Having set a high bar previously, pivoting the 2020 Green Carpet Fashion Awards (GCFA) to a fully virtual event with just a few weeks’ notice was no small task.
Visit the PRWeek Global Awards hub to find out more about the winners
Media partnerships were formed with the likes of YouTube, Sky and Vogue.com to broadcast the event. A comms and influencer campaign launched a month in advance of the event, including teaser videos and the announcement of the Visionary Award winner three days before the event, picking up global coverage.
A website dubbed the world’s first ‘Digital Green Carpet’ showcased content championing sustainable fashion and led people to the GCFA event, while a partnership with fashion avatar app DREST allowed users to ‘walk’ the carpet as avatars dressed for the occasion.
The audience found the event’s traditional 18th century home La Scala digitally recreated, with augmented reality and visual effects giving audiences the chance to see the venue taken over by foliage in front of their eyes.
A-list celebrities, both in speciality commissioned films and ‘live’ as holograms, appeared alongside presenters and winners. In Shanghai a physical GCFA event took place with 300 guests.
The result was 424 articles and a social media reach of 334 million. The event itself attracted 1.9m viewers, 82% of whom said they would consider sustainability issues more in the future.
Judge's comment:
“Such an amazing campaign with outstanding figures. They took advantage of a moment in time to create a more sustainable event digitally, and the entry did make me feel like I missed out on an exciting impactful moment.”
Highly Commended
IBM & The USTA - Enabling the 2020 (Virtual) US Open
The US Tennis Association and IBM team had 12 weeks to reimagine a spectator-less tournament. They used IBM’s self-learning technology to connect to fans with online debates and fact-based insights on players before matches, as well as a social media partnership with tennis pros and a behind-the-scenes digital tour. Their efforts, along with a mixture of earned and owned media coverage, helped generate 6.8m online visitors.
Shortlisted
#PricelessWave - Talker Tailor Trouble Maker for Mastercard
