
Effectiveness allows marketing to take flight—and for Lisa Delaney, “taking flight” is literal. As Regional Head of Marketing & Digital Sales – Europe of Cathay Pacific Airways, Lisa leads the regional marketing efforts for the world’s fifth largest airline in sales. In July 2022, she shared her marketing effectiveness insights as a final round judge in the Effie UK competition. We asked Lisa to take us inside the judges’ room and share her first-hand experience as a first-time judge.
As a Final Round Judge for the 2022 Effie Awards UK, what were your expectations for the day before arriving to the event? Did you come into the experience with any key criteria for what it means to be effective? Did anything surprise you?
It was an immense honour to be invited to judge the Final Round of the Effie Awards UK and to be honest I was not sure what to expect for the day. I was keen however to see how entrants maximised their marketing budgets and made an impact on their businesses.
I had no set criteria in mind as to what it means to be effective but, in my opinion, effective marketing has to be a culmination of creativity and logic that comes together to create exceptional work. The entries that ranked highest were those that demonstrated the strategy, insights and rationale that drove the work and had creative that was equally as impressive.
The energy in the room was calm but anticipatory on what each case would bring particularly as we were judging different categories. The format of having all judges read the case and note first draft scores and comments prior to an open discussion, was an effective method of ensuring we all had time to consider our own point of view based on our experience and perspectives.
The quality of the entries was exceptionally high and as such, we had to be very diligent and strict in our evaluations so as to differentiate gold from silver and bronze.
Did you have a favorite part of the judging experience? What was the most challenging?
The most enjoyable aspect, apart from reading the superb cases, was the discussion and debate. I valued the insights and standpoint raised by the individual judges, whether that be from a positive or more critical perspective. I was pleasantly surprised to see a wide breadth of experience and expertise amongst the jury which was complementary and therefore added depth to the conversations.
As a first-time judge, the most challenging was reading and analyzing the first case quick enough, and to ensure the link between the strategy, insights and activity had impact that led to real business results. Once I completed the first case, I was able to get into the flow and at the end of the session I had time to go back to the first case to add further comments.
Overall, without naming campaigns, brands or agencies, how would you describe your impression of the campaigns you reviewed (either in quality overall or trends in the work)? Any good takeaways/learnings from the work or experience that will stick with you?
The campaigns that reached the final round were exceptional in meeting all areas of the selection criteria. They were a fantastic representation of the effective creative work in the UK that was produced during a particularly difficult time… during a global pandemic.
It may seem obvious but a key takeaway from judging the Effie Awards is drilling home the importance of defining KPIs and measurements of campaigns prior to launching any marketing activities – and ensuring a good selection of measurement tools that encompass more than just website visits and impressions.
What advice would you offer to future Effie Awards entrants?
The writing of the business case is very important in gaining success. One of the judges on our jury made the comment that teams should ‘put their best writers on the case even if they were not involved in the campaign’ and I would strongly agree with that statement. A less than effective submission will not do your work any justice and therefore, is unlikely to win over the judges.
Lisa was a final round judge in the 2022 Effie Awards UK competition. See the 2022 Effie UK Finalists.