United Kingdom

Effie UK has announced its 2023 Effie Awards UK finalists, having received more submissions from a broader sweep of entrants than any other year. These 40 shortlisted entries have been through to the final round of judging, with the winner announcements and celebration taking place on 9 November 2023.

The Positive Change category is the most hotly contested, with eight entries competing – more than any other category. Among the finalists are not-for-profits CALM and Mayor of London, alongside high-profile brands such as Ariel, Tesco and Vodafone – showing how widespread the idea of purposeful campaigns now is, and how businesses are taking their powers of influence seriously.

Reflecting the increased importance of long-term investment and future-facing innovation to drive growth, other categories with fierce competition are Sustained Success, and New Product or Service, both with four finalists.

Havas London is the most short-listed agency, in the running for four awards.

Juliet Haygarth, Managing Director of Effie UK, said: “With more entries than ever, and a particularly high standard of submissions, the judges did not have an easy time deciding on these shortlists. So we extend our thanks to the whole panel for their hard work, and offer our congratulations to every finalist for getting this far – it’s a real achievement.”

All submissions go through several rounds of  rigorous judging, with juries comprising of senior marketing leaders from a diverse range of disciplines at brands, agencies and media owners. The final rounds of judging will decide the winners and award levels – Gold, Silver and Bronze – as well choosing the Grand Effie recipient.

The Gold. Silver and Bronze award winners, and the winner of the ultimate Grand Effie will be announced at the Effie UK 2023 Awards Celebration, which takes place on 9 November. Tickets for the event are available here.

View the 2023 Effie Awards UK finalists showcase > 

In our new report, produced in partnership with Ipsos, we explore how marketers need to rid themselves of outdated representations of women once and for all to increase sales and improve the perception of their brands.

According to Ipsos' latest global trends data, nearly one in three people in the UK agree that the main role for women in society is to be good wives and mothers. And that figure (29%) has been steadily increasing over the last 10 years.  Alarmingly, much of that increase is being driven by 16-24-year-olds, with a staggering 38% in agreement with the idea that a woman’s main role should still be based around her husband and her children.

The report includes recommendations for driving change and delivers insights and practical tips that marketers can actually use, underlined by Ipsos data, insights and analysis, and illustrated by Effie Award-winning case studies that have delivered in the real world.

Download the report >

Our 2023 Awards competition is now closed. Thank you to all the marketers who entered their work. Good luck in the competition.

This year's awards' calendar is now published in full.  The competition will open on 7th March, with the early bird deadline happening on the 11th May and the final deadline on the 8th June.  

You can see the full calendar here.

With economic pressures mounting, marketers are being forced to make their budgets work much harder. In a recession, marketing spend is often first to take a hit, and it takes equal parts ingenuity and rigour to ensure the brand, and indeed the business, continues to succeed.

As CMO, any action you take must be meaningful for consumers and employees trying to navigate through tough times. Fortunately, many brands are demonstrating the importance of staying connected to what consumers and employees are going through right now.

These include Iceland, which is offering interest-free loans to customers, Boots paying for prescriptions for those able and wanting to take HRT, John Lewis, which is funding staff meals, and those brands - such as HSBC, Virgin Media and O2 - that are giving employees extra payments to help with the increasing cost of living.

Read more >

Helen Normoyle is Co-Founder of My Menopause Centre and sits on the Effie UK Council.

The latest Leadership Summit launched with the keynote 'Effective Ideas Born Out of Adversity' presented by Ipsos UK.  It was a whistlestop tour of all the trends from our very own 2022 UK finalists and a selection of Effie Global Best of the Best Contenders.  This was followed by an expert panel who delivered their advice on the most useful insights for navigating the year ahead.  The session lasted for just over half an hour, so if you want to keep up with all the latest effectiveness thinking in one hit this one is for you. Take a look here

Presenter and panelists:
Sam Brophy, Senior Director, Creative Excellence at Ipsos UK
Vicki Holgate, Executive Strategy Director (Government Comms) at MullenLowe London
Helen Normoyle, Co-Founder at My Menopause Centre
Xavier Rees, UK Group CEO at Havas Creative

The second and final session, 'Growth Without Profit is no Longer an Option' explored what it means for marketing when effectiveness equates to profit in the boardroom.  Our panelists were drawn from every corner of the industry and served up some very smart thinking to help you make an impact in economically volatile times.  We suspect this panel is going to be relevant for a good few months to come, so next time you have cuppa have a listen and emerge 30 mins later wiser and better armed to deal with whatever 2023 throws at us.

Karina Wilsher, Global Chief Executive Officer at Anomaly, moderator
Andrew Gibson, Chief Strategy Officer at Creature
Amir Malik, Managing Director at Accenture
Becky Moffat, Chief Marketing Officer at HSBC UK
Rob Scotland, Head of Brand Marketing at Veo Technologies

The Effie Case Database offers a collection of Ideas That Work®, featuring thousansd finalist and and winning case studies and creative reels, highlighting effective marketing communications strategies, ideas and results from around the world.

Learn more >