Agencies prove they're EFFIE enough

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's marketing and advertising community proved it was "EFFIE enough" at this year's EFFIE Awards as a total of 11 EFFIEs were awarded- the highest number of awards presented in the four years since the awards ceremony was launched to recognize effective marketing campaigns in Hong Kong.

Four Gold, four Silver and three Bronze awards were presented to EFFIE winners at the gala ceremony organised by the Hong Kong Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (HK4As) held at the Mandarin Oriental last evening.

Ogilvy & Mather and Starcom Worldwide won a gold for Coke Light's "Burning 1 calorie is unbelievably easy" campaign other gold EFFIEs go to Tequila\Hong Kong and OMD Hong Kong for Levi's "Levis TYPE 1 "How bold are you?" campaign, Contract Advertising for EPS's PPS "Kill Bills" campaign and DDB and Tribal DDB Hong Kong for McDonald's "Shake It!" campaign.

The panel of 10 judges comprising of client, agency, media and research executives agreed that "the quality of entries both in terms of the ways the entries were written and also the quality of the marketing excellence achieved is better this year than ever before". 2007 also saw the most number of entries submitted, 36 compared to 28 in 2004.

"The EFFIEs are the only awards in which the standards and methodology are global, yet the campaigns are awarded based on effectiveness in the local market. If you win a Gold EFFIE in Hong Kong you can be as proud as the client or agency team who won a Gold EFFIE in London, New York or anywhere else in the world," Ian Thubron, chairman for the HK4As' 2007 EFFIE Awards organizing committee and CEO for TBWA Hong Kong said in his speech.

However, no Grand EFFIE was awarded this year despite a rise in quality of entries. Thubron revealed that a long debate was held to review and vote for the ‘best of the best' from the Gold EFFIEs but "in the end it was agreed that they were all terrific but none of them actually stood out above the others".

One major trend the chairman observed from the entries this year that is different from previous years is the move towards a more interactive and digital approach.

"It used to be entries based on TV and print but now what we are seeing is TV, print, point of sale and a lot of interactive work, so we see a much more integrated approach to marketing and communications rather than just advertising", Thubron said.

For the 2008 Hong Kong EFFIEs, the committee will embark on a year long campaign at promoting the awards to capture more of the effective marketing campaigns that are out there.

"Quality is what we are driving for but we want to broaden the reach of the EFFIEs beyond the agencies," Thubron added.

The list of EFFIE winners:

Silver

Category: Apparel

Campaign Title: World Cup +10

Brand: adidas Hong Kong Limited

Client: adidas Hong Kong Limited

Agency: TBWA\ Hong Kong

Agency 2: Carat Media Services Asia Pacific Limited

Category Banking and Financial Services / Insurance

Campaign Title: Hang Seng SME Banking Campaign

Brand: Hang Seng Bank

Client: Hang Seng Bank

Agency: Leo Burnett Limited

Agency 2: MAXUS Communications Limited

Category: Pharmaceutical / Medical care

Campaign Title: Bus Stop

Brand: Panadol Cold & Flu Extra

Client: GlaxoSmithKline Limited

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Agency 2: Mediacom Hong Kong

Category: Supermarkets / Restaurants / Fast Food / Shops and Stores

Campaign Title: ThreeSixty- A Food Revolution - "Change the world - One bite at a time"

Brand: ThreeSixty

Client: The Dairy Farm Company Ltd

Agency: TBWA\TEQUILA\ Hong Kong

Agency 2: Universal McCann

Bronze

Category: Alcoholic Beverages / Non Alcoholic Beverages

Campaign Title: Coca-Cola zero launch campaign

Brand: Coca-Cola zero

Client: Coca-Cola (China) Ltd

Agency: McCann Erickson (Hong Kong) Ltd

Agency 2: Starcom Worldwide

Category: Banking and Financial Services / Insurance

Campaign Title: Bombardment

Brand: Prudential

Client: The Prudential Assurance Co Ltd

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

Agency 2: Mindshare Hong Kong Limited

Category: Supermarkets / Restaurants / Fast Food / Shops and Stores

Campaign Title: Mac Tonight

Brand: McDonald's

Client: McDonald's Restaurants (HK) Ltd

Agency: DDB Worldwide Limited

Agency 2: Tribal DDB Hong Kong