New Zealand’s advertising and marketing industry professionals gathered at Shed 10 in Auckland to recognise and celebrate the country’s most effective marketing campaigns at the 2018 NZ Effie Awards, organised by the Commercial Communications Council in association with TVNZ.
MC Pax Assadi presided over the evening, which was themed “The EFFIE Effect” – a reference to the fact that winning an Effie® has a positive effect for both agencies and their clients. The Effie Awards has been run by the Comms Council in NZ for 16 years and with more than 50 Effie programmes around the world, winning an Effie is recognised globally by advertisers and agencies as the industry’s pre-eminent award, representing the pinnacle in advertising effectiveness.
Of the 17 Golds awarded, DDB New Zealand won 8 of them for their work with two clients. The “The World’s Most Unhelpful Chatbot” campaign with Netsafe won 5, including Limited Budget, Best Strategic Thinking, and Most Progressive Campaign. Netsafe was also awarded Most Effective Client of the Year. DDB Group’s gold run continued with two Golds for the “Imagine” campaign for Lotto New Zealand, with Lotto NZ “Imagine” also winning the major prize of the night, the coveted Grand Effie. With the haul of golds, DDB Group were also crowned Most Effective Agency of the Year.
David McIndoe, Head of Strategy at Saatchi & Saatchi and Effie’s Convenor for 2018, says those entries deserving of an Effie illustrate the deep connections that brands can make with consumers when the minds of agency and client are aligned. “Brands and the ideas that power them are business assets. To be effective, a vision needs to be built and deliberately maintained, jealously guarded, and leveraged with care. The value of being truly effective will pay back over many years to come. Tonight, we celebrate world-class thinking from New Zealand.”
It was also a great night for Clemenger BBDO and the Human Rights Commission for their work “Give nothing to racism” which earned a GOLD in the Most Effective Social Campaign category and then was unanimously awarded the HARDEST CHALLENGE by judges.
Ogilvy also got to walk up the purple carpet for GOLD wins in both the PR/Experiential and Most Effective Social Campaign categories for the NZ Police’s “Most Entertaining Recruitment Video.” PHD wore the carpet out collecting three GOLDS for Skinny’s “Best Freekend Christmas Ever!” in Consumer Services, Integrated and Short-Term Success, a new category. PHD also picked up a couple of SILVERS for their work around the election with MediaWorks.
TRACK got to take the stage with their data-focused work “Playback” for Westpac, winning a GOLD; and BC&F Dentsu had a lot to celebrate with 1 GOLD in Limited Budget and 2 SILVERS for the most likeable campaign “Movember – The Face of Change.”
Saatchi & Saatchi got a well-deserved GOLD for their follow-on campaign for Bay Audiology.
Rachel Ellerm, GM Marketing at Goodman Fielder, won the most Effective Marketer of the Year Award for 2018. This award recognises a marketing client who led their agencies in the marketing of a brand that has clearly excelled in the last 12 months and beyond – someone who really understood their business issues, had clear objectives and inspired their agencies to even greater heights over the longer term.
The Comms Council CEO, Paul Head, said “Marketer of the Year for 2018 recognises someone that has demonstrated authentic, values-based leadership in a very tough FMCG sector.”
“Rachel had clearly created a step-change in ways of working with agency partners across 13 brands and 28 segments. Despite relatively small budgets, this led not only to award winning campaigns but to strong volume growth across all supported brands, underpinned by a mantra of “up the brave” which challenged both their organisation and their agency partners to push boundaries.”
The Commercial Communications Council congratulates all the finalists and winners at the 2018 Effie Awards 2018 in association with TVNZ.
View the full list of Winners & Finalists here.
The 2018 Effie NZ Awards were proudly presented by the Commercial Communications Council (The Comms Council) in association with TVNZ, its Commercial Partner. Comms Council also thanks Commercial Partner NZME and sponsors: Nielsen, Adshel, Bauer Media, Google, The Radio Bureau and Soar Print.
For more information, please contact Natasha Galloway at (+021) 890 147 or at natasha@commscouncil.nz
For images, please visit www.commscouncil.nz
