The Gold Miners – DDB, TBWA, Special

AUCKLAND, Thursday: Of the 10 Golds awarded at last night’s 2020 live virtual Effie Awards, two went to 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 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 work across six different campaigns.

Lotto Lost Ticket and Imagine 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 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 Lion Breweries’ Speight’s – The Dance, 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.

“In tough times, the Effies clearly illustrate the impact of creativity on business results.”

DDB Group Aotearoa ceo Justin Mowday said: “Approaching the end of a challenging year, it’s incredibly gratifying for DDB to be acknowledged as Aotearoa’s most effective agency.

“Our mission to grow clients’ businesses has never been more important, and these awards are all about demonstrating the undeniable link between effective creativity and business growth. I want to thank the amazing people we have at DDB who have been undaunted, unreasonably optimistic and passionate throughout this tough year.

“I also want to thank our fantastic clients, and make a special acknowledgement of Craig Baldie, a world-class marketer whose recognition last night couldn’t be more deserved.”

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”.

“A win at Effies this year, with a tough set of judges and a tough economic environment, is a true testament to effective work.”

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 the Effies acknowledged 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.

Meridian Energy CMO (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, 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 Effie partners & sponsors
The Comms Council partners at the 2020 Effie Awards were TVNZ, oOh!media, Nielsen, NZME, TRB, Facebook and Google.   

The Gold papers will be available from November. The live show has been recorded and will be available to watch on the Comms Council website within the next few days.

• View a list of all winners here
• And here: www.commscouncil.nz