Despite an undeniably tough year for all, the Commercial Communications Council felt it was important to continue to recognise and celebrate New Zealand’s most effective marketing campaigns, through the 2020 Live Virtual Effie Awards, in association with TVNZ. The Effie programme is held in over 50 countries and has been run in New Zealand by the Comms Council, with TVNZ as the major sponsor, for two decades.
Simon Lendrum, this year’s Convenor of Judges, said, “It’s been fantastic to see so many entries from organisations and brands that demonstrate the concrete value that great marketing campaigns deliver back to New Zealand business. In tough times, the Effies clearly illustrate the impact of creativity on business results.”
2020 is also the second year that we acknowledge the individual marketers who inspired great work from their agencies, and fought for it in their organisations, on the Effies Leader Board, which is based on results from the show. Each marketer scores 2 points for a Finalist result, 4 points for a Bronze, 6 for Silver, 8 for Gold and 12 for the Grand Effie. The Most Effective Marketer for 2020 was awarded to Craig Baldie from Lion Breweries for work on multiple campaigns across two years.
Of the 10 Golds awarded on the night, two were taken home by TBWA for their work with 2degrees on “Fighting our Way to our Most Profitable Year Ever” in the Consumer Services category, and for “How a Nature-Powered Ram Led the Charge to a Complete Market Share Turnaround” for ANZ Bank, in the Most Effective Integrated Campaign category. Special Group also took home a deserved Gold in the Most Effective Social Campaign category, for their work with Tourism New Zealand on “Good Morning World”.
In the end however, it was DDB Aotearoa’s night, for their great work across six different campaigns. “Lost Ticket” and “Imagine” with Lotto NZ scored them Golds in the Most Progressive Campaign and Sustained Success categories. Both “19 for 19” with KidsCan and “Return of the Mac(ca’s)” with McDonald’s scored them Golds in the new category of Topical Marketing. Track Aotearoa also took home a Gold for Most Effective Use of Digital Technology, for their work on “From Pocket to Profits: How Data Powered Digital Delivered Growth for Macca’s” with McDonald’s. However, the standout campaign of the night was “Speight’s – The Dance” with Lion Breweries, which not only won DDB two Golds in the FMCG and Best Strategic Thinking categories, but also went on to win the Hardest Challenge Award sponsored by oOh!media, as well as the coveted Grand Effie sponsored by TVNZ. DDB Aotearoa, naturally, then went on to win Most Effective Agency of the Year Award, sponsored by NZME. Well done, DDB!
This year’s Most Effective Advertiser of the Year Award, sponsored by Google, went to ANZ Bank.
A few noteworthy Silver winners from the night included Pitchblack Partners and Burger King for “Rebel Rebel, How Could they Know?” in the New Product or Service category, BC&F Dentsu and Meridian Energy for “Three Words to Save the World”, and Clemenger BBDO and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s “The 1-Star Reality Car”, both in the Most Effective Integrated Campaign category. Hello’s work with TAB, “No Matter Who Scores, You Score with TAB” scored them a Silver in Retail/Etail and Stanley Street’s “Recruiting for Diversity” for NZ Police scored them a Silver in Sustained Success. Special Group and Tourism NZ took home a Silver in the Topical Marketing category for “Do Something New, New Zealand”.
Chief Marketing Officer of Meridian Energy and one of this year’s seven Executive Judges, Michael Healy, said, “As the year of COVID, this was arguably the most unique year in the history of Effies. As a result, conversations at Exec Judging saw genuinely effective campaigns rise to the top and eclipse short termism. As a result, all the metal at the show absolutely reflected the value of effective and commercial marketing (and marketers) to businesses through global highs and lows. To have a win at Effies this year, with a tough set of judges and a tough economic environment, is a true testament to effective work.”
The Commercial Communications Council congratulates all the finalists and winners of the 2020 Effie Awards New Zealand in association with TVNZ.
For a full list of winners and finalists, please head to the Comms Council website.
The Leader board is online at www.commscouncil.nz and Gold papers will be available beginning in November. The live show has been recorded and will be available to watch on the Comms Council website within the next few days.
The 2020 Effie Awards were proudly presented by the Commercial Communications Council (Comms Council) in association with TVNZ, its Commercial Partner. Comms Council also thanks Commercial Partner oOh!media and sponsors: Nielsen, NZME, The Radio Bureau, Facebook and Google.
For more information, please contact Natasha Galloway on (021) 890 147 or at natasha@commscouncil.nz
