The winners of the ESG Awards 2023

BLUE supported the significant announcement of green hydrogen start-up company Power2X’s long-term investment of €130m from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. This was aimed at accelerating the growth of Power2X as a development platform and funding for green molecule projects.

The judges said: "BLUE Communication's motivation to help reshape the industry with PR around green hydrogen should be commended."

View winners' clip here.

Creating roomsets in IKEA stores that depicted the real living conditions of those in temporary accommodation had a profound impact. There were 324 pieces of editorial coverage, the IKEA policy pages set up for the campaign received 11,300 visitors and there were over 3.5m impressions and over 32,000 engagements on LinkedIn alone.

The judges said: "A really engaging campaign with genuine social purpose and a cause that links IKEA's core product with the needs of society. Overall a clear and well delivered campaign."

View winners' clip here.

Food waste is a huge global issue and tackling it requires everyone to do their bit. This campaign avoided guilting people into action, instead putting a positive spin on the subject to make it personally relevant to individuals with the greatest propensity to change – and they did, in their millions.

The judges said: "I love this campaign, which addresses the hugely important issue of food waste. The campaign is grounded in insights and targeted to core audience groups. It's great to see behaviour change related outcomes being measured alongside PR outcomes."

View winners' clip here.

Tata's strategic decision to operate through green building and developing biologically diversified campuses within which it operates is key for conserving & enhancing urban biodiversity accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goal.

The judges said: "Strong technical expertise in an incredibly important area. It was interesting to note the cultural shift from conservation programs not being considered to becoming integral. Overall, good segmentation of various stakeholders from employees and shareholders to local communities."

View winners' clip here.

This campaign shows the power of creativity to stand up for mental health and the future of young girls and women in record speed. By enlisting partner influencers to inspire a grassroots movement of influencers and average TikTok users, we helped Dove take a bold stand against harmful social media beauty trends. And now, one of the largest influencer talent agencies in the world, Gleam, publicly joined Dove in condemning TikTok’s Bold Glamour filter. It has even updated its own agency influencer editing policies to create a safer, more ‘beautiful’ world.

The judges said: "How clever to have tapped into insight that I hadn’t heard being talked about before. Making real change in schools is impressive."

View winners' clip here.

Women are more likely to experience pain, they’re also less likely to have it taken seriously by HCPs with nearly half (48%) of adults saying there is a ‘gap’ in the identification and treatment of pain between genders. Not through malice, but ignorance and unconscious bias. See My Pain brought the Gender Pain Gap into focus, helping consumers and HCPs understand pain bias through un-ignorable data and imitation products and brand action.

The judges said: "This campaign has a really well thought through approach that considers multiple channels. This was a meaningful topic to the brand and supported by tangible impact outside of direct comms."

View winners' clip here.

We needed to make suicide and suicide prevention a national conversation again. We created an exhibition on London’s South Bank of 50 smiling faces which, initially, had no reference to CALM. On launch day we revealed – live on This Morning – that each was the last photo of someone who later took their own lives. There were over 800 pieces of coverage delivering over 1 billion Opportunities to See through editorial coverage alone. The activity reached over 90% of the UK population and 60% of people asked understood the message to be that “the signs of suicide aren’t always obvious”.

The judges said: "Incredibly impactful campaign with equally impressive results. Well executed within a tighter budget with all messaging landing."

View winners' clip here.

This pivotal campaign turned engineering start-up Coolbrook from Finnish up-starts to the leading green electrification company for the heavy industries. With rivals starting to crowd around, Coolbrook needed to assert itself as the pioneer of clean electrification within heavy industries or risk its long-term goals being threatened. Through a creative, highly targeted and persistent PR campaign Coolbrook was able to cement their position as leaders in their field.

The judges said: "The creativity and strategy in this campaign are what sets it apart. GingerMay was pivotal in Coolbrook taking huge steps forward in the revolution to decarbonise heavy industry."

View winners' clip here.

Sodexo, which manages seven UK prisons on behalf of the MoJ and Scottish Prison Service, launched Starting Fresh to improve access to work for prison-leavers and other ex-offenders. Starting Fresh not only advocates for recruiting ex-offenders, but actually provides practical solutions for organisations – particularly those impacted by the skills crisis.

The judges said: "Starting Fresh is clearly having a major impact on the life chances of offenders. I was also impressed with the media interest generated."

View winners' clip here.

#Merky FC: a partnership between adidas and Stormzy’s #Merky Foundation will see real change in representation off the pitch in the football industry. The campaign achieved over 200 pieces of editorial coverage, including 30 pieces across national broadcast, print and online titles. As a result, there were over 35,000 visits to the #Merky FC website in the first week of the campaign. There have been over 2,000 applications for the roles. Almost half (46%) of the campaign’s Black and mixed heritage audiences were aware of the launch.

