In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Try to understand, in depth, all the new touchpoints that connect a brand with people; this will help you build your brand into a fluid communication instead of an interruption.

In one sentence...How can marketers stay effective in times of challenge? 

There is nothing that you cannot surmount if you put your mind, heart and soul to work, so just take each challenge as a personal mission.    

In one sentence...

How do you define effective marketing?

In partnership with Ipsos MORI, Effie UK analysed data from its 2020 Effie Awards competition and has released their key findings in the latest edition of the Effie UK Report.

With analysis completed across Effie's 4 pillars, non-conformity was identified as the key creative theme for effective campaigns.

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Be open to different perspectives and points of view, and experiment with new things, because tomorrow’s world will never be like today’s.

In one sentence...How can marketers stay effective in times of challenge?

By being grounded and connected, accepting the new normal quickly -- and, in fact, creating it.

It’s interesting – ‘sales’ sometimes remains a dirty word – the bridesmaid to the strategic goals of brand building, emotional connection and cultural relevance.  Often, both award criteria and marketing theory posit a choice or trade-off between brand love and transactional efficacy – of course both are essential for sustained brand success.   But, in our COVID-19 defined times, a laser focus on transactional success has never been more important as scrutiny on investment, effectiveness and return continue to intensify.   As commerce and shopper continue to evolve, it’s worth considering how we can have a better, clearer discussion about performance, value and impact.

 

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

I have two pieces of advice for these uncertain times: first, be curious enough to keep the pulse of your consumers, and second, have a clear North Star, but be flexible with how you plan to get there.

In one sentence...How do you define effective marketing?

Here I prefer to stick to the fundamentals: effective marketing aims to achieve short and long term business objectives through a rightfully prioritized mix of creative, media and other activities at the lowest acceptable cost.

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Don’t try to sell something you don’t believe in - you will just end up fooling yourself.

In one sentence...how do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing is all about nurturing meaningful relationships with your consumers and giving them valued experiences.

On December 10th, the second day of Effie Greater China's 2020 UNTHINKABLE Summit, Dr. Paul Yan, vice president of JD.com, chairman of JD Retail Technology Committee and president of JD Business Growth, joined as a keynote speaker. During his inspiring 30-minute speech, Dr. Yan elaborated on how JD responded to changes with technology, especially concerning the efforts that JD has constantly made to realize the transformation of digital intelligence in the current difficult times.

 

In one sentence...How do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing not only helps you to accomplish competitive results and sales objectives, but also to build true emotional connections, in a perfect marriage between brain and heart.

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

The pandemic very clearly showed us how key it is to read the zeitgeist in order to connect with consumers in a credible and useful way.

Here’s a sneak peak of our latest analysis from Ipsos, outlining key learnings from recent Effie Awards UK winners that could help drive growth for your brands and businesses.

From focusing on the challenge to going against the norm of category conventions to stand out in a sea of sameness, the Effie Report offers tangible learnings, trends and practical examples of best practices in marketing effectiveness.

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Never act upon a single data point; always triangulate multiple data points to come to an insight.

In one sentence...How do you define effective marketing?

Accomplishing business objectives by identifying the right insight and converting it into a strength for the brand through an impactful campaign.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director of UN Women and Chair of the Unstereotype Alliance, recently offered these powerful words to the business community. She said: “You have to repurpose your skills to serve a greater good than profit.”

Her words come at a time of huge disruption and with the devasting backdrop of widening inequalities exacerbated by Covid-19 and systemic racial injustice exposed the world over. It is now undeniably clear that business must step up to be a force for positive change and deliver more than great products or services. Purpose is no longer an option, it’s a core requirement to the future of business.

In one sentence...what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Always remember that your end goal is to sell while keeping the process as simple as possible.

In one sentence...how do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing is human-centric: it prioritizes people's needs, creates empathic products and leverages communication potential to not only promote products, but also nudge people toward more useful habits and well-being.

