I’ve been at SuperAwesome for nine years now, and in that time I’ve had the opportunity to work across nearly every part of the business, from paid media and creators to gaming integrations and global brand campaigns.
Over the years, I’ve watched our company evolve while staying focused on the same mission: leading the next generation of engagement for the next generation.
That mission sounds simple, but the work behind it is anything but.
When you’re creating campaigns for kids, tweens, teens, and their families, you have a responsibility to get it right. Everything has to be safe, age-appropriate, and built within the right guardrails. But at the same time, the best campaigns don’t just protect young audiences, they respect them.
The goal isn’t simply to put an ad in front of a kid. It’s to create experiences that are fun, relevant, and genuinely worth their attention. To meet them where they are, understand their fandoms, and create something they actually want to engage with.
That’s why attending the Shorty Awards this spring was such a meaningful experience.
Walking into a room filled with creators, agencies, brands, media companies, and innovators from across the industry was incredibly inspiring. In digital advertising, it’s easy to think of our work as impressions, clicks, reach, and performance metrics. At the end of the day, we’re helping brands connect with audiences and grow their businesses.
But the Shortys are a reminder that our industry can be so much more than that.
They’re a celebration of creativity. Of collaboration. Of bold ideas. Of campaigns that bring together technology, storytelling, communities, and culture in ways that feel meaningful.
And that’s exactly why I love the type of work we were nominated for.
The campaign recognized by the Shorty Awards was for The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, created in partnership with Paramount Pictures and Spark Foundry.
This wasn’t a traditional movie marketing campaign.
Together, we built a Roblox activation through our gaming team and created a global creator program featuring 13 creators across the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. Creators jumped into the game, shared content with their communities, and helped bring the experience to life for audiences around the world.
We even sent creators to movie premieres in Mexico City and Brazil, creating content that connected the excitement of the film directly with fans.
Alongside the creator program, our media teams worked to amplify the campaign globally, ensuring audiences discovered the game, the creators, and the movie wherever they were spending time online.
What makes me most proud, though, is that campaigns like this don’t belong to one team.
They come together because insights, measurement, media, creators, gaming, strategy, client services, and countless other teams collaborate across countries and time zones toward a shared goal.
It’s one of my favorite things about working at SuperAwesome. The best campaigns happen when everyone brings their expertise to the table.
The awards ceremony itself was equally memorable. It was exciting to reconnect with talent agents we’ve worked with before, meet new people across the industry, and hear people recognize the SuperAwesome name. There was something incredibly rewarding about seeing the reputation we’ve built over the years reflected back by peers and partners.
There were plenty of fun surprises throughout the night, including an appearance by Mark Cuban!!
Meanwhile, back home, my husband was lucky enough to be at the Knicks game that night during the NBA playoffs. When I told him we’d won four awards, he joked that while the Knicks may have had a great evening, SuperAwesome was clearly the bigger winner!
Honestly, he might have been right.
We were nominated in two categories and ended up bringing home four awards, including a Gold Shorty for Innovative Media Buying Strategy.
And yes, the trophy is significantly heavier than it looks.
One of the greatest honors of the evening was representing our team on stage and accepting the award on behalf of everyone who helped make the campaign possible. I was representing hundreds of hours of collaboration from teammates across the globe.
And because it was a SpongeBob campaign, there was really only one way to start the acceptance speech:
“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”
To my relief, the audience answered back…
This campaign showed what can happen when brands create with Gen Alpha instead of simply advertising to them. That’s the future we’re building toward every day.
As I left the event, trophy in hand, I found myself feeling inspired, not just by what we’d accomplished, but by what comes next.
The room was full of brilliant people creating incredible work. It reminded me how much opportunity there is for our industry to keep pushing boundaries and finding new ways to connect with audiences authentically.
And it left me excited about the campaigns we’re building right now.
If this year was any indication, I have a feeling we’ll be back.
What a night.
