Dentsu Agencies Earn Six Nominations in the Digital Cinema Media Awards Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2025 DCM Awards has been announced, and we're thrilled to have been recognised not only for exceptional campaigns but also for the actual craft of cinema planning and buying, with dentsu recognised with six nominations spanning multiple categories for our agencies, Carat, dentsu X and iProspect.

Now in their tenth year, the awards (created in partnership with Campaign) have become the industry's most prestigious recognition for cinema advertising excellence. With almost 50 nominations across all categories this year, the awards celebrate campaigns and individuals who harness cinema's unique power as an audiovisual medium. Winners will be chosen by a panel of advertising industry experts and revealed at a ceremony hosted at BAFTA, Piccadilly, on 17 September.

This year's dentsu nominations showcase the breadth of expertise across our agencies - from purpose-driven campaigns that inspire real behaviour change to creative executions that make audiences remember brands long after the credits roll.

The Shortlist

WWF – Prescription for Nature (dentsu) appears in both Best Use of Cinema (Small) and Best 'Marketing for Good' categories. The brief was to inspire public action for nature whilst improving mental and physical wellbeing. The solution aligned with family blockbusters, including The Wild Robot, Paddington in Peru, and Moana 2, creating contextual relevance around nature themes. Targeting families during half-term and Christmas periods maximised co-viewing moments, with 58% of UK adults taking campaign action to protect nature.

VOXI Mobile – Turn Your Phone Off (Carat) is shortlisted for the Best Creative Use of Cinema award. The challenge was promoting a mobile network where phones should be switched off. The creative used brand characters' Syd and Frank 'to highlight cinema phone etiquette whilst positioning VOXI's unlimited social media for post-film engagement. Two sequential ads ran across Cineworld cinemas during youth-oriented releases, including Speak No Evil and Gladiator II, driving a 2% increase in brand consideration.

Beavertown – Please Be Terrified Responsibly (dentsu X) also earned a Best Creative Use of Cinema nomination. The goal was to make Beavertown synonymous with Halloween horror movies. A three-minute animated film, "Flightmare," ran as Gold Spots before October horror releases, complemented by twisted film parodies during Smile 2. The campaign extended across digital platforms with IMDB takeovers, establishing Beavertown as the definitive Halloween beer choice.

Center Parcs - Owning Family Cinema in a Media First Partnership (iProspect) makes the three in the Best Creative Use of Cinema shortlist for dentsu agencies. The objective was to drive brand consideration and bookings from families with school-aged and pre-school children. The solution was an industry-first cinema and media sponsorship of 2025's highest-grossing family films, spanning from November 2024 to March 2025. The campaign reached families through record-breaking cinema admissions during moments of togetherness. Research from DCM suggests that co-family viewing within cinema can drive +38% uplift in engagement and a +18% in Ad Recall creating a perfect environment for Center Parcs to gain invaluable share of voice.

In addition to these five fantastic campaign nominations, dentsu AV Partner Rob Powell has been nominated for Cinema Champion of the Year, a category that organisers DCM said has seen a "record number" of nominees this year. To be nominated is an achievement in itself, so we are incredibly proud of Rob's achievement.

Congratulations to Rob and all the teams behind these outstanding campaigns. All of dentsu will be cheering on our nominees in September.

Read the complete list of shortlisted entries here.