As a global community, we are living through challenging times and, as marketers, we have the opportunity to motivate and inspire both consumers and each other.  Effective communication and empathy are critical in achieving that.

Our 2020 Global Effie Jury shares how they are supporting their teams through the challenges of this year and, more broadly, how the value of creativity changes during demanding and difficult times.

Twitter’s Sarah Personette talks with Nike’s Alex Lopez and Wieden+Kennedy’s Daniel Sheniak about launching their powerful and inspiring campaign “Dream Crazy” and the role of social platforms in connecting Nike to culture.

Nike and Wieden+Kennedy’s “Dream Crazy“ won Gold in the Leisure & Lifestyle category at the 2020 Effie Awards U.S. competition.

Microsoft developed the XBOX Adaptive Controller to improve the gaming experience for disabled gamers.  To showcase the brand's belief that 'when everyone can play, we all win,' Microsoft took their story to the Super Bowl and ultimately increased brand love by showing how their innovation was Changing the Game.  In a conversation with Twitter’s Sarah Personette, Microsoft's Kathleen Hall and McCann Worldgroup's Shayne Millington take us behind the scenes of how they brought this powerful effort to life.

Microsoft and McCann New York's "Changing the Game" won 3 Gold Effies and was a Grand contender in the 2020 Effie Awards U.S. competition.

Burger King set out to make the brand loved and talked about online.  In an interview with Twitter's Sarah Personette, MullenLowe U.S.'s Kelly Fredrickson and Restaurant Brands International's Fernando Machado discuss how they were able to find their voice online by being bold and unexpected. 

Burger King and MullenLowe U.S. won a 2020 Silver Effie in the category of Engaged Community for "It Just Has to Make Sense to Someone."

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

In this digital age, it’s important to know your consumer well, not only locally, but globally – so learn their culture and how they consume your product, and be politically correct.

Technology will continue to transform the way we work, how we connect, and the ways marketers engage with consumers.  And, as a result of the past year, people are adopting new technologies at an accelerated pace. 

In this week’s Global Effie Awards Jury Spotlight, we asked judges what new opportunities in emerging tech they are most excited about. 

In one sentence...What is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

When you are a marketer, you are a lifelong student, so you need to learn from the market, from data, from your colleagues, and from the changing world. 

Brand measurement must evolve to continue justifying upper-funnel investment

It's been more than a hundred years since John Wanamaker lamented, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don't know which half."

How does diversity within an organization help improve performance for brands? Marketing leaders from the 2020 Global #Effies Jury share their perspective. 

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In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing forms an emotional connection in the mind of the consumer that, in return, creates a predisposition to buy the brand; when both the CFO and the CMO are happy with the results of your marketing, you’ve hit the happy medium. 

How do you develop talent within your organization?  This year’s Global Effie judges share the skills they look for that are imperative to being effective, and also share the advice they would give their younger selves.

- - Renata Altenfelder, Executive Director, Global Brand & Communication, Motorola

The Global Effie Awards celebrate the most effective marketing efforts that have run across multiple regions worldwide.  To be eligible, a campaign must run in at least four countries and two regions.

 

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Seek shared value; you’ll find it at the intersection of what your brand stands for, what’s important to your customers and what will consistently grow the business.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing is a process of continuous improvement, avoiding “the way we’ve always done it” and looking to anticipate the next change in our business and in the consumer.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Knowing (vs guessing) the contribution and value of your marketing efforts to your business.

During the Ideas That Work®: 2020 Effie US Leadership Summit & Winners Celebration we explored how the marketing industry moves foward in these unprecedented times.

Over 5 panel discussions, we heard from renowned business leaders and disruptors about the future of retail, leadership as a force for positive change, privacy and, of course, the future of marketing effectiveness.

There is evidence that the number of consumers looking to brands to have a positive impact on society is growing. Trust, values and purpose in today’s changing world are the subject of much passion and debate, but the key question is: are they capable of driving growth and how?

