AUNZ Scores 2 Commendations at Immortal Awards

The Immortal Awards’ global jury has awarded commendations to ‘36 Months’ and ‘Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes’.

‘36 Months’ is a policy campaign led by production company FINCH, which successfully lobbied the Australian government to implement a minimum social media age. The PR efforts were led by Supermassive.

Motion Sickness’ ‘Make New Zealand The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes’ successfully reduced stigma by tapping into Kiwi competitiveness and humour via a retro-feeling, witty destigmatisation course led by former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry. FINCH was also involved in this project; the web series was shot by director Alex Roberts.

The global jury -- consisting of heavy hitters like Le Truc CCO Andy Bird; McCann global creative lead Danilo Boer, and adam&eve US CCO Brynna Aylward -- debated 38 projects, awarding 10 commendations and deeming just four projects Immortal: IKEA’s ‘U up?’; L’Oreal Paris’ ‘The Final Copy of Ilon Specht’; Rakish Entertainment, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and Chicago Hearing Society’s ‘Caption with Intention’; and SickKids Foundation’s ‘The Count’. Two of those projects were made in Canada, one in the US, and one in France.

Australia and New Zealand’s regional jury chose nine finalists to battle it out in front of the global jury, which convened in New York in December. Those finalists included four from Telstra, five from Telstra’s agency partner Bear Meets Eagle on Fire (its additional finalist was for Bankwest), three from New Zealand, and six from Australia.

Last year, the AUNZ region scored its first-ever Immortal Awards, with Australia and New Zealand each taking home a coveted trophy for ‘Play it Safe’, the Sydney Opera House’s creative call-to-arms starring Tim Minchin, and ‘Adoptable’, Pedigree’s AI-powered, hyper-local solution for getting dogs adopted in New Zealand.

The full list of winners from The Immortal Awards 2025:

IMMORTAL

IKEA - U up? (submitted by Rethink)

L'Oréal Paris The Final Copy of Ilon Specht (submitted by McCann Paris)

Rakish Entertainment, Chicago Hearing  Society - Caption with Intention (submitted by FCB Chicago)

SickKids Foundation - The Count (submitted by TBWA\Canada (formerly FCB Toronto), Merchant and Soundtree)

COMMENDATIONS

36 Months - 36 Months (submitted by FINCH)

Bad Bunny - Tracking Bad Bunny (submitted by DDB Latina Puerto Rico)

Cadbury - Made to Share (submitted by VCCP London)

Dove - Most Likely To (submitted by Ogilvy Canada)

Heineken - Pub Succession (submitted by Publicis Dublin and LePub)

KFC Thailand - Let There Be Cake (submitted by Carbon Films)

Nutter Butter - Nutter Butter, You Good? (submitted by Dentsu Creative US)

The Coca Cola Company - Shades of Red (submitted by DAVID Madrid)

The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes (submitted by Motion Sickness)

Uber One - Cox Goes to College (submitted by Union Editorial)