Congratulations to the 2024 ANA Genius Awards Winners

The annual ANA Genius Awards, presented by TransUnion, celebrates the brightest marketers across industries for their innovative use of data and analytics to address critical business challenges and fuel bottom-line revenue growth. 

As a market leader providing best-in-class, identity-driven marketing capabilities, TransUnion is proud to partner with true marketing geniuses to achieve maximum omnichannel media performance. That’s why we’re especially pleased to recognize this year’s four Genius Awards winners, all of whom have embraced advanced measurement and analytics to accelerate groundbreaking initiatives and results.

About the ANA Genius Awards

Each year, this premier awards program highlights brands, publishers and agencies that have delivered noteworthy outcomes utilizing data and analytics to overcome challenges and drive significant revenue growth. 

Our esteemed panel of industry experts from top brands, consultancies and agencies selects finalists and winners across four categories:

• Adoption: Adoption of data and analytics to boost business outcomes

• Growth: Use of a data-driven approach to drive significant business results

• Innovation: Use of a progressive, analytics-based approach to solve a business challenge or seize an opportunity

• Storytelling: Use of data to tell an enlightening, visual story that encourages organizations to make insights actionable

The winners in each category get the chance to be recognized at the annual ANA Masters of Marketing conference, as well as receive their share of a $100,000 prize to be donated to a charity of their choice. Plus, this year’s top contenders will be given the opportunity to present the winning strategies that helped their organizations address a specific business challenge.

The 2024 ANA Genius Awards Winners

As announced at the 2024 ANA Masters of Marketing conference, we’re pleased to shine a light on this year’s winners and share what separated these leading participants from the rest of our pool of accomplished applicants. 

Data and Analytics Adoption Winner: Bayer

Bayer adopted a unified approach to ROI measurement, leading to significant efficiencies, better decision-making and improved transparency across the organization.  

By integrating marketing mix modeling (MMM) and multi-touch attribution (MTA) into a single ecosystem, the company achieved stronger alignment and more consistent recommendations for the marketing team.

This integration involved consolidating analytics from partners into one system and reorganizing internal teams to manage these efforts cohesively. The unified reporting suite now guides almost all marketing decisions, providing real-time insights and self-service functionality for marketers.

As a result, Bayer’s media and brand teams gained unprecedented visibility into ROI and sales forecasts, enabling continuous optimization of media spend, audience segmentation, and strategic decision-making. This approach has driven significant efficiencies and identified substantial incremental profit opportunities

Data and Analytics Growth Winner: Kenvue

Kenvue adopted a future-proof media strategy to ensure long-term growth and mitigate the risks associated with cookie deprecation. By focusing on five key pillars—ID solutions, persistent retailer/panel data, first-party data, geo/trigger-targeting, and contextual advertising—the company reduced high-risk media spend by over 50% and expanded audience reach.

This strategy enhanced media targeting, risk management, incremental reach, and ROI. Through testing and adopting scalable alternatives like contextual advertising and geo-targeting, Kenvue increased brand exposure and engagement, positioning the brand for sustained competitive advantage

Data and Analytics Innovation Winner: Amazon

Amazon leveraged advanced marketing tools and machine learning to cut costs, boost conversion rates, optimize spend, and improve efficiencies in talent recruitment. By centralizing and automating processes, the company reduced workforce marketing spend by over 85% and tripled tier-1 candidate conversion rates in North America. This new approach also decreased the cost per application by 65%. Given its success, the model is now being tested globally.

Data and Analytics Storytelling Winner: SimpliSafe

SimpliSafe created a data-driven marketing strategy to maximize the impact of its marketing spend amidst challenging market conditions. By leveraging TransUnion’s marketing measurement tools, the company identified that external factors like home sales significantly influenced brand awareness. This insight helped SimpliSafe optimize its marketing investments, ensuring more efficient use of resources and better alignment with market conditions, benefiting the entire organization.

Looking Ahead to 2025

Congratulations to our 2024 winners and thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s program. We look forward to seeing who rises to the top in 2025. 

To learn more about participating in the ANA Genius Awards, presented by TransUnion, and the unique opportunities you will have to showcase your team’s groundbreaking work and achievements among your peers across industries, contribute to the elevation of industry standards, and inspire future advancements in the field, visit GeniusAwards.com.