Hear the inspiring conversation and important call to action on purpose, profit & progress with Observatory's Jae Goodman, Nike's Alex Lopez and Ben & Jerry's Matthew McCarthy, moderated by Beth Sidhu, COO & CMO, The Stagwell Group.

Ipsos' Pedr Howard shares highlights from the most recent US Effie Report, plus a preview of key insights and analysis from 2020 Effie US entrants and winners.

Jacki Kelley, Erika Irish Brown and Deborah Wahl come together for an important conversation about taking action to address the cultural challenges our industry is facing today, and to explore the positive steps we can all take to improve the quality of our leadership, our talent and the overall structure of our organizations to be more inclusive and equitable.

How can marketers get ahead of the privacy wave, and protect ROI responsibly?  Join Daryl Lee, Global CEO of IPG Mediabrands, for a conversation to explore just that with Unilever's Luis Di Como, Acxiom's Chad Engelgau, Kellogg North America's Gail Horwood and IPG & Kinesso's Arun Kumar.  

This dynamic panel takes a closer look at how marketers can get ahead of the waves of privacy initiatives that are crashing around us, from regulators around the world and in California, and from tech platforms like Apple with iOS 14.  

The in-store and online retail landscape had already been experiencing rapid change and customers are interacting with brands in new ways. And recent events have accelerated innovation across the board. This panel will discuss the evolving retail landscape and overall retail experience, while infusing personal experience and expertise into the conversation.

As marketing effectiveness continues to be redefined, where do we go from here and what opportunities lie ahead for retailers and brands?

Ipsos' Pedr Howard shares highlights from the most recent US Effie Report, plus a preview of key insights and analysis from 2020 Effie US entrants and winners.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Data is not “the new creative”; the effective campaigns of tomorrow will sit at the intersection of art AND science.

During the Effie UK Leadership Summit we explored the theme of 'Rethinking Marketing Effectiveness: where do we go from here?’ The agenda covered themes such as lessons from disruptive brands, driving brand growth in uncertain times, purpose-driven marketing and more.  Every session was designed to provide inspiration and practical insights to help drive growth for brands and businesses in the here and now.

If you were unable to attend or want to take a look back at your favourites you can watch it here

What does marketing effectiveness look like in today’s world?  A 30-minute watch (+ Q&A) that brings to life how dynamic effectiveness can be, depending on the category, maturity and scale of a business.  Packed with ideas on how and what you should be measuring, including insights on what consumers value today and what they’ll value tomorrow.

 

Every year there are over 4,000 Effie Award winners globally.  Those effectiveness cases are held on our database and each one holds insights and ideas for marketeers everywhere.  

This piece of analysis from IPSOS outlines the key learnings from the latest Effie UK winners that could help drive growth for your brands and businesses.

There is evidence that the number of consumers looking to brands to have a positive impact on society is growing.  Trust, values and purpose in today’s changing world are the subject of much passion and debate, but the key question is, are they capable of driving growth and how?

This 30-minute discussion tackles one of most important questions facing marketeers today: can we be a part of making a positive change for people and planet, as well as driving profit?  Our panel is drawn from the world of big business and sustainable development, all experts in their field with evidence, insights, and ideas to inspire you.

Every so often a brands come along that creates a seismic shift.  In these challenging times, what can we learn from those who regularly punch above their weight?  Take 25 minutes out of your day to listen to a short presentation and lively discussion that identify the key behaviors and successful strategies adopted by disruptors that could drive growth, no matter what your brand or business. 

 

What should a modern marketing function look like? The skills people need to thrive and create effective work are changing.  How can you develop people and structures than encourage rigour, with the agility that every marketing function needs?

A 15-minute keynote by Ann Mukherjee, Chairman & CEO of Pernod Ricard NA, followed by a q&a, deftly moderated by Lindsay Pattison, Chief Client Officer, WPP.  

