding yet another trophy to the haul in 2023 with its Silver-winning rebrand of BBC Nordic.
Also in contention were:
- London Symphony Orchestra (Best of Show 2017 with The Partners)
- Mr Lyan (Best of Show 2022 with Magpie Studio)
Read the full story about all our Client of the Decade candidates. They are also featured in our winners showcase.
Small Studio of the Decade
Johnson Banks
- Small Studio of the Decade: Winner
- 2x Best of Show (2015 and 2016)
- 9x Gold, 5x Silver, 3x Bronze (2014–2023)
- johnsonbanks.co.uk
Our second Decade Award, Small Studio of the Decade celebrates smaller independent studios that have consistently punched above their weight at the BIAs alongside larger, better-resourced counterparts.
There's no better example of this phenomenon than Johnson Banks, the small but influential Clapham-based studio founded by Michael Johnson in 1992. Known for defining, then designing, brands that make a difference, Johnson Banks has taken home a staggering 19 BIA trophies over the past decade – including nine Gold-winning projects, two of which were voted Best of Show.
Also in contention were:
- NB Studio (runner-up)
- Magpie Studio
- Studio Sutherl&
Read the full story about all our Small Studio of the Decade candidates. They are also featured in our winners showcase.
Top 16 Agencies
Top-performing agencies over the past decade
As well as celebrating the four small studios above, we've also compiled a ranking of the 16 top-performing agencies over the past decade.
We awarded five points for a Best of Show trophy, three points for a Gold Award (formerly Winner), and one point for a Silver Award (formerly Highly Commended). Bronze Awards were left out as these did not exist pre-2020.
Here's the list at a glance, with several agencies tied on points:
1. The Partners
2. Johnson Banks
3. Superunion
4. NB Studio
5. R/GA
6. Jack Renwick Studio
=7. Turner Duckworth
=7. hat-trick design
=9. Magpie Studio
=9. COLLINS
=11. Studio Sutherl&
=11. ManvsMachine
=13. For The People
=13. Taxi Studio
=13. Purpose
16. Design Bridge and Partners
Read the full story about all our Top 16 agencies.
Brand Impact Awards 2023: full results
Best of Show
All Gold Award winners were considered for the prestigious Best of Show accolade, and after a panel-wide vote of all 40 judges, three emerged as front-runners. But there could be only one winner...
Veg NI by Jack Renwick Studio
- Best of Show: Winner
- Social Impact: Winner
- Gold Award: Not-for-Profit
- jackrenwickstudio.com
Scooping both the Social Impact Award and this year's Best of Show after a closely-fought panel-wide vote with two other Gold-winning projects, Veg NI is a triumph of beautiful design in the face of a very tight budget. This is the second year in a row in which a small studio has taken home the top prize, after Magpie's win in 2022.
Playful and clever, with beautiful applications.
Kwame Taylor-Hayford
A cooperative of growers in Northern Ireland, Veg NI was set up by four farmers to promote their produce in the face of narrowing margins and fierce import competition. They aim to get local produce onto the plates of local people, benefiting them, the industry and the planet, supporting local producers, farmers and growers to build strong, rural, future-proof businesses.
The positioning, messaging and identity centres around the core idea: 'Parful Produce' ('Powerful Produce' in NI dialect). Fresh, in-season, vibrant and packed with flavour, it's had less time to lose valuable nutrients, so is fantastic for our health. By lowering emissions and waste in the supply chain, it also has a positive impact on the planet. And keeping things local means keeping money local, so it's parful for farmers, growers, drivers and grocers, creating employment and fostering vibrant, connected communities.
In Jack Renwick Studio's flexible branding system, the veg literally bursts with goodness – explaining that it's what's inside that makes the difference. This differentiates Veg NI from other fruit and veg initiatives in the sector, which often focus on pure produce shots and dishes of food. The logo puts Northern Ireland at the heart of it all, building ownership and pride in their produce. The vegetables change to reflect the specialism of each farmer, providing a cost-effective, individualised way for them to feel recognised as part of a bigger collective.
Lovely personality. Feels fresh, friendly, optimistic and rooted in its community.
Rebecca Walton
With no budget for photoshoots, a low-cost, easily adapted approach was needed to represent the variety of farmed NI produce and its many benefits. The veg imagery is created from a composite of low-cost stock photography, with graphic veg slices holding easily updatable messaging. The $12 characterful Unicase typeface adds a nod to traditional Celtic lettering.
The brand is seen across Northern Ireland through social media, trade shows, farm shops, and stickers on vehicles and crates. Local shops and restaurants are proud to support that they stock, sell and serve NI's Parful Produce.
