ANA Unveils Winners of the 2025 Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and VML Awarded Best In Show for "Tennessee Sound Sites"

The Kraft Heinz Company Lead Marketer in Total Wins

IW Group and S4 Capital Top Winning Agencies

Carlsbad, Calif. - October 8, 2025 - The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) today announced the winners of the 2025 Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards, honoring brands that are embracing the full spectrum of consumer identities and embedding inclusive practices to drive measurable impact-achieving both market expansion and brand loyalty. The awards span 20 categories such as Best in Show, Experiential Marketing, Data and Measurement Excellence, People with Disabilities and Neurodivergent Communities, among others. The awards were presented at an evening gala event during the ANA Multicultural & Inclusive Marketing Conference in Carlsbad, CA.

Since 2001, the ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards offer the ultimate opportunity to showcase work that makes a difference and celebrate the teams who are leading the charge in establishing a strategic and authentic commitment to build meaningful connections with each and every consumer with inclusive marketing practices that fuel brand relevance, loyalty and growth.

2025 Award Winners Include:

Top Honor: Best in Show
The Best in Show Award went to "Tennessee Sound Sites" for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development created by VML.

Through the power of music, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and VML collaborated with Tennessee's greatest treasure - its songwriters - to write evocative alt text image descriptions for its tourism website to improve accessible travel. For millions of blind and visually impaired people, image descriptions-known as "alt text"-are how they experience the world online. But too often it fails them, offering cold, generic or sometimes even no descriptions at all. "Sound Sites" reimagined how alt text can function as part of the storytelling process. The project integrated lyrical, sensory-driven narratives co-written with blind users and Tennessee songwriters to reflect the unique and beautiful culture that is Tennessee. For travelers who are blind or have low vision, this approach offered an immersive experience of the state's landscapes, moving beyond compliance to create a deeper connection.

Judge commentary on this work included:

• "It showed us how powerful storytelling can be when it's done with care and intention. It wasn't just about representation, it was about human connection. This is how you do inclusivity right."
• "This work sets a new standard for how brands should be setting their inclusive agenda."

Campaign results included:

• The campaign redefined alt-text for tourism imagery by collaborating with 12 iconic Tennessee songwriters to craft lyrical alt-text that evokes all five senses. This approach turned a basic accessibility feature into an emotional storytelling tool, setting a new industry standard for how accessibility can be both functional and emotionally resonant.
• The campaign generated 215 million paid and earned impressions, resulting in a 36% increase in site traffic to TNVacation.com.
• The campaign not only improved Tennessee's own digital platforms but also open-sourced its lyrical alt-text framework on TNVacation.com, inviting other brands to adopt and evolve the approach.

Additional major wins:

• The Kraft Heinz Company won 6 awards across brands, while IW Group and S4 Capital led agency wins with 6 each.
• McDonald's and Toyota North America secured 5 trophies each.
• AARP and Major League Baseball both earned 4 awards each.
• Agencies Intertrend Communications and Remezcla achieved 4 wins each for their work with Toyota Motor North America and Major League Baseball respectively.
• Toyota North America and The Kraft Heinz Company tied for the most top-level Category Grand Prize wins of the night, with each brand taking home 3 awards.
• S4 Capital led with the most Category Grand Prize wins for an agency with 3 trophies.

Judging Process

The 2025 Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards followed a rigorous three-round evaluation:

1. Main Round: Judged by over 300 agency and client-side marketing leaders.
2. Final Round: A special Grand Jury scored finalists and selected Grand, Silver, and Bronze winners in each category.
3. Best in Show: The Grand Jury also selected the Best in Show from the top scoring Category Grand Prize winners.

Grand Jury members included:

1. Anastasia Ali (The Walt Disney Company)
2. Megan Amic (American Honda Motor Co., Inc.)
3. Obele Brown-West (Colle McVoy)
4. Lela Coffey (The Procter & Gamble Company)
5. Tara DeVeaux (Burrell Communications Group, Inc.)
6. Mimi Dixon (Crayola)
7. Stephanie Eaddy (The Coca-Cola Company)
8. Carla Ibarra (Reliant Energy Retail Services, LLC)
9. Bill Imada (IW Group Inc.)
10. Edna Kane-Williams (AARP)
11. Warren Marenco Chase (Liberty Mutual)
12. Luis Miguel Messianu (MEL)
13. Scott Redick (Charles Schwab & Company, Inc.)
14. Michael Roca (Omnicom Media Group)
15. Daneyni Sanguinetti (Pernod Ricard USA)
16. Sherina Smith (American Family Insurance)
17. Marissa Solis (National Football League, Inc.)
18. Danielle Spikener (Kraft Heinz Foods Company)

The complete list of winners in the 2025 Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards competition, and additional program details can be accessed at anamulticulturalawards.org.

PRESS CONTACT:
Jocelyn Weiss
[email protected]

About the ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards

Since 2001, the ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards have offered the ultimate opportunity to showcase work that makes a difference and celebrate the teams that are raising the bar for our industry.

In today's fragmented and dynamic marketplace, inclusive marketing is no longer optional-it is a business imperative. As consumer expectations evolve, brands must demonstrate greater nuance, cultural fluency, and authenticity to build meaningful connections with each and every consumer. ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards winners showcase insight and learning from the brands taking the strategic steps to ensure their engagement with inclusive growth segments is relevant, creative and compelling.

The ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards program is judged by a select jury of industry leaders to select the entries that represent best-in-class examples of multicultural and inclusive marketing and to spotlight the brands who are leading the charge in establishing a strategic and authentic commitment to build meaningful connections with each and every consumer with inclusive marketing practices that fuels brand relevance, loyalty and growth.

About the ANA

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is the definitive voice of the marketing industry. Since 1910, we have set and advanced the agenda for marketing transformation, connecting over 1,600 member companies to an influential global network, insights and resources that drive growth. Our members represent 20,000 brands and $400 billion in annual marketing investment. Through industry-leading research, the CMO Growth Council, and our proprietary Growth Agenda and Practices, the ANA empowers marketers to shape the future of marketing and create lasting impact for their organizations and the industry.