A superb interview between Sonoo Singh, Associate Director, The Drum, and An-Ching Chang, VP, CMO & Executive Creative Director, Greater China & Japan, Gap Inc.

In 20 minutes, they cover the key marketing innovations driving retail brands in the Chinese market, why so many Western brands have struggled to succeed, and what all marketers need to know if they are to enter the Chinese market successfully.

A 20-minute conversation with two of the most thought-provoking leaders working in our industry today. Vineet Mehra, Global Chief Marketing & Customer Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance & Chairman of the Board Effie Worldwide and Mark Ritson, Professor, Columnist & Consultant, discuss insights and ideas for marketeers trying to drive brand growth and wondering how to plan ahead amidst the current challenges. 

What marketing fundamentals should we be holding onto?  What’s changed & how are brands adapting to changed consumer behaviour since the pandemic? 

Brands are well aware that they can benefit from spending through a recession, but it’s less often recognised that the scale of the spend need not be an issue. Investment, regardless of size, can always be effective, which is worth remembering as we face a global ad spend drop of 11.9% this year, according to GroupM.

 

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Marketing that drives sales and appreciation without littering the communications channels.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Ideally, marketing is related to building new needs, adding features to products, moving from functional to emotional benefits, and developing brands with purpose and other reasons to be preferred by consumers…and today, consumers are empowered by the knowledge in their hands thanks to technology - so my advice to marketers is to please stop selling smoke.

At the start of 2020, I came up with a list of goals, one of them being to continue my passion for growth and development within the marketing industry. A month later, the stars aligned as my company’s CMO had nominated me for the Effie Marketing Effectiveness Bootcamp. After a 4-day conference and a 6-week case project, I left this experience with a renewed passion for marketing strategy, lasting connections with 25 amazing marketers, a phenomenal mentor, and an Effie approved case study. 

Here are eight takeaways from my experience at the Effie Marketing Effectiveness Bootcamp.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Creating relevance that drives business growth, which requires an intimate understanding of your core audience; their attitudes, behaviors, and underlying core values; and a willingness to have a strong point of view.

The latest analysis from Effie United States, in partnership with Ipsos, found disruption as a key creative theme to effective campaigns among 2019 winners.

The Report, which analyzed winning and non-winning Effie cases in the 2019 Effie Awards US competition, provides highlights, trends and practical examples of effective marketing best practices across Effie’s four-pillar framework.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

In addition to the core marketing competencies of yesterday, being a marketer today is truly a team sport that requires you to remove friction across your organization so the consumer doesn’t feel it.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Stay attuned (to understanding the latest trends), be adaptive (and change your strategy or plan if conditions require it), act with the consumer in your mind and heart (with the goal of making them happier) and keep on learning (but don’t forget the basics).

Each year, the Effie Index ranks the most effective marketers, brands, networks and agencies by analyzing finalist and winner data from Effie Awards competitions around the world.

Take a closer look at five marketing programs developed by a few of the brands, marketers, and agencies named Most Effective in the 2020 Effie Index.  This shortlist includes work by Unilver, Coca-Cola, WPP, McCann Worldgroup, FP7 McCann Dubai and Banda. 

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing has a clear goal, uses outstanding creativity that is fresh and new to the industry, and is able to deliver great results.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

In an ever-changing landscape, remember that whatever brought you where you are today won’t guarantee you success in the future.

There are reams of case studies, meta-analysis, books and tedious PowerPoint presentations on best practice in advertising effectiveness.  But there’s a yawning gap in practical and academic advice when it comes to effectiveness insights for scale-up companies. 

I’ve spent my formative years in mature businesses like Unilever, Birdseye and the AA. And I was lucky enough to learn my effectiveness trade at the knee of the masters: Godfathers Binet and Field and the fearsome intellect of the Ehrenberg-Bass institute,  with my hand held on each side by the IPA, WARC, and practically every other industry body keen to furnish me with  insight. 