Squarespace – Make The Next by ManvsMachine
- Best of Show: Shortlisted
- Gold Award: Technology & Telecoms
- Gold Award: Motion
- Read more about this project at mvsm.com
Coming a very close second in our race for Best of Show, ManvsMachine's stunning campaign for Squarespace was nonetheless well rewarded at this year's BIAs, as the only project to pick up two Golds in two different categories.
Working closely with the client's in-house team, ManvsMachine conceptualised, designed and directed a set of commercials for Squarespace's latest campaign: 'Make The Next'. The brief was to make the spots feel seamless and personable, whilst delivering a clear, easy-to-understand message for the platform's diverse global audience.
Brimming with wit and flavour
Winston Duke
Squarespace provided three loose scripts outlining a range of fictional entrepreneurs with one thing in common: they used the platform to turn their passions into an empire. Blending 2D and 3D animation with live action, ManvsMachine's trio of commercials use striking visual vignettes to illustrate each sentence of the scripts.
The three different creative approaches are woven together with a distinct tactile motion language, which enables type, 3D vignettes and live-action to live and work harmoniously within the overall design system.
Eurovision by Design Bridge and Partners
- Best of Show: Shortlisted
- Gold Award: Brand Strategy
- Read more about this project at designbridge.com
This is the first year at the BIAs for the newly-formed Design Bridge and Partners, although the senior creative teams at its pre-merger predecessors Superunion (and The Partners before that) are no strangers to our awards, with four Best of Show awards and a significant haul of trophies between them.
Design Bridge and Partners has had an excellent maiden year in 2023 too, with 14 trophies in total – including two Golds.
These kind of projects can easily get crushed beneath the weight of expectation. The thinking here hangs together and they took it all the way. Play Jaja Ding Dong!
Dan Radley
Bringing nations together since WWII, Eurovision's unifying nature took on new significance in 2023. This year's identity needed to reflect Ukraine and UK partnering as winner and host due to conflict in Ukraine, Liverpool hosting within the UK, and 37 competing countries creating a week of music.
Design Bridge and Partners' challenge was to make 'unity' fresh and exciting again for old and new audiences. The answer was right there within Eurovision's logo: hearts are the universal symbol of love, but heartbeats are also the first sound heard inside the womb and the first sign of life – a shared primordial rhythm.
Further research revealed that, when experiencing live music together, our hearts synchronise. This insight inspired '160 million hearts beating as one' – a concept that embodies unity, and reflects Eurovision's global audience in an accessible, cross-cultural way.
Design Bridge and Partners developed a strategy to leverage the emotions surrounding this year's event and infuse new meaning into Eurovision's iconic symbol. The expression became a sound wave of synchronised hearts, while key players are heroed through through colours inspired by the host flags.
Very Eurovision: retro vibes, loudly uncomfortable, but weirdly addictive.
Louise Kyme
As the host city, Liverpool got its share of playful references too – from the Liverpudlian street-sign-inspired 'Penny Lane' typeface, to copywriting that playfully references Liverpool FC's iconic anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.
There were 4.8 billion views of #Eurovision2023 on TikTok, and all 54,000 live show tickets sold out within 90 minutes of release – a first in Eurovision history. With 162 million viewers, the Grand Finale trended #1 on Twitter globally, making it the most-watched Eurovision ever.
Gold Award winners
Brand Impact Awards 2023: Gold Awards
The following three projects received at least one Gold Award trophy at the Brand Impact Awards 2023.
Download full winners showcase
Aston Martin by Design Bridge and Partners
- Gold Award: Copywriting (for Intensity.Driven)
- Silver Award: Automotive (for Intensity.Driven)
- Silver Award: Brand Strategy (for Intensity.Driven)
- Silver Award: Motion (for Ferocity.Driven)
- designbridge.com
Technical details and luxurious elements never feel inauthentic or forced: they all contribute to the thrilling emotive experience of driving an Aston Martin.
Daniel St Vincent
Despite being a British cultural icon and globally recognised ultra-luxury brand, Aston Martin cars were known more as grand tourers than for their outright performance. Design Bridge and Partners' challenge was to modernise and increase the performative aspect of the brand, capturing the human emotion of the driving experience.
Aston Martin's new brand platform, 'Intensity.Driven', captures both the human emotion of the driving experience and the performative luxury of the sports cars themselves. Data visualisation captures the authentic emotion of driving, while close-ups amplify the sense of power and performance.
I devoured every word. Almost every headline is a banger.
Nazy Farkhondeh
Interviews with racing drivers helped the team capture the intensity of the experience – all brought together with an editing style that blends longer dwells with sudden sharp cuts to build and break tension.
