The FAB Awards

Established in 1998, The FAB Awards is an international awards programme focused on food and beverage brands.[1]

FAB Awards logo

Some of the brands that have won the FAB Award include McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Skittles, James Ready Beer, Heineken and Arla Foods.

Agencies that have previously won the FAB plate include BBDO, JWT, Leo Burnett, DDB, McCann Erickson, Razorfish, TBWA, Ogilvy & Mather, Lewis Moberly, Design Bridge, Pearlfisher, Landor, Turner Duckworth and Williams Murray Hamm.

Categories

Here are the various categories an entrant can submit their work into:[2]

1. RETAILERS restaurants hotels bars and clubs grocery outlets off licences convenience stores petrol stations supermarkets fast food 2. HEALTH FOODS low calorie foods low fat foods organic foods slimming products sweeteners vitamin and mineral supplements lowered cholesterol products 3. DAIRY PRODUCTS eggs butter margarine and other spreads cheese cream and crackers milk flavoured milk milk shakes milk desserts yoghurts ice cream 4. BAKING FOODS & COOKING INGREDIENTS biscuits and cakes bread breakfast cereals crispbread rolls flour and other baking products desserts jam honey peanut butter etc sugars and syrups oils 5. SUSTAINABLE Green Organic Environmental Recycling

6. PET FOODS 7. CONFECTIONERY & SNACKS sweet savoury bars bag snacks (inc. nuts, crisps, dried fruits etc) chewing gums chocolates 8. SAVOURY FOODS meat fish seafood pasta pizza rice chilled and fresh delicatessen products fresh, frozen, canned and dried fruit and vegetables mayonnaise vinegar and dressing soups and sauces baby foods 9. ALCOHOLIC DRINKS beers lager cider wines and champagnes cocktails fortified wines wine and spirit coolers spirits 10. NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS coffee tea drinking chocolate malted drinks mineral water still and carbonated soft drinks fruit and vegetable drinks energy drinks 11. SPECIAL (For Food and Drink related projects that do not have a natural fit in any of the usual categories.) 12. ETHICAL (For Food and Drinks brands that have procured their ingredients ethically and are clearly able to demonstrate this.) 13. PHOTOGRAPHY 14. SPONSORSHIP & IDENTS 15. CHARITABLE CAUSES

TYPE OF MEDIA / DESIGN

• Ambient Media
• Best Use Of Media (including Innovation, Creative Use, Effectiveness, Content or Bravery)
• Best Use of Technology (including AI, AR, VR, IoT, Connected Devices. etc.)
• Branded Content & Entertainment
• Branded Utility
• Brand Identity
• Brand Redesign
• Collateral & POS / POP
• Concept (Design & Packaging)
• Direct
• Experiential
• Guerilla Marketing
• Integrated Campaigns
• Influencer Marketing
• Interiors / Retail Environment
• Logo
• Mobile Marketing / Advertising Campaigns
• Mobile Apps & Sites
• Online Advertising & Online Marketing
• Packaging Design
• Poster / Outdoor / OOH
• Press & Print
• Radio
• Sales Promotion
• Shopper Marketing
• Social Media / Social Business
• TV & Cinema Advertising
• User Generated Content
• Virals

Judging

Judging takes place by international juries in London and usually takes three weeks. All nominated entrants are notified shortly after the judging. The winners are announced only at the awards ceremony.

Previous judges

The following are some of the Judges that have judged The FAB Awards over the past 21 years, since :[3]