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

Know what you stand for and what you stand against—that’s where brands find their tension and become worthy of attention in our increasingly attention-starved culture.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

When you’re living in a digital age, it is hard to remember that people are analogue beings - let’s keep this beautiful simplicity in our focus.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Whatever the marketing targets are - brand building, creating awareness, consideration, or other aims - my general recommendation to marketers is to efficiently utilize resources while staying daring, challenging, and open to new ideas and thinking ahead of the competition.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Learn how to be the new “Unicorn Marketer” who understands hard skills like data analytics, content strategy, social media, mobile, and e-commerce as well as soft skills like creativity, resourcefulness, adaptability, collaboration and leadership – the perfect professional combination to face business challenges today and in the future.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Take a look at successful companies around the world, 1, 5 and 10 years ago (paying special attention to how they acted in periods of crisis), and note their changes, growths, falls, and consumers, and then try to imagine your company 1, 5 and 10 years into the future — if you are not happy with what you see, change it now. 

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Now, even more than ever, brave and meaningful ideas are essential for effective marketing – in combination, these ingredients build salience and relevance for brands, increasing the ROI of your marketing mix as a result.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Effective marketing is about connecting dots between your brand and consumers to trigger a shift in behaviour, and about understanding the context people are living in to touch their hearts and minds with an offer that creates value in their lives.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

Take advantage of all the knowledge and opportunities that technology brings, but never forget to touch hearts and move people.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing? 

Effective marketing is making an imprint on a consumer’s mind and heart and impacting their buying behavior.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?

Nowadays, we all talk about how big data helps us better understand our consumers, but we should not forget that data should be turned into insights, then brought to life with creativity to be truly effective. 

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

In your pursuit for effectiveness by staying relevant and authentic, remember to also be virtuous.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing?

Marketing that brings customers to act, makes a significant impact on sales and creates long-term positive benefits for both sides: brands and people.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

All brands could easily lose their ability to succeed if we only focus on short-term ROI and efficiency – so, for every Euro invested, you should ask yourself: “How much value can I generate for my consumers, customers and my company in the long term?”

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

Never underestimate the power of creativity to help your business; when you and your agency team truly understand the business problem - not just the comms problem - you are trying to solve, you can come up with creative solutions that go way beyond traditional content.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

Don’t let your mind get old, break with convention, challenge people around you all the time, disagree openly, be true to yourself, learn how to give great feedback, work on your creative side, redefine what “thinking outside of the box” is, have great communication with your teams and your agencies (they are not employees, they’re part of your brand), keep constantly moving, work on your emotional intelligence and ALWAYS respect deadlines.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing? 

Work that moves people to act.

Image courtesy of Defence Force Recruiting & Host/Havas.

The Australian Defence Force is a highly-regarded employer among Australians, thanks to the training, development and invaluable experience it provided to those working on behalf of their country’s well-being.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

Clarify, clarify, clarify - because that, and only that, will simplify your journey.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today? 

When striving for effective marketing, start with deeply understanding the people you serve with your brand.

Lotto 6/49 is Canada’s most popular national lottery game and has been offering Canadians a chance to win daily since 1982. In Quebec, over 70% of Lotto 6/49 tickets were being sold to the over 50 crowd. Millennials were less enthusiastic, associating the lottery more with its poor odds of winning than the promise of riches. So Loto-Québec, which runs Lotto 6/49 in the province, saw an opportunity to inspire this segment to play.

In 2015, Loto-Québec and agency partner Sid Lee launched an integrated campaign “You Should Play 6/49” that highlighted everyday moments of luck (for instance, catching every green traffic light) as evidence that anyone is lucky enough to win, and expanded on the ubiquitous phrase, “You should play the lottery,” to turn these moments into purchase occasions.

In one sentence, what is the best advice you can offer marketers today?  

Market research and marketing models may help us understand the problem, but genuine empathy towards the consumer is often the best marketing strategy - work on this.