Emotive, poetic long-copy is a vital part of the overall brand strategy, and it's in the Copywriting category that Aston Martin takes home its Gold. Every piece of writing is meticulously detailed and exhaustively researched, drawing on insights about the manufacturing process, the history of the marque, and the incredible sensation of racing the car – as narrated by a racing driver with first-hand experience.
In the Motion category, meanwhile, Ferocity.Driven is a fully-CGI brand film that celebrates the cutting-edge performance of the ultra-limited-edition Aston Martin DBS770 Ultimate. It opens with a stylised scarab beetle, ferocity rippling through its engineered form. Smooth liquid spills forth, creating compelling tension between the engineered precision of the liquid and the car's inner aggression.
Norwich Castle by The Click
- Gold Award: Culture
- Read more about this project at theclickdesign.com
I love this. Simple, bold and clever. The designers must have had a lot of fun putting it all together.
Simon Elliott
An iconic historical landmark, Norwich Castle proudly dominates the city's skyline. Established by William the Conqueror almost 1,000 years ago, it has since been a fortification, a royal palace, a prison and, more recently, a museum and art gallery.
Mid-way through a major revamp, the castle needed a new brand identity to coincide with the reopening of its refurbished Keep and new visitor spaces. After challenging members of the public to draw a 10-second Post-It sketch of the castle, purely from memory, The Click found that its distinctively cube-shaped structure could be a powerful brand asset.
Effective, refined and memorable. I like the minimalism: it's a brave approach to cut out the clutter.
Susan Ayton
Accordingly, the agency distilled the logo to its most iconic form: a mark that, despite its uncompromising simplicity, still unmistakably portrays Norwich Castle.
In turn, the geometry of the core brand logo informs a unique nine-column grid that references the number of merlons on each aspect of the castle. Largely formed by squares, the modular design system provides an easy-to-use and coherent format for wider templates and applications – with endless opportunities for striking merchandise and bold production techniques.
KatKin by Sonder & Tell
- Gold Award: Brand Strategy
- Read more about this project at sonderandtell.com
Lively and fresh.
Louise Kyme
Having taken shortcuts for too long, the cat food industry was ripe for disruption. With £22m of funding to revolutionise the category, KatKin needed a powerful new brand that could cut through – and a strategy that could expose corporate fat cats and capture cat owners' attention with its 100% meat product.
Sonder & Tell set out to find a deep human insight around which to build KatKin's new brand. The team scoured vet reports and Reddit threads, frequented local cat cafés, and explored out-of category disruptors – from baby products to menstrual brands.
An insight-driven identity born straight out of the target cat-obsessed audience.
Natalie Burns
The resulting insight: cat parents are the most hardcore of all pet owners, flying in the face of the sweet, fluffy stereotype. No flinching at love bites, mouse sacrifices or getting eye-level with the litter box. They're fierce. And so is KatKin.
So Sonder & Tell set out to make hardcore love the new standard of cat care. KatKin became a brand that hardcore cat parents can trust to go as hardcore as they do for their cats. Cats' wellbeing is the rallying cry, resulting in an uncompromising creative idea: Love hard. Feed fresh.
Silver Award winners
Brand Impact Awards 2023: Silver Awards
The following 33 projects received at least one Silver Award trophy at the Brand Impact Awards 2023.
Download full winners showcase
The Running Towards by Studio Sutherl& and Tom Sharp
- Silver Award: Public Sector
- Silver Award: Copywriting
- Silver Award: Typography
- studio-sutherland.co.uk
- thepoetryofitall.com
London Fire Brigade (LFB) had previously talked about its vital work in relation to safety advice and narratives around specific incidents. Studio Sutherl&'s task was engage people on a much more emotional level.
Direct and powerful, brave and memorable.
Susan Ayton
This triple-Silver-winning project encapsulates the bravery and selflessness of people who deliberately head into peril, rather than away from it. Designed to be universal, the core idea of 'running towards' also applies to parents running instinctively towards their children in times of trouble, or members of the public performing incredible acts when disasters happen.
In collaboration with Tom Sharp, The Running Towards became a poetic celebration across large-scale murals and posters at London fire stations. The typography provides pace and drama ti to there writing – mirroring the steady run towards, the zig-zagging around danger, and the leaps of bravery. Inspired by old LFB engines, the bespoke typeface plays with the idea of flames casting shadows.
Snap!Gammon by Studio Sutherl&
- Silver Award: Self-Branding
- Silver Award: Illustration
- Bronze Award: Typography
- studio-sutherland.co.uk
A self-initiated project to reflect Studio Sutherl&'s love of play, Snap!Gammon – like The Running Towards – has been awarded across multiple Craft disciplines. A children's version of Backgammon, it's the latest instalment in a series of games created by the studio, including chess and playing cards.
