The Digiday Video and TV Awards mark a transformative on the personal as well as an opening-up of approaches year for visual content, one in which so many eyes turned to workflow and creative storytelling. to screens of every type for information, education, entertainment and a sense of communal activity during a The 2021 Digiday Video and TV Awards represent an time of quarantine. industry at its best in many ways — from technology to social engagement to protecting each other and From heart-touching rites of passage to breakneck ourselves. This year’s winners produced content that production turnarounds as whole seasons of amounted to a mirror — one that showed people working programming were upended by pandemic-wrought every day to live well and stay connected no matter the changes, the awards this year represent a doubling down circumstances of the times. Best Brand HP Inc. and Film - Single Redglass Pictures - ‘Dear Future Me’ Program Insights HP and Redglass tapped into a personal world of While the campaign’s goals revolved around storytelling with ‘Dear Future Me,’ highlighting a video views, social media engagement and click- local right of passage one quarter-century in the throughs, the earned media that ‘Dear Future making. Invited behind the scenes at Maplewood Me” achieved transformed the story of middle Middle School in suburban New Jersey, the video schoolers into a relatable moment for the world, crew captured the world of sixth graders as they and demonstrated the power of content to inspire composed and revealed letters to the future — to hope, resilience and optimism — especially in the their 25-year-old selves. The poignant exploration trying times of 2020. of growing up won coverage and attention from Teen Vogue, SiriusXM and ‘The Today Show’ on NBC, among other media outlets. Best Brand EA and m/SIX - Film - Series ‘FIFA2020 Changes the Game’ Program Insights Tasked with making a splash out of the worldwide Sometimes effective storytelling involves switching launch of the FIFA2020 video game, EA and m/SIX focus and diving into details that reinvigorate turned to the stories of the player, spotlighting the familiar tales. The giants of a sport will always move passion and unique angles of the people and play tickets — and copies of the video games featuring styles that don’t always take center stage across the them — but EA and m/SIX seized an opportunity year. Viewers of ‘Groundbreakers,’ a 20-episode to move people’s minds and hearts, making video series, learned about Brazilian Twitch player FIFA2020 stand out in a crowded category. Diogo Pe who was born without hands and plays FIFA with his feet; UK street-soccer player Lisa Freestyle, who turned down a pro career to follow her passion; and South Africa’s flashy “Kasi Flava” style of soccer. Best Ad LiftMaster and SCC - ‘Oh Yeah’ Program Insights Calling back to a perennial favorite from the 1980s Nostalgia is power in the world of advertising classics of director John Hughes, ‘Oh Yeah,’ and LiftMaster’s and SCC’s campaign tapped a returns viewers to the garage — and the bright red major vein of fond memories. More importantly, Ferrari — from fan favorite ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’ ‘Oh Yeah’ strikes a critical balance: playing with a Actor Alan Ruck reprises his role, playing an older known property while justifying the callback with Cameron who is a lot smarter about keeping his a smart twist, and all the while incorporating myQ treasured vehicle safe than his own dad, thanks and LiftMaster product features into the story in a to the LiftMaster smart garage — and its onboard way that actually makes narrative sense. A triumph. camera features. Best Live Barkley and Moment Planet Fitness - ‘United We Move’ Program Insights With its clientele under quarantine and lockdown, The year 2020 was a low point in many physical Planet Fitness created ‘The Home Work-In,’ a free, fitness routines, with stay-at-home orders causing daily, live 20-minute workout series hosted by its gyms to close. Daily step counts decreased by own trainers, pro athletes and celebrities such as 50%, and 66% of gym members decreased their Julian Edelman, Shawn Johnson, Jerry O’Connell physical activity. Ensure that staying at home and David Ortiz. Webcast on Facebook Live the didn’t have to mean staying glued to the couch, program launched just two days after Planet Fitness Planet Fitness paid it forward for its members in a closed all of its 2,000 locations. meaningful way during trying times — and earned brand recognition and loyalty to boot. Best Social Comedy Central Video Campaign Digital - ‘Vote Naked’ and ‘Thirst Trap the Vote’ Program Insights In a nine-episode social media video series, Popular voices move people to take action, and Comedy Central Digital gathered more than Comedy Central Digital’s election-themed effort a dozen comedians and creators to drive opened pathways to participation in a year when audiences from their own channels to a custom