A well-known Colombian beer brand, ​Bavaria Brewery’s Poker was up against a series of changes affecting the local beer category, not least that consumers were drinking less overall. To reverse a negative start to the year, Bavaria (owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev) & DDB Colombia set out to increase sales by 5% during March 2018.  The brand was able to successfully re-engage its audience by creatively navigating around the no-advertising policy of what had become one of Colombia’s most popular social media apps: Whatsapp.

The result was “Amigos de Whatsapp.” The campaign, launched in March 2018, effectively differentiated Poker in a competitive beer category, achieved a 12.5% sales increase in two months time and went on to win the Grand Effie in the 2019 Effie Awards Colombia competition – the second Grand Effie win for the brand in four years. It also earned trophies in the Promotions (Gold), Beverages – Alcohol (Gold) and New Product or Service (Silver) categories.

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing? 

Marketing that really breaks down the barriers between clients, media agencies and creative agencies to reach consumers in a natural way, making them experience the brand in their everyday lives.

Child marriage threatens the education and safety of thousands of girls every year. In Pakistan, activists had been long campaigning to outlaw the practice.  

In 2017, UN Women (The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) set out to call lawmakers to action. Partnering with BBDO Pakistan, they organized a surprise takeover at Bridal Couture Week, one of Pakistan’s biggest annual events, to debut “The Bridal Uniform.” 

In one sentence, how do you define effective marketing? 

Marketing is effective when it engages the audience in a positive, memorable and impactful manner. 

The Maharashtra Dyslexia Association (MDA) was established in 1996 to advocate for students with dyslexia, a learning disability which reportedly affects one in ten Indians but whose impact is largely unknown to the average person. In an effort to increase awareness and improve conditions for students with dyslexia, the MDA sought a creative campaign that would inspire empathy in the students’ parents and teachers.

Together with agency partner McCann Worldgroup India, MDA developed “The Dancing Letters,” an interactive book that brought the challenges of dyslexia to life. The project led to the to the establishment of dyslexia awareness and empathy-building programs in schools across the Maharashtra region.

Netsafe is an independent, non-profit online safety organisation. It provides online safety support, expertise and education to people in New Zealand. It’s been around for more than 20 years, founded in 1998 to help New Zealand’s internet users stay safe online.

After noticing the growing influence of technology in their respective areas, the New Zealand Police, Ministry of Education and several not-for-profits teamed up with telecommunication organisations and IT industry partners to create an independent body focussed on online safety. Together they created the Internet Safety Group (rebranded Netsafe in 2008).

All images and videos courtesy of Vodafone & Ogilvy India.

In 2017, a sinister new form of sexual harassment emerged in parts of India: local mobile phone retailers were caught selling their female customers’ phone numbers to predatory men – often for less than a dollar – subjecting victims to lewd messages at all hours within their own homes.

Effie Worldwide partnered with Mark Ritson, Adjunct Professor, Writer, and teacher of Marketing Week's Mini MBA and the team at LinkedIn for a 10-part series featuring Effie-winning case studies. 

The series outlines the 9 key lessons for marketing effectivess taken from the analysis of over 6,000 Effie-winning case studies over the past 50 years.  

Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017 as the first universal museum in the Middle East, with a world-class collection of archaeological treasures and fine art spanning thousands of years. At launch, the museum welcomed crowds to a series of sold-out events - but just a couple of months post-celebration, visitor volume stalled.

Together, Louvre Abu Dhabi and agency partner TBWA\RAAD needed to attract locals to the museum – and the solution would need to counteract the UAE’s lagging enthusiasm for museums in general, and lack of awareness about the Louvre Abu Dhabi in particular.

Images courtesy of Intermarché & Romance.

In recent years, much of the French grocery category was participating in an ongoing “price war” to attract mostly transitory customers.

In 2017, Ogilvy Social.Lab was tasked with drawing visitors to Flanders Field, the site of the infamous Battle of Passchendaele, where millions of soldiers tragically drowned in mud. The team knew that this visceral, compelling story would be the key to meeting the site’s annual visitor and ticket sales targets.