Clever and playful. Made me smile, and want to play it.
Simon Elliott
Pushing the iconic format of the much-loved game into a new visual field and narrative, Snap!Gammon turns the familiar board into a crocodile's mouth, with the pieces – Egyptian plover birds – moving along the teeth.
The accompanying story, in a concertina shape to reflect the crocodile's teeth, features each of the characters from the game's origin story: Niall, who travels through Sumeria via Crocodopolis to Egypt; Ereshkigal the Goddess; Sobek the Crocodile God; and Cleopatra.
Entirely built from triangles and circles, the typography and illustrations reference cuneiform lettering – which, like Backgammon itself, hails from Sumeria. And the dice are dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god – for luck.
The Jockey Club by Thisaway
- Silver Award: Brand Strategy
- Silver Award: Illustration
- Read more about this project at thisaway.co
With a heritage dating back to 1750, the Jockey Club runs 15 of the country's leading racecourses. To ensure future growth and funding, the brand needed to raise its profile – whilst allowing individual racecourses their own identity.
'Getting hearts racing' is a beautiful line that really conveys a dynamic and energetic vibe.
Paul Bailey
Thisaway developed a brand hierarchy that elevated flagship events The Grand National, Cheltenham Festival and The Derby licence into full marquee brands, while other courses put their own spin on the masterbrand.
A new brand purpose – For Racing. For Good – captured The Jockey Club's position as the sport's custodian, and provided a forward-facing thought-leadership stance. Meanwhile, a new customer promise – Getting Hearts Racing – embraced the drama of the sport, and enabled the brand to be more dynamic, expressive, and energetic.
While retaining the brand's heritage and gravitas through its already well-established diamond motif, Thisaway added a contemporary twist with a fresh illustration style, showcasing unique aspects of each racecourse and surrounding landmarks.
Thredd by Design Bridge and Partners
- Silver Award: Financial Services
- Bronze Award: Brand Strategy
- designbridge.com
At the heart of the digital finance revolution since 2007, Global Processing Services (GPS) was the trusted technology partner for the world's leading fintechs and challenger banks, processing billions of transactions every year for the likes of Revolut, ANNA, and Starling Bank.
There's a solid idea to weave everything together, but it still feels contemporary and techy. The use of the partner brands' colours is a nice connection.
Jack Renwick
Design Bridge and Partners developed a new name and visual identity to match GPS' global reputation. Inspiration came from the history of computing: in 1804, the Jacquard loom revolutionised the weaving industry. Using binary-code patterns on interchangeable punch-cards to automate the weaving process, it directly influenced the first programmable computers.
Paying homage to these origins, GPS became Thredd – part of a brand overhaul that highlights its tailor-made tech solutions. Digitally generated binary-code patterns represent its many partnerships. These can reduce to square glyphs, and the typeface and icon style echo the square grid they're built on.
Woven together, these patterns represent the rich tapestry of partnerships that make up Thredd's business. Thredd itself is represented by a dark-blue vertical thread, the 'common thread' holding together its brightly coloured fintech collaborators.
Team GB by Thisaway
- Silver Award: Brand Strategy
- Bronze Award: Illustration
- Read more about this project at thisaway.co
As the external face of the British Olympic Association, Team GB needed to grow the profile of its brand ahead of Paris 2024. Engagement was invariably high during the Olympics themselves, but Team GB needed relevance outside of Games time.
Comprehensive, colourful, dynamic, and joyful. Lots of depth, from simple and bold through to complex and special. Love it.
Kate Marlow
'Believe in Extraordinary' was the existing brand idea, which focused on performance and proved popular with athletes and coaches. But it risked painting elite sports as too elitist – elevating athletes into untouchable superhumans.
Thisaway developed a new strategy to express how Team GB facilitates ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. A new brand idea – 'Everyday Extraordinary' – champions the superhuman endeavours that make athletes special, but also the humanity that grounds them.
With a set of patterns inspired by key athlete attributes, the new brand identity puts a modern twist on the familiar red, white and blue – supported by a uniquely flexible typeface that blends classic British influences with energy and diversity.
The Land of Warriors by Design Bridge and Partners
- Silver Award: Illustration
- Bronze Award: Entertainment
- designbridge.com
Like a science photo library gone mad.
Victoria Sawdon
As the top streamed animated fantasy series in China, The Land of Warriors is a flagship show for leading Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video. It has spawned many high-profile brand collaborations, particularly aimed at younger audiences.