Stuart Devlyn, Designer – Wiliams Murray Hamm, London Danny Klein, Partner – Millford Brand, The Netherlands Paula Macfarlane, Creative Director – Siebert Head, London David Beard, Creative Director – Brandhouse WTS Tim Watson – Zentropy Partners, London Joao Fernandes – View, Portugal Mark Hiltout, Creative Director – Ogilcy, Brussels Rodanthi Senduka, Creative Director – Red Design Consultants, Athens Patrick Kampman, Creative Director – Publicis, Stockholm Bernd Misske, Chairman – McCann Erickson, Vienna John Rushworth, Partner – Pentagram, London Adrian Kilby, Founder & Partner – The Formation, London Josep Ferrara, Creative Director – McCann Erickson, Barcelona Marcello Minale – Minale Tattersfield, London Lucy Jameson, Head Of Account Planning – DDB, London Matthew Howell – Joshua, London Rafa Anton, Exec. Creative Director – Vitruvio Leo Burnett, Madrid Carl Jones, EVP Creative – BBDO, Mexico Anjana Musenich, Creative Director – Cosmoblonde, Hamburg Barbara Schmidt, Creative Director – Elephant Seven, Hamburg Martin Boswell, Managing Director – Pancentric, London Frederick Dewispelaere, Former Writer – EURO RSCG, Brussels Paul-Kemp Robertson – Contagious Magazine, London Greg Mutton & Stuart Button, Creative Team – CHI Advertising, London Michel Rogale, Exec. Creative Director – JWT, Paris

Dave Woodall, Sr. Art Director – JWT, London Simon Edwards, Marketing Director – Cobra Beer, London Patrick Isaac – Saatchi & Saatchi, Copenhagen Martin Lannering – ANR BBDO, Gothenburg Rod Petrie – Design Bridge, London Richard Mellor, Founder & Creative Director – Hyperinterative, London Diedrick Koopal, Creative Director – Neboko TBWA, Amsterdam Rolando Sainz De Lan Pena, President – Bassat Ogilvy & Mather, Madrid Holger Jung – Jung V Matt, Hamburg Mary Lewis, Creative Director – Lewis Moberly, London Lucinda Semark – Britvic Soft Drinks, London Jeremy Perrot, Exec. Creative Director – McCann Erickson, London Cheryl Berman, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer – Leo Burnett, Chicago Daniel Bonner - Global CCO, Razorfish Neil Dawson - Partner & Exec. Creative Director, BETC London John Vinton - Creative Director, AIS London Nicola Davies, Planner & Strategy Director Graham Wall - Creative Director, Table 19 David Jenkins - Partner, Keen & Able, London Stephen Bell - Creative Director, Coley Porter Bell, London Paul Taylor - Creative Director, BrandOpus, London Steve James-Royale - Creative Director, The Yard Creative JP Hunter - Creative Director, Webb de Vlam, London Anthony Biles - Creative Director, Biles Inc.

Awards

The Hurlingham Club in London has hosted the FAB Awards ceremony for all 21 years of its existence.

The ceremony, which usually takes place in May, is a formal black tie event that includes dinner and drinks. It is attended by nominees, industry personalities, past judges and other select invitees.

The ceremony showcases all the nominated work and hands out the awards to the respective winners. From 2016 onwards all nominees were awarded a Silver Awards.

There are two types of awards to be won on the night:

FAB Award

This is equivalent to a 'Gold' in other major award ceremonies. There can be multiple FABs across a single category.

FABulous Award

These are the grand winners on the night and are awarded over a family of categories, such as, Traditional Advertising (TV, Press, Posters, etc.) or Digital Advertising (Online, Website, Social Media, Viral, etc.)

A project must have won a FAB Award on the night to be considered for a FABulous Award.

FAB Brand of the Year

Introduced in 2013, this award is handed out to the brand that fares the best in the judging session. This includes the number of nominations, FAB and FABulous Awards it wins. This is also the only award that is announced before the actual awards ceremony. In 2015 and 2016, this award was sponsored by Google UK, [4] with YouTube sponsoring it in 2017 and 2018.

Previous winners

Year	Brand
2018	Mars, Incorporated
2017	McDonald's
2016	Mars, Incorporated
2015	Mars, Incorporated
2014	Kit Kat
2013	McDonald's

FAB Agency of the Year

Similar to the Brand of the Year Award, this award is given to the agency that performed the best during the judging session. The award was introduced for the first time in 2000. This award was also sponsored by Google UK in 2015 and 2016,[4] with YouTube sponsoring it in 2017 and 2018.