so much was at stake. Empowering voters to check voting information page during the 2020 their ballot registrations and learn more about national elections in the United States. The page, voting options created positive brand associations votevotevote.com, highlighted essential pro- for the comedians, the channel and the people voting messaging with entertaining content — and advocating for participation in critical civic a lot of laughs. moments. Best Multi- Freeform - Platform Video #StayTheFFHome Campaign Do’s and Don’ts Program Insights Freeform used its strength as a premiere young The effects of social distancing in 2020 strained adult entertainment brand to create a multi- everyone’s sense of communal togetherness and platform social distancing campaign aimed at meaningful ways to interact. Freeform seized the young adults. The campaign featured a PSA moment and drove a dual message: Staying home that put the spotlight on Freeform talent, plus was about safety and protecting others, and the packaging and promo around weekend movies. community it created for those higher purposes From there, audiences could tap into social-media could still carry a sense of fun and locking arms. So content including supercuts, memes, polls, Zoom many campaigns in 2020 highlighted the social backgrounds and more. impact of solitary living, and Freeform brought the message to the masses while keeping the focus on its original content. Best Video Ad Spirable and Aldi Tech Innovation Program Insights In a campaign geared toward keeping grocery So many campaigns in 2020 fused the practical shoppers safe during the pandemic, Spirable with the pandemic, and Aldi and Spirable are and Aldi turned to store-traffic data. With the a case in point. When social distancing was on help of agency McCann Manchester they were everyone’s mind, and the stakes for buying the able to craft social-distancing messaging and food and household items that shoppers needed communicate more than 3,400 video ads to presented unprecedented risk, the supermarket customers across Facebook and Instagram, chain turned its ads into loyalty-building targeting nearly 900 locations with tailored, opportunities that foreground help — and health — localized units that advised about foot traffic and in a time of need. which stores were quietest at which times. Best TV Ad Tech Gamut Media Innovation Program Insights As advertisers turned to OTT and CTV solutions, in There’s no question that omnichannel marketing 2020, a year when on-screen inventory became strategies will increasingly — and inevitably — put increasingly affordable for even mid-sized OTT among the foremost approaches. With that companies and smaller players, Gamut introduced said, targeting, measurement and attribution are a proprietary planning tool to accurately forecast very much on marketers’ minds. Gamut timed its local OTT video media plans with TV-like product perfectly, putting video-media targeting calculations. Using first-party data, customer data tools into market just as new demand surged. and third-party sources, advertisers were able to target relevant, engaged audiences across designated marketing areas (DMAs) — even at the ZIP code level. Best Streaming Tubi Service Program Insights Tubi is an ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) While there were more eyes on screens watching service with a massive library of more than 26,000 content for longer, day after day, in 2020, movies and television shows from nearly every not everyone was in a place to add a slew of major Hollywood studio. Its library, including a subscription streaming to their quarantine-bound whole section of age-appropriate viewing for kids, menus. Sticking to its ad-supported approach, gives fans of entertainment an easy way to discover Tubi positioned itself as the affordable content- new content that is available free of charge. discovery library with a premium touch. The service also knew that more at-home kids would be turning to more shows — and its Tubi Kids expansion was almost certainly a welcome addition to families’ at- home options. Best Streaming Circle TV TV Platform Program Insights A joint venture between Opry Entertainment Circle saw the need for a one-stop-content shop Group, (a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality for country music fans that didn’t really exist Properties) and Gray TV, Circle TV connects country anywhere else — serving fans who want to access music fans with a deep library of content, including the best audiovisual content in country music’s past archived Grand Ole Opry concerts, documentaries and present. With the lack of concerts, backstage and new shows as well. The interview series ‘Circle passes and intimate shows, in 2020, Circle TV Sessions’ is an example, featuring favorite artists doubled down on bringing country to the fans, such as Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Dierks keeping the flame of finding new music burning Bentley and more.