YouTube Works Awards
About the Awards
Over the past decade, marketers have redefined how they communicate with consumers. From the heartwarming to the heart-racing — and everything in between — YouTube has seen how incredible video content can drive equally powerful results.
In partnership with industry leaders Kantar and Contagious, the YouTube Works Awards celebrate and champion the brilliant minds producing the most innovative and effective advertising creative on YouTube in the past year.
Winners join an esteemed shortlist of trophy bearers that help shape the future of creative effectiveness on YouTube. Plus, they have the opportunity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the industry’s best— both at our awarding event in New York this fall and within published thought leadership, wide-reaching case studies, and other advertising industry moments.
U.S. Categories
Creative Visionary
Celebrating the campaign that demonstrated creative ingenuity and brought to life a captivating vision.
This category champions your singular vision of creating something exciting and wholly original. How did your story punch through the page and onto the screen? What key creative decisions were made along the way to delight and excite? How did this make the work more effective, bold, and unforgettable?
Tech Pioneer
Celebrating the campaign that best leveraged technology to drive more creative impact.
We're looking for campaigns that pushed boundaries with tech, responsibly and effectively, to spark new ideas, evolve the creative canvas, generate assets, or scale the campaign across devices and formats. How did AI, ML, automation, or other technology improve the creative process or help your assets shine? How did you harness technology creatively to elevate marketing outcomes and drive business impact? How did you experiment with new tech to drive results?
Big Screen, Big Results
Celebrating the campaign that masterfully used YouTube on the TV screen to reach viewers and drive results.
We’re on the hunt for YouTube Connected TV-first campaigns that use the big screen to make a big impact on their awareness and consideration objectives. How did you fine-tune your creative for the big screen? Did you set out to captivate audiences watching YouTube from their living rooms?
Multi-Format Storytelling
Celebrating the campaign that best adapted original storytelling for formats of all sorts.
We want to see how you flexed your chameleon colors for different viewing contexts — whether it’s on the go on mobile or relaxed in the living room. When did you use different ad formats — long, short, vertical, audio, or otherwise — to meet your audience on their terms? How did you navigate the changing tides of what viewers expect from their video content?
Brands as Creators
Celebrating the campaign that best demonstrated brands behaving like creators.
We don’t just mean channels with flashy content or brands that partnered with creators — we’re looking for brands that show us that YouTube is in their DNA. This brand regularly crafts content informed by consumer trends and knows how to nurture passionate online communities. In what ways did your content meet audiences where and how they’re watching? How did you deliver entertainment and inspiration — just like a creator would?
The Changemaker
Celebrating the campaign that walked the walk on social or environmental issues.
We’re looking for campaigns that demonstrate a brand’s fierce commitment to diversity, inclusion, sustainability, environmental issues, or other social causes. How did your campaign balance your brand’s purpose with a tangible impact that extends beyond the bottom line? How did you inspire and empower your audience to take action?
The Underdog
Celebrating the campaign that beat the odds and made big waves.
We’re looking for campaigns from small or medium-sized brands (think businesses with 1,500 or fewer employees) that had big-name ambitions and achieved the results to match. How did you transform limited resources into major impact? What brilliant creative idea or novel consumer insight helped your campaign punch above its weight?
Grand Prix
Celebrating the most effective, creative, and innovative campaign that also drove exceptional business results.
The Grand Prix is our top prize; awarded to the campaign that breaks ground in multiple ways. This isn’t a category you can enter, but one you can hope to win if you show that your campaign checks all of the boxes.
How it works
Submit your best work from 2023 to be reviewed by our panel of industry leaders.
Our judges will select the winners across a number of awards categories and a Grand Prix will be awarded to the submission that best demonstrates brilliant results, storytelling, and creative effectiveness on YouTube.
Winners will be invited to participate in our awarding event in New York this fall, and may also be featured within published thought leadership, wide-reaching case studies, and other advertising industry moments.