The judges said: "Perfect match of foundation and brand. Well executed and promoted."

View winners' clip here.

Climate change can seem distant – it’s happening far away, or in the future. A global problem, that’s outweighed by more immediate issues closer to home. And one where collective action or viable changes are seemingly difficult to achieve. We wanted to build awareness of the Met Office’s role as an impartial, trusted informer and advisor on climate change, and help people #GetClimateReady

The judges said: "It is a wonderful use of insights and analysis to formulate a campaign that would authentically resonate with a group that is harder to reach. The resounding success of the campaign speaks for itself."

View winners' clip here.

Wiggle is an online retailer for anyone who loves the great outdoors: runners, cyclists, swimmers, triathletes (obviously) and even hikers. They aren’t JD Sports or Sports Direct. They aren’t even owned by Mike Ashley. In fact, they started out in 1995 as a little shop in Portsmouth and they’ve just steadily grown and grown to become a highly specialised £400m business. Wiggle is for people in the know. Those who might be *slightly* geeky about their fitness pastime (translation: talk about literally nothing else). But what Wiggle is definitely not is a closed shop exclusively for ultra marathon runners. It’s a brand that recognises everyone is unique, everyone is exercising with different objectives, and that everyone deserves to be able to achieve their fitness goals. Our ongoing retained brief: celebrate the athlete in everyone and help them get their Wiggle on, whatever their ability.

The judges said: "Absolutely loved this campaign - creative, meaningful and created alongside the community that would be impacted and (as expected) trolled as an outcome. A brilliant example of bringing people together, in a way that navigates polarised and needlessly hateful environment."

View winners' clip here.

Over 1.5 million homes remain without internet access, unable to connect with loved ones online, work and study remotely, or access vital digital services. We wanted to create a long-term solution to address data poverty. We launched the UK's first ever National Databank - like a food bank but for free mobile data - to tackle digital exclusion. Thanks to partners coming on-board, Virgin Media O2 is on track to connect 500,000 people by the end of 2025.

The judges said: "A campaign with demonstrable benefits for those it was targeting."

View winners' clip here.

Youth homelessness charity Centrepoint needed a Winter campaign to generate coverage and donations. However, with Christmas vs the World Cup, it was going to be a fight for column inches. So we used the power of football culture to our own ends. With chants of “It’s Coming Home” heard across the nation, we shone a light on those NOT coming home this winter.

The judges said: "Above all, the timing and intriguing tagline, responding to the World Cup, sets this campaign apart. Despite the moderate budget, the levels of engagement and the awareness spread for homelessness was very high. A simple yet very effective campaign that stops people in their tracks."

View winners' clip here.

TEAM LEWIS Foundation joined forces with Blind Veterans Association, Blind Veterans UK, BRAVO VICTOR, USAF, The RAF and AirTanker to take Team Ukraine to the Warrior Games. The brief for this mission was to help find a way for the Ukraine Warrior Games team to compete at the Warrior Games in Orlando. The team documented their journey to show the world what Ukraine can achieve.

The judges said: "The TEAM LEWIS foundation really stepped up here to support Team Ukraine at an unimaginable time and doing so whilst coordinating so many partners is commendable."

View winners' clip here.

Microplastics are known to be harmful to the environment but are still widely used in cosmetics. Our campaign flew in the face of the usual industry excuses about the complexity of changing formulations by proving that it IS possible to produce brilliant effective products without them.

The judges said: "This was an effective campaign on a tight budget. There was clear benefit to both parties in using brands who live and breathe these principles, as proof it can be done. There is something really nice about brands pushing for stricter legislation, rather than being legislation-led."

View winners' clip here.

We needed to make suicide and suicide prevention a national conversation again. We created an exhibition on London’s South Bank of 50 smiling faces which, initially, had no reference to CALM. On launch day we revealed – live on This Morning – that each was the last photo of someone who later took their own lives. There were over 800 pieces of coverage delivering over 1 billion Opportunities to See through editorial coverage alone. The activity reached over 90% of the UK population and 60% of people asked understood the message to be that “the signs of suicide aren’t always obvious”.

The judges said: "An incredible and meaningful campaign that turns people's idea of depression and suicide on its head. Really thoughtfully executed with incredible reach and great delivery on objectives."

View winners' clip here.

Through considerable efforts NBS has been able to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. Not only does it recognise its responsibility to drive change within the wider construction industry, it sets the bar, leading by example.