Scenes set in the mystical Starry Forest enjoy particularly high fan engagement. A sacred place where characters retreat to advance their souls, the forest bears witness to their growth – and it's built an identity as a character in its own right.
Beautifully executed. It's so easy to lose yourself in there, and feel captivated.
Raafaye Ali
Design Bridge and Partners worked with Polish artist Pawel Nolbert to recreate the Starry Forest's beautiful botany in his distinctive style. In turn, these artworks informed the look and feel of the overall brand.
In spring 2023, the Starry Forest concept came alive at Joy City shopping centre in Shanghai. Visitors to the Forest Dream Exhibition experienced the mesmerising forest realm through a series of immersive settings and interactive AI installations, raising awareness of the world's endangered plantations.
Graza by Gander
- Silver Award: Artisan
- Find out more about this project at takeagander.com
Graza came to Gander to help sell incredibly high-quality, single-origin Spanish olive oil in a squeeze bottle: in other words, very fancy oil in a decidedly un-fancy format. Graza's new brand identity reflects this unexpected union, granting people permission to finally have fun with their oil.
Makes a ubiquitous product feel fresh, unique and desirable,
Fiona Dinsdale
Foregoing the faux heraldry and decorative European flags typically found in this sector in favour of radical honesty and playfulness, Gander helped put the message front and centre that good olive oil should be used every day, in every way. Demystifying the olive oil shopping experience, Graza wins shoppers' trust by sharing everything they need to know to pick a better olive oil.
Little educational moments throughout the brand experience help explain the benefits of this age-old elixir in a more casual way. The 'Graz-o-pedia' is your source for explaining all things olive-oil-related, while fun illustrated facts keep things light and accessible.
Byron Burgers by Taxi Studio and Reed Words
- Silver Award: Bars & Restaurants
- Find out more about this project at taxistudio.co.uk and reedwords.com
UK burger pioneer Byron needed a new design system that was flexible, simple and coherent, without diluting the brand's eclecticism, eccentricity, and verve.
The poetry idea is an effortless fit for the brand.
Sarah Moffat
The solution: a brand world as delicious as Byron's burgers. Reflecting the flair and creativity poured into the food and the wider dining experience, Taxi Studio developed a new creative platform: 'burger artistry'.
A new strapline, 'Poetry in a bun', nods both to Byron's artistic flair and to Lord Byron – who became the foundational idea for the brand rejuvenation. Channeling the flamboyant Romantic poet's wit, whimsy and mischief, Taxi collaborated with copywriting agency Reed Words to produce a playful, rhyming tone of voice.
Led by George, the dry-witted, poetic pickle, Byron's existing characters were reimagined as 'The Byronistas' – a diverse suite of mascots assigned to different menu categories. A new colour palette highlights different flavour profiles, aiding digital navigation and providing a more vibrant visual experience for customers.
Woven by Magpie Studio
- Silver Award: Bars & Restaurants
- Find out more about this project at magpie-studio.com
Despite an exceptional reputation, the restaurant at luxury hotel Coworth Park has always been considered a table to reserve during your stay, rather than a dining destination in its own right. Magpie's rebrand matches the artistry of the kitchen, elevating the profile of head chef Adam Smith.
Whimsical and well executed.
Sarah Moffat
A new name – Woven – evokes Smith's care and craft, weaving together exceptional ingredients, textures and flavours into menus that blend strands of memory and personal experience.
From here evolved a highly textural, expressive identity, layered with humble personal stories. From Nan's roast dinners, to a chippy tea at the seaside, to a ceremonial plate of jammy dodgers, these nostalgic, unpretentious references set a playful tone for each course.
With sculptural signage that collides materials, expressive collages on the menus, and evocative storytelling at the table, Magpie's new identity captures the spirit of Adam Smith's food philosophy, revealing itself slowly throughout experience.
Vineyard Theatre by NB Studio
- Silver Award: Brand Strategy
- Find out more about this project at nbstudio.co.uk
An Off-Broadway theatre in New York, Vineyard Theatre prides itself on upending expectations and making theatre firsts. But it wasn't getting the recognition it deserved. NB's challenge was to design a brand identity that reflected a groundbreaking approach to theatre whilst placing the Vineyard name firmly in the limelight.
Ties the location into a far wider creative community than just the folks on stage, creating a delectable visual system that flexes in tone for each performance.
Natalie Burns
Vineyard's new brand strategy focuses on makers, inviting daring artists and diverse audiences – playmakers, changemakers and dreammakers – to be part of a collective experience. In turn, this positions the theatre as the place where daring art is cultivated.
