MMB Music × Brands Awards includes 6 award categories and one special award.
1. Best Live Music × Brand Experience
Celebrates live experiences where the collaboration between a brand and one or more artists was central to both the concept and the audience experience. This may include artist-led activations, branded concerts or stages, organically integrated product moments within live environments, immersive installations or any other type of experience where the audience directly felt the connection between the brand and music culture.
This category does not apply to brand activations within a music festival that lack a direct musical component, such as a standalone product booth or branded lounge with no artist, performance, or music-driven element involved.
2. Best Use of Sound & Music in a Brand Campaign
Celebrates campaigns where music played an essential role in the execution, even if it was not the core communication idea. This may include original compositions created for the campaign, artist syncs, creative adaptations of existing tracks or music choices that amplified the message and made the campaign more memorable. The jury evaluates the fit between the music and the brand, the relevance of the choice and the sonic contribution to the campaign’s impact.
The music used may be Romanian or international, as long as the campaign itself was created specifically for Romania or the Republic of Moldova, and is not a local adaptation of a campaign originally developed for another market.
3. Best Artist × Brand Collaboration
Celebrates collaborations between an artist and a brand built on aligned values and identity. This may include artists becoming ambassadors or the face of a brand, campaigns built around an artist’s image and personality, or long-term partnerships where both the artist and the brand amplified each other’s message and visibility. Music may or may not be present. Both one-off campaigns and long-term partnerships are eligible, provided the collaboration had visible execution across at least two communication channels.
4. Best Brand Integration in Music Content
Celebrates brands that successfully integrated organically into an existing music context without dominating or altering it. This may include brand presence within music videos, music podcasts, releases, shows or any other type of artist-led music content where the integration felt relevant, credible and added value for both the audience and the artist. Examples may also include brand presence within a music show or format (such as a talent show, music battle or live session series), brand association with a single or album release through visual elements, special packaging or behind-the-scenes content without altering the song itself, or brand appearances within an artist’s social media content related to their creative process (studio sessions, behind the scenes).
5. Best Support for Emerging Talent
Celebrates commercial brands that actively invested in developing emerging artists or growing music scenes by providing visibility, resources, education or meaningful growth opportunities. Emerging artists are understood as artists in an early stage of their career who have not yet reached mainstream exposure, but demonstrate growth potential and industry relevance, regardless of musical genre. Submissions may center on a single emerging artist or a broader project or platform dedicated to emerging talent. They may consist of an initiative created by the brand itself or substantial support provided to an existing platform or project.
6. Music for Good Award
Celebrates initiatives where music or artist collaborations became a genuine tool for social or cultural impact. The category is open to both commercial brands and non-profit organizations, provided music was a central element of the initiative rather than simply a background or visibility tool. This may include charity concerts or events where music was the driving force behind raising awareness or funds for a cause, original songs or projects created around social or cultural themes, collaborations with artists to support community programs or educational initiatives, or platforms that used music to give visibility to underrepresented voices or causes.
7. Grand Prix
The MMB Music × Brands Awards Grand Prix is awarded to the project that demonstrated the strongest and most relevant collaboration between music and brands, regardless of format, channel or type of relationship. There are no separate submissions for the Grand Prix. Winners of the six main categories are automatically nominated, and the jury formed by the presidents of each category jury selects the winner through a separate voting process after all category deliberations are completed.
