Ogilvy & Social.Lab wins the first Belgian Yellow Pencil at the D&AD Awards with the Mud Soldier Campaign

The Design & Art Direction Awards (D&AD Awards) took place yesterday evening in London. The event is organised to acknowledge the best creative performances of the year. Together with Visit Flanders, Ogilvy & Social.Lab took home a Yellow Pencil in the Branding category for “Brand Experience & Environments” category with their Mud Soldier campaign. This is the first time a Belgian agency wins this award.

The “Mud Soldier” campaign from Ogilvy & Social.Lab and Visit Flanders won a Yellow Pencil award in the Branding category for “Brand Experience & Environments” at the D&AD Awards. These Awards are considered to be the most prestigious prize and the most difficult accolades to attain in the industry.

The Mud Soldier was a temporary art installation that was placed last summer in the middle of Trafalgar Square in London. This was a sculpture made out of sand and mud from Passchendaele in Flanders Fields that represented a soldier during the First World War.

It has been a hundred years since the battle of Passchendaele, where nearly 500.000 victims died in less than three months. Numerous soldiers lost their lives in the trenches transformed in mud death traps as torrential rain poured over the battle fields. Passchendaele is one of the deadliest battles of the First World War.

The installation of the Mud Soldier was built to slowly disintegrate in the rain and disappear in a few days. The temporary sculpture made a powerful statement and reminded us of the sacrifices made by soldiers as they lost their lives in Flanders Fields. The Mud Soldier was designed to spark tourists' interest to visit Flanders and remember a very important part of our collective history.

Creative Director: Mathieu Cardon

Concept: Mathieu Cardon

Art Director: Gauthier Fairon, Arnaud Gerats, Sébastien Stevens

Copywriter: Raphael Allegro, Bill Bilquin

Strategy: Jakub Hodbod en Julie Frederickx

Global Head of Media Strategy: Mathieu Gillain

COO: An Vande Velde