Brand Video Awards: The BRAVES
Circa 2012

Celebrating the best of brand video

The BRAVES are the Brand Video Awards, the only awards ceremony to recognise and reward the use of video by brands. Many other awards ceremonies pay lip service to the use of video across platforms by brands, but only the BRAVES is dedicated to celebrating the very best of brand involvement in video.

From the earliest days of video creation, brands have set the agenda for the medium. Soap operas were created to provide entertaining advert breaks to let FMCG companies sell soap. In the 21st century, the communion of brand and video reaches across all platforms: TV, online, mobile, cinema, out-of-home and even print. Any environment that can show video, shows brand: initiated, created, sponsored, influenced, mashed, mixed or funded content. It is in this video rich world that we launch the BRAVES, the first awards solely dedicated to recognising and rewarding the excellence of brands in video.

 Why enter
• Recognise the role of brands in the video eco-system
• Are open to brands, agencies, content creators and technical companies of all sizes
• Welcome entries from any platform, device or medium that supports video
• Will become the mark of quality and innovation in the brand video eco-system

The winners have been announced

The BRAVES are the Brand Video Awards. In the fast-growing video universe, brands and marketers have the ability to produce amazing content, distribute it flawlessly and measure its success to the smallest detail.

The first ever BRAVES winners have been revealed

The heroes of brand video were rewarded at a glamorous red carpet premier-style event on 11 July at Vue Cinema in London. The event celebrated the very best in branded content with an evening at the movies, broadcasting the winning entries live on the big screen.

If you wish to register your interest to enter or attend the 2013 BRAVES Awards, please email graham@csquared.cc to be added to our mailing list and receive updates

Be inspired and take a look at videos we like in each category

Sponsored by Unruly

Smart and strategic, Campaign BRAVE has a plan and is in control. A master of innovation and insight, his mission is to promote the best use of video in advertising campaigns. The Campaign BRAVES category promotes the best in video campaign innovation and creative planning.

This award will recognise the best online video campaign based on ‘made for TV’ content. In this category, judges will be looking for the intelligent and successful use of a TV spot, in line with BRAVES judging methodology.

This award will recognise the best long-form video content produced for a brand. Judges will use the BRAVES overall judging methodology to determine the winner. All video content entered in this category must be longer than 3 minutes in length. 

This award will recognise the best short-form video content produced for a brand. Judges will use the BRAVES overall judging methodology to determine the winner. All video content entered in this category must be shorter than 3 minutes in length. 

This award will recognise the use of a dedicated channel to promote a brand, through tight integration with relevant content. Judges will use the BRAVES overall judging methodology to determine the ‘best’ Brand Channel and, while looking for metrics, will not rely on these alone.

This award will recognise the best factual branded video content. Judges will be looking for excellence in every aspect of the content, using the BRAVES overall judging methodology, but paying particular attention to the delivery of factual information at its heart and its resonance with the brand.

This award will recognise the best entertainment video content created for a brand. Judges will be looking for excellence in every aspect of the content, using the BRAVES overall judging methodology, but paying particular attention to the entertainment value created by the video and its resonance with the brand. 

This award will recognise the best art direction/photography within a branded content video. Judges will use the BRAVES overall judging methodology, paying specific attention to the artistic talent that helps the winner stand apart from the crowd. 

This award will be given to the branded content video that the judges feel stands apart from all others in the Content BRAVES. It will be judged in line with BRAVES judging methodology, based on the winners of all Content BRAVES categories.

Nobody knows where he came from. With tools for platforms, players, analytics and distribution, strong, silent Technical BRAVE is essential to the video ecosystem. His best work often goes unnoticed, so the Technical BRAVES are designed to recognise the best technical contributions and innovations to the video landscape.

This award will recognise the best video analytics provider. The judges will reward the provider that can show it has provided brands with the best insights in order for brand video to succeed. Judges will look for insights that prove the power of the analytics solution. This category is open to analytics providers across any platform.

This award will recognise the best video distribution service. The judges will reward the service that has consistently powered brand video content to success by ensuring that consumers view brand videos. Judges will be looking for hard statistics that prove the value of the seeding services, as well as case study based examples of brands using the network. This category is open to content seeding services across any platform.

This award will recognise the service provider that has displayed consistent excellence in the field of brand video content support. This category is open to services across all platforms, technologies and sectors. Entries should be in case study format, based upon multiple brands.

So Tumblr has launched a new content project called Storyboard. Billed as “tales from behind the dashboard”, the series will follow various members of the Tumblr community in a kind of digital mass-observation project. These could be anyone from performers

We are pleased to announce that the deadline for entries has been extended to Friday 25 May 2012. Due to the high demand we received last week whilst embarking on BRAVES on Tour, we are delighted that entrants now have an extra two weeks

This is one for pop fans. Some of you might be familiar with the work of Jenny Bede, the rising YouTube comedienne. Youve probably heard her inspired Cheryl Cole impersonation Talk this way, released during the pop stars US X-Factor

Jeff Soto is a street artist who was challenged by Chevrolet to make a a graffiti piece aided by a Chevy Sonic fitted out with spray paint guns and robotics. His work has been documented in this cool film from

IMAGE: toyota-prius1.jpg

Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi LA have debuted a brand new online experience as part of the ongoing campaign supporting the Prius c. This immersive platform is the first and only YouTube-based car configurator to exist, and is aimed at busy, digitally savvy Generation Y-ers preparing to

A new ad from Google proves just how important internet resources have become for teachers and the students they educate.

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This cheeky viral from Blueprint TV is a nice update of the Burger King Interactive Chicken video from a few years ago. Meet Ruprecht, the unlikely hero of a new ad campaign from The Phantom Card a discount club

Sponsored music videos are a chance for brands to get cool again. Given that expensive-looking, high quality TV spots are a thing of the past (Ive already cleared my inbox in preparation for the rebuttal emails from Thinkbox et al