With Visit Flanders, the team designed a campaign that illustrated and honored the battle: The Mud Soldier, a statue created with mud sourced from Flanders Field. The statue was placed in the middle of Trafalger Square in London, left to wash away over several days as recognition of the battle grew. A multi-part social campaign followed encouraging tourists to book a visit to the site.

With over 100 trophies awarded in the 2018 competition, the Effie Awards United States (formerly the North American Effie Awards) honors a diversity of marketing efforts across industries, media, and types of results achieved.

The 2018 winners we interviewed – who won Effies in eleven different categories – demonstrate the ever-expanding definition of marketing effectiveness. Explore the links below to discover their four unique stories of effectiveness, and to find out how you can enter your ideas that worked.

Since 2000, Truth Initiative has been a leader in deterring teens from smoking cigarettes, with over 1 million success stories and counting.

Their efforts began to plateau in 2014 due to increasingly sophisticated marketing from big tobacco companies and dwindling enthusiasm for the cause among teens. So together with agency partner 72andSunny, Truth developed a new approach to resonate with Gen Z: “Be The Generation That Ends Smoking and #FinishIT.” #FinishIT tied smoking to causes teens care about most, while leaning into the fast-paced, witty internet culture in which they thrive.

It’s no secret that, now more than ever, launching purpose-driven messaging platforms is a priority for many brands. In the strongest examples, the chosen cause is highly integrated with a brand’s DNA, which signals authenticity and ultimately drives effectiveness against philanthropic and business goals.

2018 Effie winner Boost Mobile already had a long-standing brand purpose: to give the hardworking person a voice through affordable, reliable phone service. But ahead of the 2016 U.S. election, Boost and 180LA identified an opportunity to add new dimension to this purpose – by elevating the voices of Boost consumers in a new way.

Every day after school, hundreds of children head to Off the Street Club in Garfield Park, to socialize, learn, and play within the safe and trusted walls of the Chicago institution. Opened in 1900, the club has offered a sanctuary for children seeking a brief escape from the violence prevalent in the surrounding Chicago neighborhoods.

In 2016, Off the Street Club and Energy BBDO pursued a new fundraising approach for the club, which continues to be supported entirely by private donations. The result was an emotionally resonant, multimedia campaign that propelled the organization into the national spotlight. In just over three months, it garnered enough donations to cover the club’s operating costs for more than a year.

Farmers Insurance realized it needed a change. With low brand awareness in the already crowded insurance category, and a limited budget nearly one tenth of their competitors’, the brand needed to differentiate itself and punch above its weight to be effective.

Farmers partnered with Los Angeles-based agency RPA to launch “We Know From Experience,” a campaign focused on articulating the personality of the brand and its breadth of experience with a “show, don’t tell” approach. The campaign recreated thirty “unbelievable but true” insurance claims Farmers Insurance had successfully handled over the years – from the “Cactus Calamity” (in which a gust of wind toppled a 40-foot cactus onto a customer’s roof) to the “Stag Pool Party” (when a group of deer held an impromptu swim in a customer’s in-ground pool and trashed their backyard).

In the public health field, one of the greatest challenges is the constant need for life-saving donations – for organs, bone marrow, and most routinely, for blood. Finding donors with rare blood types is an especially difficult undertaking for humanitarian organizations worldwide.

In 2016, la Cruz Roja Colombiana (The Colombian Red Cross) was no different. The organization struggled to meet Colombia’s daily need for blood donations, and did not have a large marketing budget to tap into. Such a persistent and high-stakes challenge required a particularly creative communications solution that would have lasting effects.

In 2016, IKEA Russia needed to differentiate itself from a growing competitive set, and its reputation was declining among consumers. Sales suffered.

In response, the brand partnered with Moscow-based agency Instinct to shift its reputation from “sterile and uniform” to “inspiring and versatile.” Together they launched “Living Books,” an imaginative campaign showing the joy of home décor through the re-creation of beloved storybook homes.

