The EFFIEs aren’t usually seen as the most glamorous or creative of the CAANZ events (as evidenced by the historic victory of Farmer’s Red Dot Specials a few years back). But, in terms of what advertising is actually meant to do, it should really be deemed the most important. And Colenso BBDO, DraftFCB and Barnes, Catmur & Friends have come through the first two rounds of judging as the country’s three most effective agencies for 2010.
Colenso nabbed 19 finalist placings (a few of which are joint efforts with .99), with nominations for most its major clients (Vodafone Symphonia, Yellow Chocolate, Fonterra’s Kapiti on a stick and Perfect Italiano, TVNZ’s The Pacific, Mars Whiskas and Frucor’s V Rocket Man). It has three out of the five nominations (TVNZ, Frucor and Yellow) for the best use of PR/Experiential in a marketing campaign and it also featured prominently in most integrated, FMCG, paradigm shift and consumer services.
James Hurman, Colenso’s planning director, a man renowned for falling into a deep swoon whenever the word ‘effectiveness’ is mentioned (and a man who’s soon to lead the Strategic Thinking CAANZ/AUT Communications School workshop) says it’s pleasing to see that many of the campaigns shortlisted for the EFFIEs are the same ones that have won creative awards.
“We are lucky to partner with clients who understand that in order to deliver business-transforming results they need to back great work,” he says.
Strangely, given the EFFIES often follow in the footsteps of the TVNZ-NZ Marketing awards, 2degrees and TBWA only managed to get two finalist placings in the consumer services and new product or service introduction categories. And Air New Zealand doesn’t feature at all.
With 12 finalist placings, DraftFCB continued its dominance in the social marketing sphere, including three from three in the social marketing/public service category for ALAC and the Ministry of Health and World Vision as a finalist in the charity section. It’s not a one-trick pony, however: it also got nods in other categories for clients that have some cash, with Mini, Whitcoulls and Mitre 10 in the running.
Showing its diverse portfolio, Barnes Catmur & Friends is third on the ladder and the leading indie with seven nominations across Subaru, Tourism Fiji and Southern Cross. Special Group was next with five, although its only contender is the greedy ‘Orcon + Iggy’ campaign, and BCG2 is next on the indie list with three nominations for Lion Nathan and Audi.
As for the other bigguns, Ogilvy, Clemenger BBDO and Saatchi & Saatchi (including one bittersweet nomination for Westpac in the sustained success category, which has recently gone to Colenso) got three. .99 also got three, or five if you include its dual nominations with Colenso, while Y&R got two and DDB only managed one for McDonald’s.
In the big one, the Grand EFFIE for Sustained Success, the five nominations are .99 and Farmers, Barnes, Catmur & Friends for Subaru, BCG2 for Audi, DraftFCB for Mitre 10, Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland for Westpac and TBWATequila with our old, potentially departing friend Goldstein in ASB.
The executive judging is taking place on Monday 6 September with effectiveness guru Tim Broadbent in attendance (his event at TVNZ tonight has sold out). And tickets for the 7 October show at SkyCity are now on sale. Get ’em here. You can download the full list of finalists here. Finalists_EFFIES_2010r
