The Effie finalists are out and Colenso has backed up last year’s most effective agency mantle with 16 nominations, followed by DDB and DraftFCB with 14, .99 with ten and Special Group with eight. And, as for the clients, Air New Zealand, Frucor, 2degrees, NZ Lotteries, ANZ, ALAC, Fuji Xerox, the Electricity Authority, Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and DB were among the most nominated across the 15 categories.
DDB was the biggest mover, up from just one nomination last year, and Special Group has upped its nominations from five (all for Orcon) with its work for ecostore, MediaWorks and Lion. There was a bit of a gap back to the next rung of agencies, with TBWA nabbing four finalist spots, all for 2degrees, Federation and Republik with three for the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind Red & Black appeal and Fuji Xerox Fujikistan respectively, and Barnes, Catmur & Friends, Sugar, BCG2, Strategy and Pinkie & Brain all getting two.
Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Mojo, Ogilvy Wellington, BrandWorld, Shine, Loyalty NZ, TVNZ, GSL Network, Droag5 and Mr Smith all received one finalist placing each.
Entries were up massively this year with 206 entries, an increase of 99 from 108 in 2010 (don’t be surprised if you see an Effie entry for DraftFCB’s stellar Effie call for entries campaign next year).
“This seems to suggests that even in tough times, the industry is serving its clients well and creating strong commercial results with its work,” says EFFIE chair James Hurman. “Also worth noting, last year 71 percent of entries became finalists, whereas this year only 47 percent made the cut. So a harder year for agencies in terms of converting entries to finalists.”
Download the full list of finalists here. EFFIE_Awards_2011_Finalists
