13th Annual Shorty Awards Categories

The Shorty Awards honor the talented agencies, brands, and industry leaders behind the best and most innovative work on social media and digital channels, campaigns, websites and applications.

By Campaign
By Design
By Industry
By Overall Presence
Campaign by Platform
Content and Media
Influencer & Celebrity Brand Partnership
Strategy & Engagement
Video by Platform
Video Content
Virtual
Websites & Apps

Best in Financial Services

This award honors brands and organizations in the financial services industry who use social and digital media in the most effective and creative ways to create a positive and seamless experience for existing users and gain trust and loyalty from potential users. Banks, credit cards, money management and financial services are eligible for this award.

See previous winners and honorees here.
Financial Services
#RealMoneyTalk
In 2020, Intuit Turbo had low brand awareness and share of voice in the crowded personal finance space.  The brand launched a large-scale social WOM campaign to provoke, amplify and extend consumer conversations via an integrated campaign that was rooted in the consumer insight that so many people deal with their personal finances alone or only with thei…
Financial Services
A Taste of the Futures
Investors don’t typically use futures as an investing tool because it’s difficult to grasp. Little do they know, they have all the information that they need to understand the investment asset right under their nose.
Financial Services
Amazing Mom
AIG L&R has a breadth of life insurance and retirement solutions, but needed to drive awareness of their full offering with their core financial and retirement professional audience to inspire consideration. 
Financial Services
America The Beautiful
The murder of George Floyd prompted a national reckoning around race in America. Over the course of the next several months, 26 million Americans marched and protested across the country, becoming the largest movement in our nation’s history. Despite feelings of anger, 82% of Americans were hopeful about the future of race relations in the country, and 56% …
Financial Services
Buy Now Blocker
Fifth Third Bank recognized that saving money is tough. Saving money during a global pandemic, with nothing to do but browse social media, while tempting ads track your every click, is even tougher. Fifth Third Bank wanted to cut people a break, especially as more and more of their days were spent online.  Introducing the Buy Now Blocker. Using hyp…
Financial Services
Citizens Bank “Small Business Grants”
The objective of the Citizens’ Minority-Owned Business Grant Video was to celebrate and amplify the voices of minority-owned businesses during an unprecedented time of social and economic turmoil, exacerbated by the devastating effects of the COVID pandemic. In addition to promoting minority businesses in general, the video’s objective was also to celebrate…
Financial Services
Color & Capital For Good: An Eastern Bank initiative dedicated to closing Boston’s racial wealth gap
With over 200 years in business, Eastern Bank has a long history of doing what's right and smart and a deep-rooted commitment to fighting for social justice and equality.  Last year, we focused on addressing the systemic racism and wealth inequities within Boston's Black and Latinx communities with our "Color & Capital for Good" campaign. Living under ou…
Financial Services
Comfortable Super Bowl Social
In 2020, Rocket Mortgage debuted the "Comfortable" campaign at Super Bowl LIV. Featuring Jason Momoa, it demonstrated (in what some might consider a decidedly uncomfortable way) that home is where you're most at ease. Just like Jason is comfortable at home, Rocket Mortgage wants you comfortable financing one.  Through arresting visuals, a blockbuster sta…
Financial Services
Current + David Dobrik #davidsholiday
Current is a leading U.S. challenger bank serving Americans who have been overlooked by traditional banks. Since the launch of its personal checking accounts in 2019, Current has partnered with over 1,000 influencers across platforms with a focus on sponsored content that seamlessly and authentically integrates into a creator’s platform, offers the creator …
Financial Services
Dracula Walks into a "Bank"
A credit union is not a bank. However, it is common for consumers to use the term “bank” when referring to a credit union. Though each is a financial institution, there are fundamental differences between the two. The main difference is that credit unions are owned by the members, while banks are beholden to shareholders. Thanks to this unique non-profit ow…
Financial Services
Goldman Sachs - Long Live Small Businesses
Goldman Sachs’ (GS) commitment to small businesses dates back over a decade, most notably through their 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) and 10,000 Women (10KW) programs. Both programs help entrepreneurs around the globe create jobs and economic opportunity by providing access to education, capital and business support services. With the onset of the pand…
Financial Services
Halloween Social