Visually, this is expressed through an ever-changing wordmark: 'Vineyard' remains constant, but 'Theatre' is reinvented for every show. And every piece of type designed by a native New Yorker. Together, the two elements create a dynamic identity that celebrates a fearless approach – just like a Vineyard show, the logo is never the same twice.
Picnic by big fish
- Silver Award: Illustration
- Find out more about this project at bigfish.co.uk
As a brand aimed at families, Picnic has an Instagram feed filled with excited kids waiting at their windows for their vans to arrive. As animal lovers themselves, the big fish team approached this brief with a deep understanding of how important our pets are as part of the family.
Colourful, playful, and distinct in a category that doesn't have anything like this.
Raafaye Ali
To hero the four-legged friends at the heart of the brand, the agency created an illustrated array of characters to sit across Picnic's huge range. Just like in real life, each cat and dog is different – unlike traditional pet food, where a photo of the same animal is typically used across the whole range.
Colourful and characterful, the illustrations give a humorous, light-hearted twist to the packaging: the dog holding the beef sticks is a lumberjack; the dental chews feature a dentist; there are cat and dog farmers and fishermen. And the litter bag cat is sat on the toilet reading the daily paper.
BBC Nordic by weareseventeen
- Silver Award: Motion
- Find out more about this project at weareseventeen.com
BBC Nordic is a new channel that merges BBC Earth and BBC Brit in Scandinavia. The brief called for an evocative design system and unique motion language: it had to feel distinctively 'BBC', but also cater authentically to the Nordic audience's tastes.
Beautifully executed, elegant, and iconic.
Jessica Tan
To highlight the channel's multi-faceted nature, weareseventeen proposed a new brand idea – 'The Bright Side' – with four key pillars. 'Bright Entertainment' highlights BBC Nordic's spark and optimism; 'Warm Connections' celebrates the affinity between the UK and Scandinavia; 'Illuminating Moments' foregrounds enlightening documentaries; and 'Cultivating Contrasts' celebrates the contrasts that drive the emotional appeal of the channel's programming.
Inspired by Nordic landscapes and the classic muted tones of Scandinavian design, the identity features a diagonal stroke that references the central line of the Nordic 'N'. Called the 'Prism Edge', this radiates and transforms light in a series of ident animations that convey the different brand attributes.
Meta Quest Pro by ManvsMachine
- Silver Award: Motion
- Find out more about this project at mvsm.com
Meta collaborated with ManvsMachine on this exciting, mind-bending, and highly polished innovation film to introduce Meta Quest Pro – Meta's most advanced VR headset to date.
Excellent execution and deep craft.
Jessica Tan
The key objective was to present the product as a tool for everyday use. Meta Quest Pro unlocks new possibilities for working, creating, and collaborating – and the film had to demonstrate how the headset can slot into any home to enable groundbreaking creativity and otherworldly exploration in the fields of design, architecture, and more.
Presenting abstract otherworldly visualisations alongside real-world environments required a well-thought-out approach. Having initially designed an elevated home for the product to inhabit, ManvsMachine then focussed on the key components of the product – abstracting, extrapolating, and transcending them far beyond their physical properties to illustrate the creativity and escapism enabled by the headset.
Reese's by ManvsMachine
- Silver Award: Motion
- mvsm.com
This campaign for Reese's explores the underreported psychological urge to put peanut butter in stuff. The aim: to help people understand that this is very common, very normal and very enjoyable. Especially when that stuff is chocolate.
Beautifully rendered, and the hilarious VO really adds to its uniqueness.
Winston Duke
As design and direction partners, Mother London entrusted ManvsMachine with creating a branded world in which an endless list of chocolate-ified objects could be smothered in peanut butter.
The result: a series of deliciously surreal short films showcasing high-heeled stilettos and other ordinary objects being doused in nutty goodness against a clean, theatrical and infinite Reese's orange backdrop.
Paired with a sultry voiceover from comedian Henry Paker, the campaign entices the viewer with a highly distinctive tongue-in-cheek sensibility. ManvsMachine also created a toolkit to future-proof the campaign, so that any desired object could be rendered in chocolate and covered in peanut butter – enabling the brand to react to breaking news and poke fun at hot topics.
M&Ms by Jones Knowles Ritchie
- Silver Award: Motion
- Find out more about this project at jkrglobal.com
As part of a major rebrand, M&Ms wanted to inject more personality, meaning, and fun into its brand assets. JKR defined the role and unique behaviour of each and every asset, from the logo and the iconic M to the lentils themselves, and brought them gloriously to life using fresh, colourful animation and CGI.
Brillantly executed.