Points are handed out for nominations, FAB Awards and FABulous Awards. The agency that amasses the most points is named Agency of the Year.

Previous winners

The following are the agencies that have won the Agency of the Year Award:[5]

Year	Agency
2018	BBDO New York
2017	BBDO New York
2016	AMV BBDO London
2015	AMV BBDO London
2014	AMV BBDO London
2013	JWT London
2012	BBDO Toronto
2011	AMV BBDO London
2010	BBDO New York
2009	Williams Murray Hamm, London
2008	Turner Duckworth London & San Francisco
2007	AMV BBDO London
2006	AMV BBDO London
2005	BBDO New York
2004	CHI Advertising, London
2003	JWT London
2002	Leo Burnett Worldwide
2001	Adam&Eve DDB London
2000	JWT New York

FAB Design Agency of the Year

Similar to the Agency of the Year Award, this award is given to the design house that performed the best during the judging session. The award was introduced for the first time in 2016.

Points are handed out for nominations, FAB Awards and FABulous Awards. The agency that amasses the most points is named Design Agency of the Year.

Previous winners

The following are the design houses that have won the Design Agency of the Year Award:[6]

Year	Agency
2018	Design Bridge & Turner Duckworth
2017	Jones Knowles Ritchie
2016	Horse

FAB Food Fight

In 2013, The FAB Awards along with WCRS published seven print ads to promote the 15th edition of the awards. That was the first time FAB ran an advertising campaign to promote the event.

The campaign is the brainchild or former FAB winner and WCRS creative Naz Nazli. Nazli came up with the idea while judging the awards in 2011.[7]

Full credits for the campaign:

Agency: WCRS

Copywriter: Naz Nazli & Rob Welch

Art Director: Naz Nazli & Rob Welch

Creative Director: Billy Faithfull

Photographer: Andy Gallacher

Post Production: Joanne Stubbs, Andy Gallacher & Tomek Drozdowski

Design: Tomek Drozdowski, Stein Olsen , Felipe Faudez & Daniel Atkinson

Stylist-Make Up: Bridget Lee

Client: The FAB Awards

The full campaign can be seen here.

20 Years Young Campaign

To mark their 20th Anniversary, The FAB Awards unveiled a new campaign by Creative Directors, Naz Nazli and Alex Ball with the tag line: “20 Years Young”.

Photographed by Andy Gallacher, it features some of the leading personalities from the Marketing, Design and Advertising Industry, who have either picked up the FAB plate or have judged the programme during its 20-year history.

The likes of Mary Lewis, Rodanthi Senduka, Graham Shearsby, Rosie Arnold, Bjorn Stahl, Peter Ignazi, Russell Ramsey, Karen Welman, Garrick Hamm, Paul Brazier, Donald Gunn and Michael Conrad (to name a few) are showcased in their youthful splendour, highlighting FAB’s continued support from the cream of the Marketing, Design and Advertising Industry.[8]

Full credits for the campaign:

Creative Directors: Naz Nazli & Alex Ball

Copywriter & Art Direction: Naz Nazli & Alex Ball

Photographer: Andy Gallacher

Post Production: Andy Gallacher & Joanne Stubbs

Typography: Casa Hamid

The full campaign can be seen here.

References

1. "The FAB Awards - What Is The FAB Awards". Retrieved 8 January 2017.
2. "The FAB Awards - Categories & Media – Creative And Effectiveness". Retrieved 8 January 2017.
3. "The FAB Awards - FAB Jury". Retrieved 8 January 2017.
4. "Google UK to Sponsor Major Categories at The FAB Awards – Food & Beverage News". Retrieved 8 January 2017.
5. "International Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards - FAB Awards 2013 Award Winners Showcase". Retrieved 8 January 2017.
6. "International Food and Beverage Creative Excellence Awards - FAB Awards 2013 Award Winners Showcase". Retrieved 8 January 2017.
7. "The FAB Food Fight – Leo Burnett". Retrieved 30 May 2013.
8. "The FAB Awards: 20 Years Young Campaign – Little Black Book". Retrieved 30 October 2017.