Harbin Beer and BBDO China have claimed a major win at the prestigious New York Festivals Advertising Awards with their latest work, The Back Rack Hack. Recognized for its innovative blend of design thinking and behavioural insight, the campaign took home top honours — a Gold in the subcategory Retail Environment & Experience Design and a Silver in Point of Sale, both within the Creativity in Commerce main category — and was the only Gold awarded in that category.
The Back Rack Hack turned traditional retail logic on its head by asking store owners to place Harbin Beer at the back of the fridge—a space typically considered undesirable.
The insight?
Shoppers instinctively reach for the coldest beer — and in small street shop fridges, that coldest spot is always at the back. But it’s also the hardest to reach.
By turning this overlooked behaviour into a design advantage, The Back Rack Hack solved a real consumer pain point and delivered tangible business results — boosting sales and brand engagement, all without a single dollar in media spend.
The campaign’s success is a testament to the power of human insight — showing how simple truths, when smartly applied, can drive both creative innovation and measurable commercial impact.