With so many people working from home because of COVID-19, a lot of them realized they needed more “living” space – even ghosts. Rocket Mortgage® can help anyone find the extra space they need and feel confident they’re getting the right mortgage without ever leaving the comfort of their own home. Ghost Roommate was able to utilize the humorous situation of…
Financial Services
Klarna is Swedish for Smooother Social
Buy now, pay later apps entered 2020 growing in popularity as the field becomes increasingly crowded. Klarna, one of Europe’s leaders, planned to jump into the US market with a major integrated launch campaign. Klarna’s European customers highly rank its superior bundle of features, but Klarna was starting in the US with zero brand recognition. And Klarna f…
Financial Services
LIVES
As a nation, America has become numb to the loss of Black lives at the hands of police around the country. But during lockdown, it was no longer possible to look away. George Floyd’s murder was a horrific event that ignited a racial reckoning, with over 26M Americans protesting to demand change. We wanted to make a powerful statement of support for the move…
Financial Services
Let's Rally
As a long-standing sponsor of Major League Baseball, Bank of America typically leverages this partnership for awareness and brand building. However, this year Bank of America re-examined this relationship and chose to use it as a catalyst for change. The focus of the 2020 campaign shifted to help benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a long-time partner…
Financial Services
Mastercard League of Legends Esports
In 2018, Mastercard entered a groundbreaking partnership with Riot Games’ League of Legends esports. Since then, Mastercard has grown its marketing platform to reach more fans year over year.  At the onset of the partnership, Mastercard's strategy largely revolved around on-site activation during events.  In 2019, this platform evolved to the digital sphere…
Financial Services
Millie
Conversations about money are usually focused on men. But in modern America, this makes no sense. Today, women make up half the workforce and control 80% of consumer spending. By 2030, they will hold two-thirds of the country’s wealth (source: Kantar). Yet, despite these numbers, 60% say they lack the knowledge to make investment decisions. Worse, 30%…
Financial Services
Now that you see me
What’s in a name? For some transgender and non-binary people, everything. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, 68% of trans people don't have a single identity document that reflects their name. Why? Because if you’re trans or non-binary, legal name changes are difficult to say the least. Cost, court dates and discrimination are huge b…
Financial Services
PNC Bank's Virtual Wallet
We wanted to create interest in PNC’s Virtual Wallet® by awakening consumers to the reality that there is a better, more advanced checking account that makes managing everyday finances easier—and reinforcing that they don’t have to settle for the way banking “has always been.”
Financial Services
Podfast
BNY Mellon is a legacy custodial bank that’s been an integral part of the global economy for over 200 years. And though they run an incredibly sophisticated operation, overseeing trillions of transactions a day, perception of BNY Mellon had changed from trusted innovator to outdated and dormant.   To reverse the trend, we developed a new brand platform –…
Financial Services
Show Me Your Walk
As the world quickly adjusted and grappled with the “new normal” onset by COVID-19, we were coerced into reimagining our lives in a pandemic world. This included a milestone moment for students in particular: commencement.  With JPMorgan Chase’s longstanding commitment to students and education, we knew that walking across that stage represented more tha…
Financial Services
Sonic Melody
With voice commerce set to hit $40bn by 2021, audio identities not only connect brands with consumers on a new dimension, they are tools enabling consumers to shop, live, and pay in an increasingly digital and mobile world. Setting a new tempo for brand expression, Mastercard launched its sonic brand identity in 2019 – a comprehensive sonic architecture tha…
Financial Services
TD Thanks You
TD Bank is a regional, challenger brand in the Eastern US. With large national and international competitors outspending us in media by up to 10 times and trust in banks on the decline over the past 2 years, we needed a campaign to drive outsized awareness and brand preference. To make these goals even more difficult, the banking category was moving incr…
Financial Services
Where the Money Is
BioCatch is a digital identity company that serves a highly sophisticated set of buyers within major global banks with anti-fraud technology called behavioral biometrics. These include C-level executives within technology and the heads of fraud and various business units.  The competitors in its market niche, which include household names like IBM, MasterCa…

About the Shorty Awards

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media.

Millions of people participate in The Shortys to recognize individuals and organizations producing great content on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, Snapchat, and the rest of the social web.

shorty awards finalists will be announced in mid-march!