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It was a huge night for Publicis Groupe at the MMA 2022 SMARTIES APAC Awards last week with Publicis Groupe Vietnam winning Best in Show plus six Gold trophies for Heineken Silver’s ‘The eKoin’ campaign. Publicis Groupe Vietnam also emerged as APAC Creative Agency of the Year overall winning two Silvers and two Bronze for Mondelez and Nescafé, with Mondelez International winning Advertiser of the Year.

Leo Burnett Indonesia also won 1 Gold and 1 Bronze for McDonald’s ‘Pahlawan – Toys that Build a Nation’ campaign.

Heineken launched ‘The eKoin’ in 2022, creating digital tokens that could be collected to unlock once-in-a-lifetime experiences with Gen Z icons, along with exclusive Heineken merchandise. By the time the campaign concluded, 12.6 million eKoins were minted, while Heineken Silver’s market share doubled in key markets.

Anna Bizon, Heineken Vietnam Marketing Director adds: “It takes courage to explore new things in an ever-changing digital landscape, and eKoin is one of many ideas that took us outside our usual comfort zone last year. Thanks to the bravery of our marketing team and agency partners, it was a big success. Seeing this work celebrated so strongly at the APAC SMARTIES gives us the courage to keep pushing into unchartered territory in 2023.”

In addition to winning Best in Show and six Golds for Heineken Silver’s The eKoin, Publicis Groupe Vietnam also won two Silvers and two Bronzes for Mondelez Kinh Do’s ‘Keeping Festive Stories Virtually Alive’ and Nescafé’s ‘Tarot Ca Phe’.

Regarding Publicis Groupe Vietnam’s APAC Creative Agency of the Year win, Paolo Garcia, Chief Creative Officer, says: “Our winning work is a testament to our pursuit of modern creativity made possible through a fantastic collaboration amongst multiple agencies in the Groupe. We see how creative ideas are supercharged with data, technology and mobile media innovations, a true 'Power of ONE' in action!"

Regarding Leo Burnett Indonesia’s two wins for McDonald’s, Ravi Shanker, Chief Creative Officer at Publicis Groupe Indonesia, says: “It’s always feels great when real and meaningful work shines. And this work especially is very dear to us where we have created a new avenue for our client to strengthen their business with an initiative that later became an enduring property for the brand.”

Now in its 11th year, the refreshed SMARTIES APAC handed out over 81 awards across 7 categories and 29 sub-categories, from a total of over 2,300 entries this year.

MMA SMARTIES are currently organised in 14 markets globally, including five in APAC: India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia with the regional awards event held in Singapore. Publicis Groupe Vietnam also won Agency of The Year 2022 at last year’s Vietnam SMARTIES.