{"id":5666,"date":"2026-11-02T10:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/?post_type=news&p=5666"},"modified":"2026-11-02T10:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:53:09","slug":"distilleri-group-takes-silver-and-two-bronzes-at-marketing-excellence-awards-2026","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/news-press\/distilleri-group-takes-silver-and-two-bronzes-at-marketing-excellence-awards-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Distilleri Group takes Silver and two Bronzes at Marketing Excellence Awards 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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ICOM member Distilleri Group<\/a> has won three awards at the Marketing Excellence Awards 2026, organised by Marketing Interactive on October 1, 2026, recognising work by its Singapore team for three very different clients:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Silver, Excellence in Urban Guerrilla Marketing: \u201cCooling Off Day\u201d for Three Legs Cooling Water (Wen Ken Group)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bronze, Excellence in AI-Powered Storytelling: \u201cFor the Good Kind of Aiyahs\u201d for GXS Bank<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bronze, Excellence in Customer Engagement: \u201cWe\u2019re in a Pickle\u201d for McDonald\u2019s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    The AI-powered storytelling award carried extra weight for the agency. Distilleri was up against established international networks with proprietary AI tools, bigger production resources and much larger budgets. \u201cTo have our work recognised in that category was especially encouraging,\u201d said Junren Xiao, General Manager, Distilleri Group, \u201cand a reminder that resourcefulness and strong creative thinking can still make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    All three campaigns took something people already knew well and found an unexpected way to make them care about it. Each one was built on a human insight, given a fresh creative expression and tied back to a clear business objective, and each one depended on clients willing to try a less conventional idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Cooling Off Day: a heritage brand joins the election conversation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Three Legs Cooling Water has been a household name in Singapore for nearly 90 years. Like many heritage brands, though, it risked being seen by younger audiences as a remedy for their parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    There was no brief behind this campaign, and Distilleri hadn\u2019t even been appointed by Wen Ken Group yet. When Singapore\u2019s General Election was announced, the team saw an opportunity in Cooling-off Day, the day political campaigning stops ahead of an election, giving voters time to reflect. Ironically, it\u2019s also when political conversations tend to get most heated, and it fitted the brand\u2019s long-standing role in combating body heatiness (a traditional belief about excess heat in the body).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Distilleri pitched the idea, the client agreed, and the team turned it into a live activation within 48 hours, producing the campaign materials overnight. The result was the \u201cMinister of Cooling\u201d, a tongue-in-cheek politician campaigning not for votes but for everyone to stay cool. On 2 May 2025, the Minister and his entourage held a three-hour mock rally at Raffles Place, in Singapore\u2019s central business district. They came complete with banners, placards and leaflets, and handed out free bottles of Three Legs Cooling Water. The stunt was then amplified across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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