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

Freeform Instagram Account

Entered in Brand Voice

Objective

Freeform’s Instagram account embodies adaptability and perpetual evolution to reach its target aspirational Gen-Z and Millennial audience, whose social content tastes are always changing.

With a diverse range of titles from nostalgic holiday films during its 31 Nights of Halloween and 25 Days of Christmas stunts to unscripted series such as Chrissy & Dave Dine Out and Wayne Brady: The Family Remix, the brand’s Instagram content has to be able to showcase a wide range of genres while maintaining relatability with internet-savvy young adults.

The brand’s “Hype-Up Bestie” persona and socially authentic and native approach to social-first content continue to engage and build a dedicated fanbase on social. Reactive content and trend awareness keep Freeform in the conversation in an organic and engaging way.

Strategy

Freeform’s Instagram account embodies the Brand’s “Hype-Up Bestie” persona to concurrently promote Freeform original programming and linear viewing while building authentic relationships with social fans. The social account’s key voice attributes (Inclusive, Passionate, Encouraging, In-The-Know, Casual, and Witty) come through in both social assets and community engagement with users. Content promoting original series launches utilize the same Brand persona and templates, with small adjustments to account for unique series campaign needs. 

Branded recurring formats feature familiar evergreen internet trends with a Freeform spin and quick-to-execute social-friendly branded templates. Some examples include: 

Freeform is always also finding unique ways to tap into trends via reactive content, such as a timely quote from Mulan to lean into this year’s “very mindful, very demure” trend. 

Results

The work to build an in-tune brand persona and content strategy has paid off, with Freeform’s Instagram handle reflecting an organic engagement rate of 11.87% amongst its 1.3M followers.

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Freeform

Link