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Setting new standards: DEPT® wins The Lovies AOTY for a fourth time

Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke
Mellissa Flowerdew-Clarke
VP of Marketing, EMEA
Length
12 min read
Date
7 November 2024

DEPT® is celebrating winning 31 awards at the 2024 Lovie Awards and being named Agency of the Year for the fourth time. With a total of 8 Gold, 17 Silver, 6 Bronze, and 21 People’s Lovie awards earned for work completed for clients including Sesame Workshop, Just Eat Takeaway, GANNI, and Strava, DEPT® is proud to celebrate another spectacular year at the Lovies.

Competing against 1,200 entries from 30 countries, our work has been selected as the best in its category, reinforcing our position as a leading agency that unlocks tomorrow’s possibilities for today’s most ambitious companies. Our range of winning projects reflect our innovative approach to utilizing AI and immersive experiences to deliver real business value for our clients.

Big winners include the AI-powered virtual beauty guru, Kenna, we created for essence,  the social-first branded content docuseries created for Just Eat Takeaway, the online experience created for Sesame Workshop to help caregivers talk about grief with children, and the simple-yet-powerful tool created in partnership with The True Story to help website owners worldwide fight misinformation.

“A fourth Agency of the Year win—just unreal. It’s a reminder of how far we’ve come, creating some of the most innovative work in the industry and pushing boundaries in tech and marketing. None of this would be possible without our amazing Depsters and clients. Huge thanks to them, the Lovie judges, and everyone who’s been cheering us on!”


Dimi Albers, Global CEO, DEPT®

The winners

Google: The Web can do What – Hello Monday/DEPT® – 2x Gold, 1x People’s Lovie

Unpacking the web’s latest tools, innovations and big opportunities for developers. We collaborated with Google to showcase the capabilities of the web, and open up a world of possibilities for developers in the browser. The things that make you go: “The web can do what?!”

GANNI: GANNI 2.0 – DEPT® – 1x Gold, 1x Silver, 2x People’s Lovie

The ‘GANNI Space’ metaverse is a trailblazing example of blending cutting-edge technology with stylish design to create a unique virtual retail experience. Far more than a standard fashion showroom, it offers an interactive and immersive journey through GANNI’s collections, each with a distinct, multidimensional character. This innovative space bridges arts, fashion, retail, and culture, providing users with a tactile experience through 3D interactions and detailed views.

Bol: The Story of the Forget-me-nut – DEPT® – 1x Gold, 1x People’s Lovie

Once upon a time (last holiday season, to be exact), online toy store Bol launched a one-of-a-kind interactive podcast inside its “Big Toy App”. By combining linear storytelling with interaction we doubled the app downloads and had a huge impact on the app engagement throughout the holiday season.

Sesame Workshop: Sesame Grief Project – Hello Monday/DEPT® – 1x Gold, 2x Silver, 3x People’s Lovie

Grieving is hard for everyone. We helped Sesame Workshop create an experience that helps parents and caregivers process and talk about grief and death with young children in an open, honest, and age-appropriate way.

Undo the Firewall – Hello Monday/DEPT®- 1x Gold, 1x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

With the World Economic Forum declaring “Misinformation” as the #1 global threat for 2024, we worked with The True Story to launch Undo the Firewall. Undo the Firewall provides a simple yet powerful tool for websites worldwide to host uncensored news stories about Russia. The initiative seeks to break through digital barriers and ensure access to unfiltered information for Russian citizens.