As a global commerce hub, Singapore is home to many thriving small businesses. And while owners are heavily invested in the success of their businesses, many opt out of investing in vital business insurance.

United Overseas Bank (UOB), one of Singapore’s leading banks, saw an opportunity to relate more deeply to their customers and increase sales of business insurance policies.

Since its founding in 1853, the University of Melbourne has become Australia’s top university, recognized by the global academic community for its contributions to countless fields including neuroscience, human development, sustainable agriculture, and nutrition.

But in 2016, the University realized that many Melburnians were unaware of the groundbreaking research conducted in their collective backyard – and that it could benefit greatly from contextualizing its contributions.

Every athlete wants to win, but what happens when they’re not invited to play?

Special Olympics Belgium set out to create greater opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities to join sports clubs, federations and leagues in Belgium, while fostering a culture that supports inclusive sports.

How does an electric company stay competitive in an environment where most providers are fighting for customers month-to-month?

Mercury faced a challenge in a category where monthly costs often trump brand loyalty, and their market share was declining.  Recognizing that losing salience would be a big problem, Mercury didn’t go for the quick promotional offer to win over customers, but decided to focus on the long-term.

During the holiday season, the battle for consumers’ attention and dollars is fierce. While Aldi had a successful strategy in the UK and Ireland, the supermarket - famous for its discounted prices - was not impervious to the increased competition. In order to drive business, the brand needed a holiday marketing strategy that would break through the noise.

Aldi UK and Ireland teamed up with agency partner, McCann UK to introduce an unlikely Christmas hero: “Kevin the Carrot.” Building on Aldi’s existing brand platform, Kevin the Carrot merged the ordinary with the extraordinary, celebrating the season – and Aldi’s role in it – with humor and charm.

Competition in the fast food category was fierce, with an increasing number of brands battling for attention. In 2015, Burger King made an unprecedented proposal to its biggest rival, McDonalds, to join forces and sell a mash-up of their iconic burgers: Whopper + Big Mac = McWhopper.

Proposed via an open letter in the New York Times, the McWhopper was intended as a symbol of peace. All proceeds would be donated to Peace One Day, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the International Day of Peace on September 21.

Since IKEA first made its debut in the United Kingdom in 1987, the retailer has become a mainstay for furniture and home furnishings. However, in 2013, sales growth and penetration had declined, and the company was challenged to turn the downward trend around.

IKEA teamed up with agency partner, Mother London, to develop a communications strategy that would help revitalize the brand. IKEA’s vision globally is “to create a better everyday life for the many people.” Building on this idea, the team introduced “The Wonderful Everyday,” a celebration of life’s everyday moments and the ways that IKEA can enhance them. Whimsical creative work drew attention to things that might usually be overlooked, like the simple joy of well-designed storage. The campaign ran on a variety of channels, primarily focusing on TV and social media, including Facebook and Instagram.

The North American Effie Awards and ATOMCK have teamed up to present a special interview series featuring winners from the 2017 competition. Alan Hart, Managing Partner at ATOMCK and Host of “Marketing Today,” sat down with these marketers to discuss insights from their Effie-winning work.

In this week’s 2017 Winner Spotlight, Hart spoke with Bill Blubaugh, Senior Brand Director of Sweets and Refreshments at The Hershey Company, to discuss Jolly Rancher’s “A New Media Model to Transform a Brand that Sucks” campaign, created in partnership with Anomaly.

The North American Effie Awards and ATOMCK have teamed up to present a special interview series featuring winners from the 2017 competition. Alan Hart, Managing Partner at ATOMCK and host of “Marketing Today,” sat down with these marketers to discuss insights from their Effie-winning work.

In this week’s 2017 Winner Spotlight, Hart spoke with Bill Beck, Vice President of Brand Marketing at Whirlpool, to discuss Whirlpool’s “Care Counts” campaign, created in partnership with DigitasLBi.