What’s NEW!

The festival competition has been enriched by a brand-new competition pillar Creative Media Excellence Drum section. With it, the festival also introduces a new award for the best Media Agency of the Year. Newly added to the competition is also a Game Changer group that's open to entrants worldwide.

Golden Drum in 2023 welcomes among entrants four new European markets and extends the partnership with Little Black Book; all Grand Prix won at the festival will again be directly and free of charge entered into The Immortal Awards competition.

Novelties presented by the festival:

Pricing

The Festival introduces a revised special offer for all entrants that submit a larger number of entries. For every 10 entries, the entrant gets one full delegate pass for attending Golden Drum Festival (9-10 October 2023, Portorož, Slovenia) free of charge.

All Ukrainian entrants will receive 80% discount on entry fees. 

Competition

New Awards

Golden Drum Festival is adding two new special awards to the existing list of awards:

Media Agency of the Year celebrates the best media agency demonstrating outstanding creativity and excellence in media. The award will be presented to the media agency that collects the most points in festival competition.

The best work in the new group open to entrants worldwide will receive the Game Changer award for the work that best challenges the traditional ways of advertising through their idea, concept and/or execution.

Changes in One- and Omni-Channel Sections

The categories of One-Channel and Omni-Channel section groups have been revised and reshaped.

Group A. INTEGRATED has been divided into two categories: Profit and Non-Profit. Category Profit has two new subcategories: Product and Services.

Groups E. DIGITAL, MOBILE & TECHNOLOGY in One Channel and D. DIGITAL, MOBILE & TECHNOLOGY in Omni Channel have been improved by additional category: NFT. Moreover, in both groups their already existing category AR / VR / Voice-activation, Connected Devices, Data / Insight, is now named AR / VR / Voice-activation, Data / Insight, Metaverse.

Changes in the Craft Section

Group C. DIGITAL CRAFT now has an additional category: Other Use of Technology, which is open to any innovative use of technology that does not classify into other of the named categories in the group.

Changes in the Creative Business Excellence Section

Group B. CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS has been changed and now has two categories: Profit and Non-profit.

Creative Media Excellence Section

The Creative Media Excellence Section has been added to the competition and it is intended for creative works with an exceptional media strategy, targeting, and media execution. Judges will be focusing on smart media campaigns prioritising the creative and effective use of channels to communicate the brand's message to the target audience. Entries should demonstrate achievement of campaign goals.

This section is divided into two groups: A. CREATIVE USE OF MEDIA and B. EXCELLENCE IN MEDIA. Each group has a number of different categories.

Creative Media Excellence jury comprised of professionals of different backgrounds from creative and media field will judge work entered into this section.

All Juries Section - new Game Changer group

This year, Golden Drum has modified the All Juries section by withdrawing Group COVID-19 and adding a group titled GAME CHANGER, which is the only one in the Golden Drum Competition that is open worldwide.

The GAME CHANGER group is intended for campaigns that challenge the traditional ways of advertising through their idea, concept and/or execution. Works in this group must present a creative breakthrough, an innovative shift in the process or procedures paving the way forward in advertising, or impactful influence on the mindset and behaviour of the target audience.

The group is open to entries worldwide but only the 42 countries eligible to compete at the Golden Drum Festival Competition will receive points for Golden Drum rankings.

Extending partnership with Little Black Book & AdForum, WARC Rankings

Golden Drum has extended its partnership with Little Black Book – all Grand Prix at the festival will be directly and free of charge entered into the competition of The Immortal Awards. The eligibility period for The Immortal Awards runs from 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023. The company with the winning entry will receive a complimentary membership to Little Black Book, providing entry to the Immortal Awards as well as the opportunity to take advantage of the full Little Black Book offer (est. value 1.200 €).

Golden Drum is also included in AdForum Business Creative Report, a unique ranking of the world’s most-awarded campaigns by industry sector.

Golden Drum festival is included in the WARC Creative Rankings.