Liza Enebeis
Everything came together in a a free-flowing playground of possibility: a place where 2D mixed with 3D, text with image, and reality with imagination. Each flowed effortlessly into the next, all joyfully working together to spread their core message of fun for everyone.
Since their creation, the motion assets have been showing up everywhere – from TikTok to Times Square. M&Ms use them across all social channels, on their website, in stores globally, and at internal and external events – captivating audiences and helping drive a 10% surge in growth.
Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity by Manual
- Silver Award: Culture
- Find out more about this project at manualcreative.com
A non-profit organisation that brings Ray and Charles Eames' iconic methodologies to life, the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity encourages anyone and everyone to use design to solve problems. Accordingly, it needed a brand that could appeal to everyone from curious non-designers to the most discerning design professionals in the world.
Does a great job of capturing Eames, whilst still feeling inviting for new non-design audiences.
Alexis Waller
Another challenge was to honour the Eames' legacy without falling into the traps of nostalgia and mid-century pastiche. With activities and outputs spanning digital, physical, experiential, and editorial, the Institute needed a flexible design system and toolkit that its various creative partners could implement easily.
Manual translated the spirit of the Institute into a contemporary and future-facing identity. At its heart is 'the curious e', a symbol that embodies infinite curiosity in its dynamic configurations. The logo shifts its gaze to observe its context, emphasise content, and carry on the Eames' legacy of spirited discovery.
Cardiff Metropolitan University by Baxter & Bailey
- Silver Award: Education
- Find out more about this project at baxterandbailey.co.uk
Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU) is a small community with a strong sense of belonging, but it sits within a global capital filled with world-class arts and culture. CMU asked Baxter & Bailey to show prospective students why the university is so special: the resulting campaign leant into the city's status as a place of ideas and concentration of culture.
Bold, emotive and inspiring. The core concept holds everything together and is instantly recognisable and memorable.
Rebecca Walton
Working with award-winning writer Kate van der Borgh, the agency developed a solution full of powerful, poetic messaging and bold, confident colour, ensuring that the world-class teaching and facilities of Cardiff Met felt synonymous with the city's world-class capital status.
The campaign expanded into easy-to-use guidelines, animations, a launch film, a UCAS exhibition, and a colourful collection of roll-out communications. Ultimately, it positions CMU as a distinctive place that sums up the spirit of something larger, and a place to become your best self: The Capital of You.
The Bond by Common Curiosity
- Silver Award: Property & Construction
- Find out more about this project at commoncuriosity.co.uk
A new creative content hub in Digbeth, Birmingham, The Bond is an outstanding contemporary urban space that focuses on TV, film, media and tech.
Sympathetically restored from a landmark industrial building by Oval Real Estate, historic features are allowed to shine. Common Curiosity took a similar approach with the brand identity – inspired both by architectural features and its new purpose as a content hub, it helps tell the story of The Bond, past, present and future.
This bold, punchy identity is carried across all applications in a focussed but adaptable manner.
Louise Kyme
Using authentic techniques typical of the industrial era, the scheme comes to life with forged metal signage and hand-painted signs, juxtaposed with modern touches such as digital LED screens to show animations and films.
In the main building – the Ice House — the brand symbol underpins navigational devices, mimicking ice with frosted acrylic panels and vinyls to hint at the building's heritage while allowing its raw industrial fabric to show through.
Carlsberg & LFC – Walking Together by Taxi Studio
- Silver Award: Wine, Beer & Spirits
- Find out more about this project at taxistudio.co.uk
Carlsberg Group and Liverpool Football Club have shared an extraordinary journey, walking side-by-side since 1992 – making it the longest-standing partnership in the history of Premier League Football.
Simple, bold, and hugely collectable.
Victoria Sawdon
Taxi Studio collaborated with Carlsberg to mark the 30-year milestone by transforming six iconic players – Ian Rush, John Barnes, Sami Hyypia, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Carragher, and Luis Garcia – into a limited-edition range.
With meticulous attention to detail, each design became a vibrant homage to each player, embellished with their illustrious signatures, iconic numbers, and the resounding chants that echoed through the electric stadiums. The outcome? A range of crafted limited-edition cans that became tokens of reverence for fans and collectors alike.
Stella Artois – Moments of Beauty Around the Table by Jones Knowles Ritchie
- Silver Award: Wine, Beer & Spirits
- jkrglobal.com
Stella Artois is an iconic beer with an unmistakable heritage, but it needed to evolve to stay relevant. It needed a refreshing new brand world to appeal to contemporary audiences – one that was future facing and that reflected modern codes of premium.
Beautiful new brand mark, typography and art direction.
