The competition is looking for examples of marketing or communications strategies that inspire social effects – conversation, sharing, participation or advocacy – and also a measurable business impact.

Chair of the judging panel Pete Blackshaw, global head of digital and social media at Nestlé, said: “Proving the link between social ideas, in all forms, and business results is one of the biggest challenges we face as marketers. I’ll be looking out for ideas that have social baked in from the start, and deliver meaningful results for the brands behind them.”

There will be a $5,000 Grand Prix for the world’s best social strategy case study, plus five $1,000 Special Awards (see below). There will also be Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for the highest-scoring cases.

The deadline for entries is 5 December 2013, with the winner being announced in March 2014 and further details can be found at: www.warc.com/socialprize

The five $1,000 Special Awards on offer are:

• The Long-Term Idea Award for the best example of a social strategy that has delivered sustained success for a brand.
• The Analytics Award for the paper with the smartest use of data to demonstrate effectiveness.
• The Channel Strategy Award for the smartest use of media channels to deliver an effective social strategy.
• The Low-Budget Award for the best example of a brand achieving business results on a marketing or communications budget under $1 million.
• The Social Business Award for the best example of ‘upstream’ social strategy, or a business model built around a social idea.

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