Contest begins
April 2, 2024
Submissions end
May 14, 2024
Winners announced
September 2024
Best practices
Our judges are looking for campaigns that have creatively, strategically, and effectively leveraged YouTube to achieve a clear business impact. Make sure you set the scene and be clear about your KPIs. The metrics you provide will help our judges understand your work and the challenges of your category and marketplace.
Helpful hints:
- Consider co-writing your submission; media and creative collaborations help to tell the full story
- Tell a story with a beginning (objectives), middle (approach), and end (impact)
- Stick to simple and concise
- Include critical context around your creative
- Remember we need all relevant media referenced in your submission
- Note any factors external to YouTube that could have impacted results
- Share as many metrics as you can and include objectives, KPIs, and benchmarks
How to enter
Identify your most effective U.S. YouTube campaigns from 2023, review the Terms & Conditions, and fill out the submission form during entry window (now closed).
The YouTube Works Awards are easy to enter, and free. So if you’re part of a marketing, media, creative, or agency team, show us your best-in-class digital work for your chance to take center stage!
Questions? Contact us at youtube-works-us@google.com
2023 U.S. Winners
Brands and agencies from across the industry brought forward 2022’s most creative, compelling, and effective campaigns to the YouTube Works Awards. Our panel of expert judges selected 6 outstanding winners across 8 categories
Uncomfortable Truths
MassMutual, Giant Spoon, Grey
MassMutual wanted to drive awareness around a bold topic: money. The brand recognized that conversations about finances are important but aren’t always easy to have. It needed a creative way to grab attention and inspire people to tune into the topic. So it created a lighthearted campaign featuring diverse families having conversations about their financial futures amid unexpected events. The result was an intimate, fly-on-the-wall experience.
Toxic Influence
Dove, Mindshare, Ogilvy
Dove leaned into the power of long-form video to foster engagement. Over the years, Dove has fearlessly taken on the subject of real beauty to address timely issues. Recognizing how important parents’ voices are in shaping children’s self-esteem, the brand created nearly four-minute videos as part of its recent Dove Self-Esteem Project campaign. The videos featured face-mapping technology that put toxic advice into mothers’ mouths, leaving viewers captivated.
Won’t Leave You Guessing
Mailchimp, DEPT
Mailchimp embraced a full-funnel strategy to connect with small businesses that grapple with marketing challenges. Aiming to drive purchase intent, Mailchimp designed a whimsical campaign, featuring visuals like dancing rugs, to comically depict the confusion marketers often feel. Knowing that small business owners and decision-makers are at different stages of the funnel, it executed a highly tailored approach.
Between 2 Rides
eBay Motors, The Many
eBay Motors handed YouTube creators the keys and cocreated a masterfully produced five-part series that pitted modded cars against stock cars, with parts all purchased on eBay. Popular YouTube creator and race-car driver Collete Davis hosted each eight to 12 minute episode, featuring a special guest builder representing a subculture and product category. They paired episode drops with paid YouTube advertising, and the results were remarkable.
3500 Colors
Benjamin Moore, Horizon Media, Craft Worldwide, FIG, Sightly
Benjamin Moore faced a challenge. As businesses reopened and people ventured beyond their homes, home improvement took a back seat. Coupled with the economic headwinds, it was more important than ever for the company to support its local retailers. The brand took an innovative approach. It developed creative showcasing unique end cards for over 1,000 local retailers and paint colors, inspired by each region’s stunning color palettes.
Mixing Things Up
BlendJet, Logical Position
BlendJet needed a campaign that could drive awareness with new customers and transform existing ones into enthusiastic brand advocates. Its strategy? Create compelling content and engage both audiences. BlendJet tapped into big YouTube trends that have stood the test of time. Assets included YouTube fan favorites such as cake or fakes, bewildering viewers with a blender disguised as a cake, and ASMR videos, soothing them with 10 hours of BlendJet assembly.