MullenLowe UK has won the Creative Shootout 2024, securing a £250,000 media fund to implement its campaign pitch for Carers UK.

As well as taking home a £10,000 cash prize, MullenLowe will produce its campaign for Carers UK later this year.

The media fund will include £100,000 worth of media inventory from out-of-home specialist Clear Channel and £50,000 worth of airtime from Sky Media alongside significant digital support from The Guardian.

Rounding out the fund will be a research programme from OnePoll/72 Point, an audio package from podcast company Acast, and a broadcast campaign from Markettiers.

Eight agencies made it to the final of the competition and were tasked with completing a live brief from Carers UK CEO Helen Walker in just four hours.

Carers UK provides information on accessing financial aid, emotional support, and advice on caring, while also helping to combat loneliness by connecting carers and campaigns.

The brief was to devise a campaign to halve the time it takes for someone to recognise themselves as an unpaid carer in 2024, so that within a year they can access support quicker, better protect their mental health, stay in employment, and seek financial support.

Finalists had only eight minutes each to pitch their creative campaign to a live audience of hundreds and a judging panel at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in the evening.

MullenLowe’s winning pitch focused on the everyday moments of care often not recognised as acts of caring, through a campaign titled ‘This is a Carer’.

The team’s integrated multichannel approach made full use of partners with a particularly powerful out-of-home creative.

The Creative Shootout founder Johnny Pitt said: “The 7th Creative Shootout felt like our biggest yet. From the significance of the cause and brief to the diversity of agencies involved and the scale of media support, it hit another level this year”.

Walker added: “We are delighted to see MullenLowe chosen as winner of The Creative Shootout – and incredibly excited to work with them as they use their creativity, expertise, and enthusiasm to harness the potential of this campaign, which aims to halve the time it takes for someone to recognise themselves as an unpaid carer”.

Other finalists included Boldspace, Mischief, Propellernet and Ready10, with Given in the runner-up spot and Red Consultancy in third place.