Transcript

Today, Russians no longer have access to independent news. Over the last 12 months, more than 800,000 websites have been blocked by Russian authorities, making it nearly impossible for Russian citizens to access true, unbiased, and uncensored news. During the Second World War, censorship was fought by the underground printing press. News leaflets were delivered in hiding, or you would tune into the BBC radio stations that transmitted news across Europe, giving countries access to real news. But how do we rethink and bring real news to the Russian people in the digital age? We do this by making any website in the world a potential vehicle for fighting misinformation and giving website owners a way to weaponize themselves in the fight against censorship. All this with a simple goal to make sure that the Russian citizens get access to news that is independent and uncensored, and from there, make up their own opinion. Lev Garrison, a former head of Yandex News, created the true story, a news aggregator that sources news stories from around the world, not from a single source of truth, but from multiple sources so that you get many perspectives on a single story. We partnered with the true story to use their technology to fight internet censorship, creating a tool that allows any website in the world to host Uncensored News. It’s simple. A website owner goes to undo the firewall.com, copies the code, and adds it to their website. Now, if a user with Russian language settings visits that website, the news from the copied code will appear on the page exposing Russian visitors to real news. The most important part, because the code is not distributed from a single IP address, but from many individual websites, it can’t be blocked in a centralized manner. It allows anyone to help fight censorship one website at a time, and helps undo the firewall.

Simple Things: The best things are Simple Things – Hello Monday/DEPT® – 1x Gold, 1x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

Simple Things offers the simplest solution for smart home and building automation. Because everyone can do with a little more less, we helped create a branding and website design that was minimalist, curated and subtle. A brand and design system that bridges lifestyle benefits and product features. Aesthetics and functionality. Because we know best things are the Simple Things.

Sumthing – DEPT® – 1x Gold, 1x People’s Lovie

Recognising the importance of restoration, both as a Certified B Corp and in light of recent sustainability regulations, we joined forces with Sumthing to elevate their digital presence and to build a new and future-proof donor platform where donors can track the progress and impact of their contribution in real-time.

Strava: Year in Sport 2023 – Hello Monday/DEPT® – 4x Silver, 2x People’s Lovie

Athletes all over the world look forward to Strava’s Year in Sport campaign, an in-app experience tailored so that each Strava Athlete (user) can visualize their training activities and stats from 2023. By combining clever animations with striking visuals, we created an engaging and entertaining story for each athlete. Every sprint, jump, race and victory dance comes alive in a burst of electrifying color, emphasizing everything you’ve accomplished while continually looking to break your own personal bests.

Consensys – Hello Monday/DEPT® – 2x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

Consensys is a Web3 company looking to empower anybody to be a builder of the new internet. Therefore, they were looking for a website that allowed them to keep the authority of their past experience but move away from their corporate look and feel. In 2.5 months, we created this fun, approachable and informative site, from UX/UI, asset creation, data visualization and development.

essence: Kenna – DEPT® – 1x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

With an ambition to become a global leader in the beauty industry, essence is moving away from a performance-focused strategy and opting for an experience-focused strategy. To make a splash, the brand is investing in emerging tech, including an AI-powered virtual assistant named Kenna, which DEPT® was thrilled to design and build.

Transcript

Hi, I’m Kenna, the AI powered virtual assistant by International Beauty brand essence. I’m the first of my kind and super excited to meet you. essence developed me to shift from a performance focused to an experience focused strategy, aligning with their claim to make beauty fun by launching an AI enabled virtual assistant (AKA me). essence aims to enhance the customer engagement and spark passion for the brand among Gen Z. My role is being the enabler, connector, and cheerleader for the essence community, offering advice on new products and beauty trends through fun, easy conversations. I was first brought to life in Spring 2024 and debuted at OMR Festival where visitors interacted with me in their native languages, experiencing a 3D real-time virtual beauty assistant for the first time. essence and Dept brought me to life using advanced technologies. I have a custom built GPT Brain Open AI whisper-powered ears for multilingual understanding, and a custom voice from 11 labs, 30% based on an essence employee’s voice. My 3D Body is real time ready and reacts to conversations with custom gestures, making interactions lively and engaging. As an AI microservice, I can be deployed across various platforms by combining these multiple technologies. I’m one of the first prototypes that gives AI a space, voice and body. How cool is that? So what’s next? As a new addition to essence, I will soon be integrated across multiple channels, including our website, retail, POS, and social platforms. You might even see me at an event, so keep your eyes peeled. And as technology evolves, essence and Dept will keep me updated on the latest AI features so I can continue to help customers and make beauty fun.

