President’s Pick: Debbi Vandeven, Dan Wieden Titanium Lions

This turned the competition’s major advantage – McDonald’s’ huge number of locations – into a way to invite consumers to place an order at Burger King restaurants. The unprecedented use of tech and geotargeting was a perfect fit for Burger King’s challenger mentality. Plus, it drove consumer conversation and, more importantly, produced fantastic business results.

Work that solves a problem and improves the quality of life for people at the same time – all with the brand at the heart of the solution – is truly brilliant. It wins on so many levels. Because this work required a partnership with local government and industry authorities, it wasn’t easy to pull off, but in the end, it solved the lime shortage issue and helped farmers in China thrive. All while giving Corona drinkers a better experience with the product.

This transformative work unleashed conversation like never before, weaving together emotion and courage and wrapping it all in beautiful craft. It was a labour of love, as well as an unprecedented way to tell stories – not just one, but many. It solved a problem, allowing women to come together and share their own stories by giving them the words and reference points to describe their deepest feelings and pain in brave new ways.

This addressed an industry problem head-on. By turning the issue on its head and, in essence, winking at the fact that people returned clothing after wearing it, it made customers look at the brand in a fresh – and extremely positive – way. I love the fact that this unconventional approach yielded results for the client: fewer returns, not to mention a sales lift of nearly 25%.

Creativity combines disparate thoughts or elements to solve problems. I believe this should be done in the service of our clients for their customers. Of all the work I’ve seen, ‘Nike+ FuelBand’ is one of the best examples of that. By creating an entirely new product category and offering an unprecedented business solution with customer experience at the centre, it went far beyond any preconceived idea of ‘advertising’.