The campaign that dominated this year's advertising awards, Burger King's "Moldy Whopper," has continued its award-winning streak at the D&AD Awards in London, picking up one of four Black Pencils awarded by the organization.

The work, created by INGO Stockholm, Publicis Bucharest and David Miami, showed a burger growing moldy over time to highlight the chain’s decision to eliminate artificial preservatives from its food. It has already won big at New York’s One Show and the 2020 ANDY Awards.

“Moldy Whopper has done increasingly well this year. Why? It is simple, powerful, brave, original and has purpose: all the ingredients that go into a great award-winning piece of work," said Kate Stanners, President of D&AD. "For food to be represented as decaying is unheard of and takes a very brave client. It makes us ask questions of what's in our food? Where does it come from? The impact of the work comes from the craft of the execution and it stands out in a world of perfectly augmented food photography.”

In addition to the Black Pencil, Burger King was the top ranked client of the year at D&AD, ahead of Apple, while the agencies that created Moldy Burger were also honored—David Miami as the top-ranked advertising agency of the year and INGO and Publicis Bucharest jointly in third place, behind Dentsu Tokyo. 

D&AD, which announced its final award winners in a virtual ceremony streamed from London today, also awarded three other Black Pencils. 

One was for Black and Abroad’s “Go Back to Africa,” by FCB Six, which reframed hate-fueled Twitter posts against African countries for a tourism campaign. The campaign has won previous awards including the Grand Prix for Creative Data at Cannes in 2019. 

Another Black Pencil went to the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence’s Gun Violence History Book, created by FCB Chicago. The agency created a book assembled from articles, facts and data about school shootings, which was also designed to stop a bullet. The fourth Black Pencil went to Family Type’s Universal Sans typeface, a variable typeface that allows for multiple customizations. It is the first ever Black Pencil to be awarded for typography.  

D&AD also awarded three Black Pencils for the overall decade. The “Rivers of Light” campaign by Colombia’s Ministry of Defense and MullenLowe SSP3, which illuminated rivers with messages for soldiers, won Advertising Campaign of the Decade, while Libresse’s Viva La Vulva won Craft Black Pencil of the Decade and Palau Pledge for the Palau Legacy Project won in Design.

Other winners include Ogilvy as network of the year, Iconoclast Paris as production company of the year and FCB Design as the top-ranking design winner of the year. Yuya Furukawa, chief creative officer at Dentsu​, received the president’s award for creativity. For the fourth consecutive year, the U.S. was the most awarded country at this year’s awards, followed by the U.K. and Japan.

Commenting on the American success, Stanners said: "There are a lot of global head offices based in the U.S, servicing global brands with brave and ambitious CMOs who understand how to communicate with a global audience. They are pioneering creativity, driving innovation and the use of technology and data. There is a universality to their work that speaks to all of us. This, alongside big social problems like gun violence, brings out the best in creative problem solvers." 

D&AD had originally been scheduled to announce its awards at its festival in May, which was postponed due to the pandemic and its judging moved online. In June, the organization announced a significant reduction in staff and the resignation of CEO Patrick Burgoyne. In a statement, COO Dara Lynch, who is now running the organization, described the ceremony as a "moment of unity for the industry," while expressing disappointment that the festival had not taken place.