Raphael Abreu
JKR reinvented Stella Artois as if it were a lifestyle brand. Borrowing cues from the world of fashion, the new brand world uses editorialised photography to give everything a cinematic, hyperreal quality. It's all centred around the modern table: the shifting, sometimes improvised places where people gather to eat, drink and connect. In these moments, we glimpse genuine intimacy and revel in the unpretentious and unexpected.
In tandem, a new design system works harmoniously across every Stella Artois touchpoint. This includes a bold horizontal logo, two charismatic typefaces, a fresh colour palette, and a reimagined packaging architecture. The result is an unmistakable and immersive experience that acknowledges the brand's past, while moving it unapologetically forward.
Beat The Peaks by B&W Studio
- Silver Award: Not-for-Profit
- bandwstudio.co.uk
In 2022, Lee Bradley from B&W Studio and Oliver Leigh from Nike ran the three peaks to raise money for British Heart Foundation. Having both lost a parent to heart-related issues in 2020 they wanted to make as big an impact as possible.
Stunning. Feels more tech than charity, refreshing given the endless charity clichés we see. I quite enjoyed the 'blokeishness' of it too.
Louise Kyme
While many walk the route, they wanted to go further and run all 23 miles and 3064 metres of ascent in under 20 hours. To drive awareness, B&W branded the social media campaign with an ownable and unmissable visual language based on triangles to represent the three mountains, and capture both the rhythmic intensity of the physical challenge and the painful spike of a heart attack.
Both runners wore heart monitors and head-cams throughout the experience, and a three-minute campaign film mapped real BPM data against raw authentic footage, giving viewers a sense of being there on the mountain with them. In total, the pair raised £3,000 for BHF.
The Royal Parks by Rose
- Silver Award: Not-for-Profit
- rosedesign.co.uk
The Royal Parks cares for the most famous collection of urban parks in the world. But research suggested the charity was perceived as elitist, authoritarian, and not for everyone.
Sleek and modern. Breathes new life into an antiquated and imperialist brand.
Rebecca Brooker
As part of a sensitive evolution, Rose redrew the original marque to be fit for purpose in digital environments. An elegant, modern sans serif replaced the stuffy serif that The Royal Parks had been using, and instead of dark pine green a fresher deciduous green better reflected the trees found in most of the parks, and helped signage stand out.
Taking inspiration from the crown marque, each park received its own prominent leaf and iconic landmark. Rose worked with illustrator Rebecca Sutherland to create a family of graphic patterns. Writer Jim Davies helped craft a warmer, more welcoming tone of voice. And the legendary Quentin Blake replaced generic symbols with characterful illustrations to raise a smile from visitors when asked to respect park rules.
Undaunted by Johnson Banks
- Silver Award: Not-for-Profit
- Find out more about this project at johnsonbanks.co.uk
The Royal Institution and Imperial College London's Grantham Institute approached Johnson Banks to name and brand their new climate change innovation centre – which needed to differentiate itself from other university equivalents, climate organisations and accelerators.
I love this! The name is perfect, and so distinctive in a sector full of acronyms. The brand feels challenging but optimistic, authoritative but fresh. And the logo transformation carries so much meaning.
Rebecca Walton
After much exploration, the resulting name was Undaunted – meaning neither discouraged nor intimidated by difficulty. This perfectly encapsulated the aims, ethos and determination of the centre as it sought out ways to mitigate the effects of – and adapt to – the climate crisis.
In the world awash with 'green' projects, cutting through with the visual branding was also a challenge. Johnson Banks set out to find something that felt universal, but also irrefutable.
At first glance, Undaunted's new symbol is a simple Earth icon. But its central section morphs into a leaf shape, visually symbolising 'green ideas for the globe'. At once familiar and new, it opens up a whole identity system based on their current and future aims for the planet.
Mux by For The People
- Silver Award: Technology & Telecoms
- Find out more about this project at forthepeople.agency
An all-in-one platform by developers, for developers, Mux provides an efficient, intuitive way to build and monitor video online with just a few powerful lines of code. It has been used by the likes of Vimeo, TED, Paramount and the Super Bowl.
Refreshing, fun, and connects well together.
Daljit Singh
But like much of the tech sector, Mux had fallen into the trap of confusing their brand with transactional product benefits. To truly demonstrate the value of its technology, Mux's new identity needed to express the creativity it unlocks – whilst still elevating the code behind it all.
For The People repositioned Mux as the infrastructure for creativity: a platform Built to Play. The identity goes behind the screens of video, leveraging macroblocks (the smallest processing unit of video) to create a flexible, infinitely scalable grid that comes to life through motion.
With icons, illustrations and a palette ranging from neutrals to neons, the system brings code and creativity together.