ICAS announces winners of the 2023 Global Awards and launches new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award category

ICAS announces winners of the 2023 Global Awards and launches new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award category

• Ambitious climate change and data protection projects, AI-driven monitoring tool, and impactful thought leadership initiatives are the winning entries of this year’s Global Awards
• ARB of South Africa wins first ever ICAS Special Recognition Award
• Sara Denby, Head of the Unstereotype Alliance Secretariat, announces new award category on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

On 24 April 2023, the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS) held its Global Awards Ceremony at the Feriye Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. The ceremony was organized in the context of the ICAS annual meetings that took place this year, jointly with the European Advertising Standards Alliance and alongside the Global Marketer Week of the World Federation of Advertisers in Istanbul, Turkey. 

The objective of the ICAS Awards is to reward initiatives that contribute to responsible marketing practices and a more effective and impactful self-regulatory system. New award categories have been introduced in 2022 to capture the best and most innovative initiatives, as well as initiatives that foster a more sustainable marketing environment. 

All entries were reviewed and winners selected by an international independent jury of self-regulatory experts, chaired by Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, Chairman of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) and Managing Partner of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.  Jury members were Onie Chu, Executive Director, Hong Kong 4As, Alexander Gligorijevic, Public Affairs & Advocacy, Campaign Unit Project Manager, Ingka Group (IKEA), Katie Goldstein, Global Head of KidAware, SuperAwesome, Joel E. Nettey, Immediate-Past World President & Chairman, International Advertising Association (IAA) and Paula Fernandez Pfizenmaier, Legal Central Sr Manager – Propiedad Intelectual, Mercado Libre.

The following winners were announced: 

• Excellence Award: AUTOCONTROL, Spain, for successfully extending the role of advertising self-regulation to data protection and supporting businesses to remain compliant, while protecting consumer online;  

• Inspiration Award: ASCI, the Advertising Standards Council of India, for transforming ASCI through impactful thought leadership initiatives, such as it’s GenderNext research and report, and achieving to position the organization as a thought leader in India while building greater engagement with various stakeholders;

• Innovation Award: Stichting Reclame Code in the Netherlands, for their project ‘Proactive monitoring for all’ which includes the development of an AI tool that can be employed by ad standards bodies across the globe to effectively monitor online and influencer marketing, ensure more transparency online and deliver at scale;

• Sustainability Award: Advertising Standards Authority, UK for their ambitious ‘Climate Change and the Environment Project’ which features a range of different work streams all contributing to ensure that UK advertising regulation positively contributes to tackling the climate crisis.

In addition, a fifth award category had been introduced in 2022, the ICAS Special Recognition Award. This recognition is dedicated to SROs that have either delivered outstanding performance, have shown resilience or demonstrated exemplary commitment to advertising self-regulation by supporting regional initiatives or helped other SROs thrive. For this award, SROs could not submit own initiatives, but could be nominated by other ICAS members. The nominations were evaluated by the ICAS Executive Committee.

Guy Parker, ICAS president, announced the first ever winner of the Special Recognition Award: The Advertising Regulatory Board of South Africa, ARB for facing significant challenges to their operations on multiple fronts while advancing the work of the SRO and the value of responsible advertising through effective self-regulation.

To conclude the 2023 Awards ceremony and provide a glimpse into the next edition, which will be launched in the second half of 2024, Sara Denby, Head of the Unstereotype Alliance Secretariat, UN Women, introduced a new award category: The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. The objective of this award is to celebrate ICAS’s partnership with the Unstereotype Alliance and to encourage all global advertising standards bodies to focus increasingly on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, help end harmful stereotypes in advertising and contribute to lasting change.

Jury Chairman Jeffrey A. Greenbaum said: 

Advertising self-regulatory organizations around the world are doing incredible, ground-breaking work that is truly making a difference.  This year’s winners of the ICAS Awards represent the best-of-the best.  The work that we are so thrilled to be celebrating demonstrates how self-regulation can quickly and effectively – often with very limited resources – address, in a very impactful way, many of the most pressing issues we face today.

ICAS congratulates all winners and thanks all participants who contributed to the success of the ICAS Awards. All the presented initiatives contribute to the promotion of effective and meaningful self-regulation, and the encouragement of ethical and responsible marketing and advertising practices. ICAS encourages organizations worldwide to seek inspiration from the winners, as well as from the other SROs that had submitted excellent initiatives, and to support the development and use of efficient, effective and innovative self-regulatory standards and solutions. 

ICAS also warmly thanks Jeff Greenbaum and all the jury members for their dedication and support.