NEW YORK, June 1, 2023 – The campaign that tackled vaping, Truth Initiative and Mojo Supermarket’s “Depression Stick + Breath of Stress Air,” with contributing agencies Gale, Allegiance Group, and Crux Research, was awarded the Grand Effie at the 2023 Effie Awards US Gala, held on June 1 in New York.
 
“Depression Stick + Breath of Stress Air” saw nonprofit Truth Initiative and independent agency Mojo Supermarket unite to take on the billion-dollar vaping industry and capture the attention of the hard-to-reach teen audience by building a platform through honesty, relevance, and compelling creative.
 
The Grand Effie winner effectively challenged an entire category, sparking anger towards vaping companies and inspiring young people to quit vaping by tapping into an insight about their mental health that resonated deeply: vaping can actually amplify the feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression that they’re trying to soothe.
 
“Depression Stick + Breath of Stress Air” also won Effies in the David vs Goliath and Disease Awareness & Education: Non-Profit categories.

The Grand Effie Contenders (top scoring Gold Effie Award winners), alongside “Depression Stick + Breath of Stress Air”, were: 
- Alpha Foods & Mischief @ No Fixed Address for “Alpha Foods Class Action Lawsuit,” with No Fixed Address, Strike Anywhere, and Oso Audio
- American Honda Motor Company/Acura & MullenLowe US for “Acura Type S Launch Campaign – Chiaki’s Journey”
- The Kellogg Company/Cheez-It, Leo Burnett Chicago & Starcom Media for “Aged by Audio,” with Pandora Media, Weber Shandwick, and Pilot44 Labs 
- The Kellogg Company/Froot Loops, Leo Burnett Chicago, and Starcom Worldwide for “Froot Loops World: From TV Ads to World-Building,” with SuperAwesome
- Mars Wrigley North America/Skittles & DDB Chicago for “Apologize the Rainbow,” with MediaCom, Weber Shandwick, The Mars Agency, and Picrow
- Riviana Foods/Mahatma and Carolina Brand Rice & Alma DDB for “Modern Rice Explorers,” with Spark Foundry and The Salmon Factor
- Sanofi/Xyzal & PureRED for “Be Wise All, Take Xyzal at Night,” with Havas Media and Ipsos
- Unilever/Vaseline & Edelman for “See My Skin,” with VisualDX, Mindshare, and HUED
 
See the grand jury here.
 
Two Golds and one Silver Effie were awarded in the Sustained Success category, which recognizes effective work that has sustained measurable growth over three or more years. The Gold Effies went to P&G’s Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy Portland for “Men Have Skin Too” and The New York Times and Droga5 for “The New York Times”.  The Silver Effie was awarded to Tobacco Free Florida and Alma DDB for “What Smoking Costs You.”
 
Trophies were also awarded in the Direct to Consumer category for the first time with Bronzes going to Sanofi’s ALPROLIX and DDB Chicago for “Treatment Signing Day”;  Pearson Education and VMLY&R, “This is You Learning;”; and KEEN Utility and Hanson Dodge, “KEEN UTILITY- Fits you Better.”  A Gold Effie was awarded to The Kellogg Company’s Cheez-It, Leo Burnett Chicago and Starcom for “Aged by Audio.”
 
All Gold winners from the competition are eligible to enter the 2024 Global Best of the Best Effies.

The 2023 US Rankings reveal the total points from finalist and winning entries in the competition.  The Rankings will factor into the 2023 Global Effie Index, announced in early 2024, after all 2023 Effie Awards competitions globally have concluded.

Highest Ranked US Effie Award winners:
Most Effective Marketers: 1) The Kellogg Company  2) Unilever  3) Mars Wrigley North America
Most Effective Brands:  1) Froot Loops  2) eos  3) Truth Initiative
Most Effective Holding Companies:  1) IPG  2) Omnicom  3) Publicis Groupe
Most Effective Agency Networks:  1) DDB Worldwide  2) Leo Burnett Worldwide 3) McCann Worldgroup
Most Effective Agency Offices:  1) Starcom Worldwide 2) Leo Burnett Chicago 3) Mischief @ No Fixed Address
Most Effective Independent Agencies:  1) Mischief @ No Fixed Address 2) Mojo Supermarket  3) SuperAwesome
 
Traci Alford, Global CEO of Effie Worldwide, said: “Winning an Effie is a recognition worth celebrating as it represents not only the success of the work, but also the ideas, the teamwork, and the determined efforts of a group of people with a shared vision to deliver growth and change. All of the winning teams should be enormously proud of this achievement.  They continue to raise the standard of excellence for our industry.”
 
To view the full list of winners, click here.