Andermatt Swiss Alps: Andermatt – DEPT® – 1x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

Andermatt is a Swiss mountain village on its way to becoming a prime alpine destination. The emerging Andermatt Reuss district and the expansion of the infrastructure offer space for new, visionary living space supported by the surrounding community. To promote tourism in this region and accelerate real estate sales, DEPT® created a new 3D immersive experience in this iteration of the website. 

Johnnie Walker: Footsteps of progress – DEPT® – 1x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

We brought unseen stories to light on and offline, with footsteps leading to an AR experience that became a force for female empowerment in Eastern Europe. As a brand that’s all about progress, we worked with Johnnie Walker to kickstart a much-needed conversation through influencers and in the media. And then we went one step ahead: creating a shoe as a symbol of collective progress, inspiring women to proudly step up for change, tear up limitations and change the narrative on equality.

Just Eat Takeaway: Home of the Hotspots – DEPT® – 1x Silver, 1x Bronze, 1x People’s Lovie

From fast-casual chains to unique holes in the wall, JET is the ultimate platform to find favourite comfort dishes and discover new culinary delights. But not everyone knows about its vast range of locally-loved offerings.  To address this, DEPT® and JET launched a social-first, branded content docuseries that garnered more than 11 million views of its first three episodes, a 4% favorability increase and a 136% order boost. 


Just Eat Takeaway: Delivering joy with an unexpected duo – DEPT®- 1x Silver, 1x Bronze
After enlisting the unexpected duo of Christina Aguilera and Latto to front the 2023 iteration of JET’s “Did somebody say…” campaign,  DEPT® was tasked with translating the excitement of the TV world across digital channels to help establish JET as the best on-demand delivery platform that caters to all food cravings and convenience needs.  

Louis Poulsen – DEPT® – 1x Silver, 1x People’s Lovie

Louis Poulsen approached DEPT® with a clear objective: To update their website in sync with their minimalistic Scandinavian design ethos. Our plan was not just to redesign; we wanted to refresh the digital landscape and craft a forward-looking, naturally progressive evolution that integrates with Louis Poulsen’s brand identity.

Bol: Christmas – Packing Up Early – DEPT®- 1x Bronze, 1x People’s Lovie
We helped Dutch online store Bol represent those who experience and celebrate the holidays differently with a campaign that created a nation wide conversation with its message: Make Christmas what you want it to be.

The Gym Group – DEPT® – 1x Bronze, 1x People’s Lovie

January is arguably the most critical (and crowded) time in the health and fitness calendar. After appointing DEPT® as its lead creative agency, our first task for The Gym Group was to develop a through-the-line creative concept that would not only make an impact during this period but have the longevity to serve as a brand platform throughout the year.

Transcript

There’s a gym group round the corner with lots of actual top quality equipment from just thirteen ninety nine a month.

Krea App: Ramasjang Krea App – Hello Monday/DEPT® – 1x Bronze

Ramasjang’s new krea app is crafted on a foundation of sweat, heart and joy of drawing. We have a dream of strengthening children’s joy of life and self-confidence through creativity. Together with DR, we have developed a place where children can experiment with drawing techniques on solid ground, and where time can be allowed to slip away between their hands, because an hour has passed coloring a beautiful pattern.

eBay: eBay Parts & Accessories – DEPT® – 1x Bronze

With an inventory of millions – far larger than any competitor – and upwards of 20 million active users, eBay is a leader in the car parts and accessories (P&A) market. But not a brand to rest on its laurels, eBay wanted to defend its market share and turned to DEPT® to engage its vast audience through a single 360-degree through-the-line campaign.

Transcript

You are built different. Breathing new life into broken, taking matters into your own hands, assembling big dreams from the small things.

Kudos to our talented team and incredible clients and a huge thank you to the Lovies judges and all our supporters.