The judges said: "This entry was full of evidence that demonstrates just how high NBS are setting the bar . It’s clear significant steps are being taken to reduce their carbon footprint, so impressive to see this is a core business goal."

View winners' clip here.

One of the priorities of MBH Bank’s ESG Strategy is to raise sustainability-related awareness among our employees. In October 2022 we launched an internal communications campaign kicked off with a video message from our CSO. In early 2023 we invited our colleagues to plant the first 10,000 saplings of our very own MBH Forest together.

The judges said: "It's clear that attention was paid to the communications cascade and how each element will build off the other and help maintain momentum. I also thought the involvement of children was a nice touch and helped reinforce messaging with children who are likely to grow up as either future customers or employees. Also very encouraging to see senior-level buy-in of your ESG programme."

View winners' clip here.

UPM is investing 1bn euros in a world-first biorefinery in Germany that has the potential to transform many industries by replacing fossil-based chemicals with renewable alternatives, sourced from forest biomass. UPM partnered with The Tilton Consultancy to develop an integrated campaign globally to demonstrate to brands in multiple sectors – including fashion, automotive, chemicals – that there are “no excuses” to exit fossils, now.

The judges said: "A multi-faceted and well-thought through campaign that has carefully considered its target audience. It is also good to see engagement across other sectors including policy makers, States and universities. This is a textbook example of great ESG engagement."

View winners' clip here.

Car launches all have the same problem – unless you’re spending millions on advertising, you’re restricted to the motoring media. Kia briefed us to break through this, achieving a mainstream media splash for its new electric family car, the Kia EV9. Our idea was to celebrate the power of electricity by channelling a million volts through car lover Jodie Kidd in a deathdefying stunt.

The judges said: "Very impressive-technical photography at the forefront of AI powered technologies. Great results in terms of media coverage and breadth of types of publications. Clearly the campaign had an effect on Google searches."

View winners' clip here.

Creating roomsets in IKEA stores that depicted the real living conditions of those in temporary accommodation had a profound impact. There were 324 pieces of editorial coverage, the IKEA policy pages set up for the campaign received 11,300 visitors and there were over 3.5m impressions and over 32,000 engagements on LinkedIn alone. Post-campaign research found perceptions that IKEA is “committed to doing good” rose 20% and the proportion of people feeling IKEA is “a values-led business” increased 12%.

The judges said: "So impactful and intuitively aligned with IKEA's focus on the importance of the home. The concept of the campaign grabbed me before I had even seen the execution. Very thoughtful stakeholder targeting from policymakers to consumers. The brand and campaign messages landed harmoniously, very impressive work."

View winners' clip here.

In two years, The Tilton Consultancy has established itself as a leading boutique strategic consultancy, trusted by some of the world’s leading organisations. We seek to outperform our peers by providing a high level of senior expertise and agility, focused on supporting organisations committed to driving change in their industry. Tilton liberates talent who want to live and work consistent with their values, with a flexible, international, work-life model, built around the needs of the individual.

The judges said: "The agency has achieved a significant amount in a short period of time and has an impressive client roster. Many of the projects are exciting and the integrated approach being taken is very positive. The agency also has an interesting model, and is well established to achieve future growth."

View winners' clip here.

Milk & Honey is an agency shaped by our values, owned by our team and bought into by clients with purpose. We were created to cater to the growing calls for change in business.

Our ‘People, Purpose, Planet’ report is our commitment to proving – every day – that ‘good’ business is good business.

The judges said: "It’s so refreshing and inspiring to see an agency with such strong values at its core. Their People, Purpose, Planet Report is something all agencies should be aspiring to."

View winners' clip here.

Kindred have been making positive change for 25 years. Their new Positive Change is Serious Business positioning is the culmination of this. The purpose landscape has evolved and matured, and so have they. Launching Positive Change is Serious Business has made 2023 a milestone year for Kindred.

The judges said: "This entry showed a really strong sense of purpose both within the agency and in terms of the work undertaken externally. It’s commendable that the team won't work with companies that don't further their own mission to make a positive impact. This is so powerful."

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As a company focused on acquiring, managing and retiring existing U.S. natural gas assets, ESG principles are fundamental to Diversified Energy Company’s business strategy. The Company’s sustainability report highlights accomplishments, realistic ESG targets and specific action underway to reduce Diversified’s environmental footprint – from emissions to biodiversity – and produce natural gas consistent with the transition to a lower carbon economy.

The judges said: "This is an exemplary ESG Report, well written and clearly laid out explaining exactly what progress the business has made to decarbonise its essential operations. The report appeals to both head and heart."

View winners' clip here.