Dentsu Creative and Rethink were among the few agencies to win a coveted Yellow Pencil, while FCB picked up a rare White Pencil at this year’s D&AD Awards on Wednesday.

Rethink’s “Coors Lights Out” campaign for Molson Coors picked up a pair of Yellow Pencils (the equivalent of a gold medal) for the Press & Outdoor and Media categories. The campaign also picked up three Graphite Pencils (equivalent to a silver medal) in Media, PR, and Digital & Social, and one Wood Pencil (equivalent to a bronze medal) in Digital & Social.

The campaign turned a Coors Light billboard – which was broken by star baseball player Shohei Ohtani when he hit a foul ball – into a marketing opportunity by including the black square of dead pixels in special edition Coors Light cans as well as other channels, such as OOH.

Rethink also picked up a Graphite Pencil and three Wood Pencils for the Association of Registered Graphic Designers’ RGD Branding Awards campaign, and a Graphite and Wood Pencil for the “Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch” campaign for Kraft Heinz. 

Meanwhile, Dentsu’s “Inflation Cookbook” campaign for SkipTheDishes was awarded a Yellow Pencil for Commerce. The campaign also won a Graphite for Digital & Social and a Wood Pencil for Digital Design. The campaign created a digital shopping tool that tracks real-time food pricing, covering weekly price fluctuations in hundreds of ingredients at retailers across Canada.

A White Pencil was awarded to FCB Canada’s “Runner 321” campaign for Adidas. The White Pencil is the top award in categories that recognize creative work that acts as a force for good, making a difference in the industry.

The Adidas campaign also won Graphite Pencils for PR and Health & Wellbeing, and a Wood Pencil for Experiential. The campaign asked major marathons to reserve bib 321 for a neurodivergent athlete who qualifies, to lead to better representation in sports. FCB Canada picked up another Wood Pencil for its “Nxt Nxt Lvl” campaign for BMO.

Among other Graphite and Wood Pencil winners from Canadian agencies, Angry Butterfly’s “Next to Stok’d” campaign for Stok’d Cannabis picked up three Wood Pencils. Leo Burnett Toronto won a pair of Graphite Pencils and one Wood for the Royal Ontario Museum’s rebrand, as well as a Wood Pencil for its work with Garage Wine. Ogilvy Toronto also won two Graphites and three Woods for its work with Ogilvy U.K. on Unilever/Dove’s “The Cost of Beauty” campaign.

Critical Mass, Sid Lee, Broken Heart Love Affair, Cossette Montreal, Publicis Canada and Zulu Alpha Kilo were also Canadian agencies that saw their work recognized at this year’s D&AD Awards with Graphite and Wood Pencil wins.

The awards’ top prize, the Black Pencil, were handed out to just four campaigns: Dentsu Tokyo’s “My Japan Railway,” Marcel’s “WoMen’s Football,” Apple’s “VisionOS” and McCann Poland’s “WhereToSettle.” VML New York was named the Advertising Agency of the Year overall, while AB InBev was named Client of the Year, Ogilvy was Network of the Year and Serviceplan was Independent Network of the Year.

The awards were handed out in London on Wednesday night. The full list of winners can be found on the D&AD Awards website.