DraftFCB receives plaudits, SparkPHD gets kudos, media crowd marks occasion with orgiastic revelry

Auckland’s Hyatt Regency Hotel was abuzz with unbridled joy, glee and envy last night as the CAANZ Media Awards rewarded the best strategic insights in the media industry. And the “precise marrying of message and moment” by DraftFCB Media in a campaign for Whitcoulls that linked book recommendations to specific television programming took home the coveted Best in Show award.

DraftFCB Media also won Best Use of Television and Best Response/Return on Investment for the Whitcoulls work, which increased sales and created cut-through in the cluttered Christmas advertising market (speaking of Whitcoulls, check out the great Mother’s Day promotion running on its Queen St windows).

The in-house agency also won two golds for its work on the ‘World Vision 40 Hour Famine’ and Prime TV’s ‘Top Gear Valentines Voucher’, collecting six more silvers on top of that haul.

Despite the stellar performance of DraftFCB Media, SparkPHD took Media Agency of the Year, which won golds for its Libra ‘Chat’, Vodafone ‘Red Pages’ and Unilever/Persil’s ‘Dirt is Good’ campaigns, as well as two more silvers.

In a challenging market, the agency grew its client base and implemented some innovative changes. And, according to its entry, the secret recipe was its people *Awww*. The agency team understood the need to focus on protecting and growing existing client relationships and also offer extended services such as digital, PR, events and activation.

Naked Communications & Ikon took two golds in the FMCG and Best Integrated Campaign categories with Coca Cola’s ‘Little Black Dress’; ZenithOptimedia was awarded a Best Research and Insight gold for Goodman Fielder’s ‘Keep Lunch Special’; and Starcom NZ nabbed a gold for Best Use of Digital for Telecom’s ‘Non-stop Gig’.

The Media Brand of the Year award went to MSN NZ after it “changed the face of online advertising in New Zealand during 2009”. It took a three-pronged approach to grow audience, improved audience engagement for advertisers and launched a performance network. As a result, it’s provided unmatched transparency for agencies and advertisers.

The executive judging panel, which was made up of some of New Zealand’s leading marketing brains, said the New Zealand industry continues to innovate in its strategic thinking and approach to client challenges, despite (or perhaps as a result of) the tough economic environment.

All up, the final round of judging resulted in 14 gold and 18 silvers being awarded. Very interested parties can check out case studies www.caanz.co.nz. And the winners are:

Golds

Silvers