THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Industry

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Auto See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Beauty See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Business to Business See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Consumer Brand See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Education See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Entertainment See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Financial Services See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Fitness, Health, & Wellness
<br>See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Food & Beverage
See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Gaming See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Government & Politics See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Hospitality See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Insurance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Live Events See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> News & Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Non-Profit See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pets & Animals See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pharma & Healthcare See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Estate See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Restaurants See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Retail & E-Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Activism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Sports See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Television See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Travel & Tourism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Wine, Beer & Spirits

Strategy & Engagement

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Brand Partnership See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Call to Action See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Community Management See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Creative Use of Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> CTV/OTT See previous winners and honorees for Insights and Trends here.</a> <a href=https://shortyawards.com/17th/"https://shortyawards.com/category/16th/data-visualization">See previous winners and honorees for Data Visualization here.</a>"> Data & Insights See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Earned Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Event & Experiential See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Gamification See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Humor See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Innovative Media Buying Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Integration with Traditional Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Internal Communications See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> LGBTQ Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Micro-Influencer Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Multicultural Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Music & Dance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> On a Shoestring See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Organic Promotion See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Paid & Amplification See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Physical and Digital Convergence See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Public Service Announcement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Time Response See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> SEO & SEM See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Storytelling

Clock Man Haunts TikTok

Entered in Single Post or Activation

Objective

While Gen Z’s frontal lobes were developing, a digital screen was perma-glued to their faces. So, it goes without saying, the Edward iPhone-hands generation has been continually barraged with branded tweets, imagery, and “swag” ever since they could utter the phrase “engagement bait.”

So, our challenge was to break through the organic brand clutter with our social presence - resonating with Gen Z in a way other brands don’t. Where similar QSR brands are focused on trend-hopping, aesthetic food photography, and meme-style shares, Domino’s aimed to authentically and uniquely engage Gen Zers.

 

Strategy

After seeing a continual onslaught of Daylight Saving Time complaints on social from Gen Zers, we clocked an opportunity for Domino’s to save the day. Their recent Emergency Pizza Deal, where consumers could buy one pizza and get a second for free, provided a moment’s reprise from the dreaded darkness of a 5PM sunset. After all, the darkness of Daylight Saving Time felt like an emergency to our target audience. 

 

Since Gen Z gravitates toward “the absurd”  as a moment’s reprise from reality, it provided a fun opportunity to lean into a surrealist-style post.

 

Hence, the Clock Man. Half-clock, half-man, full evil. His only goal in life is to bring chaos and calamity to those who seek the light. The only hero who could defeat him was Domino’s Emergency Pizza, swooping in to save the day(light savings) with a delicious deal too tasty to refuse. 

Our platform of choice was TikTok, where Gen Zers spend their time scrolling. To help stop thumbs, our post underwent the “deep-fried” meme treatment, aka, turning what may have been a clear and crisp image into a post that appears as if it’s been screengrabbed, shared, and reposted many times.

The copy added a touch of existentialism, helping project a threatening aura onto those who stumbled across the post. Additionally, the sinister music helped strike even more dread into the hearts of our Gen Z audience.

 

Results

In addition to beating out Sabrina Carpenter’s “Shake that Ess’” announcement and teaser post with Dunkin by almost doubling the engagement rate, Clock Man garnered 225,361 organic impressions, 17,056 shares, and an overall 22.3% engagement rate, proving that people hate Daylight Saving Time more than they love Sabrina Carpenter. 

While other brands spend millions on celebrity endorsements, paid postings, and flashy sets, Clock Man proved unhinged, organic humor can win the day. Also, on a personal level, Clock Man’s Engagement Rate proved 7x higher than Domino’s typical platform postings.

Additionally, this post contributed to Domino’s goal of being one of the most loved pizza brands on social in December 2024.

And of course, the sentiment in the comments section proved that we were right on target with our Gen Z audiences, as there was a mix of confusion, excitement, and some who even played along with our Clock Man narrative. 

 

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Chemistry, Domino's

Link

Entry Credits