Ogilvy’s Kiwibank wins Grand Effie; Colenso BBDO awarded Most Effective Agency of the Year

In recognition of the high level of quality work submitted for the 2009 CAANZ EFFIE® Awards, judges awarded 9 Gold, 16 Silver and 22 Bronze EFFIEs at tonight’s awards in Auckland – an indication the industry continues to reach new heights of effectiveness.

Presented annually by the Communication Agencies Association of New Zealand (CAANZ), the EFFIE’s are awarded in recognition of the year’s most effective advertising campaigns that have delivered superior results.

CAANZ CEO, Rick Osborne, was impressed with the entries submitted by agencies; in particular the work submitted by Ogilvy for Kiwibank, which won Best in Show and the Grand EFFIE for Sustained Success.

“Ogilvy’s unashamedly patriotic campaign for Kiwibank for the past three years has placed the bank in a strong position to retain current customers and attract new ones,” says Osborne.

“The sustained campaign rallied Kiwis behind the bank to help it build a strong brand and deliver on the bank’s commercial targets, clearly demonstrating the power of effective communications to deliver outstanding business results,” he said.

Colenso BBDO was awarded the Most Effective Agency of the Year, which recognises the most significant contribution made by an agency to the success of its clients.

“Colenso BBDO won 11 EFFIEs this year, including two golds, for its stirling work with a number of clients, in particular Frucor Beverages. In the highly competitive FMCG industry, it partnered with Frucor to deliver several high quality campaigns to help build established brands and deliver outstanding results using creative ideas that connected with the target audience,” says Osborne.

Frucor Beverages was awarded the Most Effective Client of the Year award for its multi-campaign work on its energy drink V and the revitalisation of its sports drink Mizone Rapid. Judges said Frucor’s commitment to effective communications continued to build these brands over the long haul, while addressing challenges in a strategic and decisive manner.

New independent agency, Special Group, picked up three gold EFFIEs for their work on the Green Party Election 08 Campaign, Vote for Me.

Brent Smart, managing director, Colenso BBDO said the awards validate the agency’s belief that creativity equals effectiveness: “We have a bunch of great clients that recognise great creative ideas truly drive business results at a time when they’ve never mattered more. ‘Monster Truck’ and ‘Tricked Out’ campaigns for V drove a spectacular lift in sales across V’s portfolio of products, while the ‘Leaner & Meaner’ work for Mizone doubled the brand’s share. Yellow’s ‘Treehouse’ (a Colenso BBDO/AIM Proximity campaign) has now won nine local and international effectiveness awards, on top of four Cannes Lions.”

Special actually won more Gold than any other agency, converting its four finalists for the Green Party ‘Vote for Me’ campaign into three Gold and one Bronze awards.

This turns out to be an unprecedented achievement. Ric Osborne of CAANZ says, “We’ve checked, and can confirm that this is the first time in New Zealand Effie history that a single campaign has been recognised with three Gold Effies”.

THE ‘BIG’ EFFIE® AWARD WINNERS

Best in Show

Agency: Ogilvy

Client: Kiwibank

Entry Title: Call to Arms & Join the Movement

Most Effective Agency of the Year

Winner: Colenso BBDO

Most Effective Client of the Year

Winner: Frucor Beverages

Agency: Colenso BBDO

GOLD EFFIE® AWARD WINNERS

Category: Charity/Not for Profit

Agency: Special Group

Client: The Green Party

Entry Title: Vote for me. Green Party Election Campaign ’08

Category: FMCG

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Client: Frucor Beverages

Entry Title: The Big V 

Category: FMCG

Agency: Colenso BBDO

Client: Frucor Beverages

Entry Title: Leaner and Meaner

Category: Corporate Reputation/Image

Agency: DDB New Zealand Ltd

Client: McDonalds

Entry Title: My Greatest Feat

Category: Corporate Reputation/Image

Agency: Special Group

Client: The Green Party

Entry Title: Vote for me. Green Party Election Campaign ’08

Category: New Product or Service Introduction

Agency: Publicis Mojo

Client: Lion Nathan

Entry Title: Don’t Mess with Nature

Category: Return on Investment

Agency: Publicis Mojo

Client: Lion Nathan

Entry Title: Don’t Mess with Nature

Category: Most Integrated Campaign

Agency: Special Group

Client: The Green Party

Entry Title: Vote for me. Green Party Election Campaign ’08

Category: Grand EFFIE for Sustained Success

Agency: Ogilvy

Client: Kiwibank

Entry Title: Call to Arms & Join the Movement

Download the full list of winners: EFFIES-Placings Report by Category 090911.xls