Last night, 13 gold Effies were awarded to the country’s most effective marketing campaigns at the 2019 Effie Awards.
There, FCB celebrated success, winning the Most Effective Agency of the Year and the Grand Effie for its Pak’nSave’s Stickman work, while DB Breweries was named the Most Effective Client of the Year and saw Sean O’Donnell take out the inaugural Most Effective Marketer
Stickman has become a familiar character and Andrew Geoghegan, global head of consumer planning for Diageo in the UK and this year’s international Effie judge, wondered if a decision on a winner had ever been reached so quickly.
“The judges unanimously awarded Pak’nSave’s Stickman the Grand Effie. This is deceptively sophisticated work – the creative means and message are so well integrated they deliver the campaign’s intent in every touchpoint efficiently and effectively. Tapping into culture drives everyday relevance and that competitive brand truth about being a real NZ brand. Most of all they have stuck with and evolved the work over years and have impressive results in a tough category. Bravo!”
As well as the Grand Effie, Stickman also received a gold in the Sustained Success category where FCB took home a second gold for its Mercury work.
FCB’s third gold on the night for ‘A Conversation Starter’ with Testicular Cancer New Zealand won in the Most Effective PR or Experiential Campaign category.
The Most Effective Client of the Year went to DB Breweries, while Colenso BBDO’s work for it picked up two golds, one in New Product or Service category and another in the hard to win Most Effective Integrated Campaign category for its work on DB Export Gold for the Low Carb Beer and the campaign called ‘I’m Drinking it for You’.
Stanley St also made an appearance in the latter category with a gold for its ‘The Deciding Question’ campaign for NZ Police.
DDB Group saw its Kiwi Rail work win a gold in Short Term Success category and work with Pet Refuge win a gold in Charity/Not for Profit category.
Meanwhile, Clemenger BBDO’s ongoing work with NZTA ‘Belted Survivors’ was awarded a gold by the executive judges in the Hardest Challenge category.
Also celebrating were VMLY&R and Work Safe in the Social Marketing/Public Service category for ‘Be a Safe Guy’, while OMD, Fuse and TBWA got to step up and bag a great gold in Most Effective Use of Data with Asahi Beverages NZ for the work with Carlsberg ‘Probably the Best Time’.
Alongside the winning agencies, this years’ Effie Awards was about individual marketers stepping up, as reflected in the theme.
Paul Head, Comms Council chief executive, explains it wants to be elevating the marketers as the people behind Effie-winning work.
“It isn’t just about agencies executing outstanding campaigns. It’s about having great marketing clients. Marketers who are bold, strategic, determined, creative and brave – and empower their agencies to be the same. The best, most effective work is always a partnership and the marketers that lead that partnership deserve greater recognition.”
To celebrate the individual marketers who inspired the winning work were acknowledged by the launch of a leader board showing based on Effie results. For it, each marketer scored two points for a finalist, four for a bronze, six for silver, eight for gold and 12 for the Grand Effie.
The Most Effective Marketer for 2019 was Sean O’Donnell for the points received for his bronze, silver and gold awards on several campaigns including two golds with Colenso BBDO for DB Breweries ‘We’re drinking it for you’.
The leader board points will build next year on the points earned this year. The leader board now sits on the Comms Council website for everyone to review.
Gold papers will be available on the site from November.
