SMFB Engine finalists for the 2016 Media Awards

The Oslo-based digital communication agency SMFB Engine is nominated for two prestigious awards at the Norwegian Media Awards 2016. The agency was eligible for two out of three categories, and is nominated in both. This is no mean feat for a start-up only two years into its existence.

SMFB Engine is nominated in the categories for best Media Strategy and best Media Creativity for their work on Diadora’s Bright Delivery campaign. The campaign was an international success for Diadora, exceeding in all the measurable KPI’s. SMFB Engine was responsible for developing the media strategy and executing it across channels on a global level. The creative partner agency, SMFB, was responsible for the overall creative idea and its production.

– Being an independent boutique agency, we are very proud to be nominated in these two categories. Competing for best media strategy and best media creativity of the year – being up against some of the most established global media agencies in Norway ¬– is clearly proving that we have built great competence quickly, and it is very encouraging for the road ahead, says Kim Herlung, the Agency Director and Consultant at SMFB Engine.

The campaign “Bright Delivery” utilized primarily social and digital channels to reach sport-loving and active people across Europe, US and Japan. With an immersive social experience and a real-life event at its core, the campaign consisted mostly of tailored video material, precisely distributed to various sub-segments on mobile platforms. It was an important task to engage people in a way that was real and relevant, demonstrating the joy of sports and proving what Diadora is all about.

Usually Diadora ship their products the traditional way, but for the re-launch of the N9000 the agency suggested to do a different kind of delivery – by foot, running. They partnered up with a sneaker store in Barcelona, where the first customer pre-ordering the shoes unknowingly sat in motion a relay run across Europe. 70 people recruited through Facebook ran 1500 kilometres for nine days, from the factory in Italy to the customer doorstep in Barcelona.

In my opinion, this is a great example of the synergies created when embedding creative ideas and media thinking from day one, says Herlung.

Before adding: – There’s an incredible value in todays communication landscape to have the mandate to tailor a campaign in detail throughout the entire communication chain. Together with the SMFB creatives, we are able to work in close collaboration across disciplines, and adapting media opportunities long before we even have a creative campaign idea. For us it’s all one communicative job. This campaign was much like an exam in striking that balance.

The project was clearly a challenging one – planned, produced and distributed in real-time. The core audience themselves were the relay runners – making them the centre piece of the campaign production. The agency documented the nine-day relay live via social media, and distributed the many unforgettable stories in 6 languages across 8 markets in real time. SMFB Engine was responsible for buying media programmatically and direct across channels and international markets, handling everything centrally from Oslo, Norway.

Mediaprisen, or the Norwegian Media Awards, is a highly prestigious award in the Norwegian media landscape. The jury recently commented that 2016 has seen a higher level of entries than ever before, and execution across social media platforms has been important for the jury when making its selection. SMFB landed several nominations in Cannes for the creative work and took home Gold in International Clio Awards in NYC earlier this year for the same campaign. It remains to be seen if SMFB Engine will take home yet another grand prize on behalf of Diadora’s Bright Delivery campaign in October.