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It’s Colenso from DraftFCB by a Whiska

This year’s Effies tagline was ‘the best ad for advertising’. And it was certainly a pretty good advertisement for Colenso BBDO, which won 12 awards and became the only agency to ever win Most Effective Agency of the Year two years in a row, as well as the only agency to win Most Effective Agency of the Year and Best in Show in the same year. It was a close run thing, however, with DraftFCB nipping effectively at its heels with nine.

Winners needed to convince a panel of industry leaders, including this year’s pretty hard-arsed (and, judging by his clip, remarkably sweaty) international judge Tim Broadbent, Ogilvy’s Beijing-based effectiveness director, that their work actually brought home the financial bacon. And CAANZ chief executive Rick Osborne was impressed with the quality of entries from agencies.

“If agencies are to realise the CAANZ vision of being viewed as strategic partners to clients they must convince chief financial officers and chief executives—and not just marketers—that they have the ability to make a positive impact on the goals and profitability of organisations,” he says. “There is no better way to convey this vision than by winning an award that has effectiveness at its core. The Effies are the awards that celebrate the nirvana where creative ideas drive measureable results.”

Out of almost 80 finalists, just 12 gold, 15 silver and 12 bronze Effies were handed out by the judges. And, in what could possibly go down as another historic Red Dot Specials moment, the Whiskas Dry relaunch campaign for Mars New Zealand was announced as Best in Show, which created more than a few looks of surprise around the tables at the Sky City Convention centre.

For an industry that often tries desperately to show how its cool, revolutionary, creative ideas can attract attention, the fact that a fairly simple, very well thought-out, niche marketing campaign based on solid insights took top honours possibly didn’t seem like the best—or, more accurately, the most exotic—ad for advertising to some of those present. But it’s not about the creative, it’s about the numbers and despite a price lift and reduction in distribution, the campaign resulted in double digit growth for the brand, reversed a six-year share decline and outperformed the category by a factor of five, turning what was a drain on the Mars business into a star performer.

Colenso’s campaign for V Pocket Rocket, which delivered double digit growth for Frucor, picked up a gold in the FMCG category, two silvers and a bronze. And the Kapiti on a Stick campaign for Fonterra also took gold in the New Product/Service Introductions category.

Nick Garrett, Colenso’s managing director, says he can’t really claim any responsibility for the awards, as he turned up after all the work had been done, but he says it’s “a great example of how powerful creative thinking can be used as a business tool.” But it was really planning director James Hurman’s special night. He’s a big advocate of creative ideas bringing business results, and Colenso’s performance vindicated that belief once more.

“The thing I most love about this place is how passionate everybody is about making the work great. It’s a delight to have again won Agency of the Year, which for me reflects the spirit of the entire Colenso team in producing great work and great results across our family of clients.”

The DraftFCB/The Ministry of Health combo continued its hot run of form, with the Ministry winning the Most Effective Client of the Year award for its work of the National Depression Initiative and particularly for The Journal, a brilliant integrated campaign that has, amazingly, been given the same medical status as anti-depressants and was reported to have helped 83 percent of those using the service. DraftFCB and MOH also took golds in social marketing/public service and most integrated campaign.

DraftFCB also brought home some more metal with its big, risky Mini Soho campaign, which went against accepted brand theory, tapped into perceived scarcity, sold 10 full-price cars online without test drives and took a gold in Consumer Durables and a couple of other gongs.

Affinity ID also took gold with its Onecard mySpecials campaign for Progressive, adding to a range of accolades it’s won this year.

While TBWATequila won two golds for the 2degrees launch in the Consumer Services and New Product/Service Introductions categories, there were a few wondering why, given it was apparently the world’s most successful launch of a third telco operator into any market, resulted in more than 200,000 satisfied customers and achieved brand awareness of over 90 percent, it couldn’t beat a catfood campaign. One of the judges said that while degree of difficulty is considered in the judging criteria, it possibly isn’t factored in enough (creative makes up around 15 percent).

“It’s one of the few campaigns in this country that has humorously succeeded in touching both the hearts and minds of New Zealanders…and even though it’s early days the response we’re seeing is not unlike the Goldstein work we did for ASB Bank,“ says David Walden, chief executive of the TBWA Group.

Speaking of Goldstein, after speaking about how impressive the campaign was for lasting so long (and also showing a tribute to his ten years on Kiwi screens), it was given a bronze Effie for sustained success, which, despite the fact it’s won plenty of awards over the years, was a bit of a surprise. Some even thought it was almost a little bit insulting.

Of those who missed out, Special Group, after walking away with a Grand Prix and a few Gold Lions at Cannes for its Orcon campaign, could only get two silvers and a bronze at the local bash. And Barnes, Catmur & Friends, despite seven finalist nods, only picked up one silver for its work with Subaru.

If the Axis awards and Media awards (and even Cannes) are the pleasure, the Effies are the business. The bean counters and ball breakers don’t really care about who the DOP was or whether the lighting looked good in the TVC. They care about the bottom line. As such, the industry knows that these are ones you want to have on your mantelpiece.

In comparison to the other awards in the CAANZ stable, it was certainly a slightly more buttoned-down affair, presumably because the agency folk are on their best behaviour in front of all the potential clients. And, in comparison to last year’s event, which featured the very loud and raucous winners of the Battle of the Ad Bands, the string quartet brought in to perform during dinner upped the class levels a bit.

The full results will soon be available on the CAANZ site; all the voyeurs can check out the best dressed awards slideshow; and for some post-awards tomfoolery, the TRB’s Facetube page has plenty of incriminating evidence.

Award winners:

Best in Show

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Client: Mars New Zealand

Campaign Title: Whiskas: Love Your Cat

Most Effective Agency of the Year

Winner: Colenso BBDO

Most Effective Client of the Year

Winner: Ministry of Health

Agency: DraftFCB

GOLDS

Category: Social Marketing/Public Service

Agency: DraftFCB

Client: Ministry of Health

Campaign Title: National Depression Initiative – The Journal

Category: FMCG

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Client: Frucor Beverages New Zealand Ltd

Campaign Title: Rocket Man – V Pocket Rocket

Category: Consumer Durables

Agency: DraftFCB

Client: BMW Group New Zealand

Campaign Title: MINI Soho – Is this your number?

Category: Consumer Services

Agency: TBWATequila

Client: 2degrees Mobile Ltd

Campaign Title: 2degrees Launch

Category: New Product/Service Introductions

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Client: Fonterra Brands (Tip Top) Limited

Campaign Title: Kapiti On A Stick

Category: New Product/Service Introductions

Agency: TBWATequila

Client: 2degrees Mobile Ltd

Campaign Title: 2degrees Launch

Category: Return on Investment

Agency: Affinity ID

Client: Progressive Enterprises

Campaign Title: Onecard mySpecials

Category: Return on Investment

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Client: Mars New Zealand

Campaign Title: Whiskas: Love Your Cat

Category: Most Integrated Campaign

Agency: DraftFCB

Client: Ministry of Health

Campaign Title: National Depression Initiative – The Journal

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