Detroit Public Schools’ “I’m in.” from Leo Burnett won Grand Effie last night

To sum up lasts nights Effective Advertising awards - Omnicom has Most Effie Wins, WPP Wins Most Golds

The Detroit Public Schools’ “I’m in.” campaign, created by Leo Burnett as a movement to save the city’s school system, captured the Grand Effie Award at the 42nd Annual North America Effie Awards, which was held last night at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. Since 1968, winning an Effie award has become a global symbol of achievement, as the Effies honor marketing ideas that work.

The most effective advertising and marketing services holding companies include Omnicom (31 wins) and WPP (24 wins), with WPP bringing home the most Golds (11) while independent agencies won (32) Effie Awards. Saatchi & Saatchi, part of the Publicis Group, landed the most Golds of any agency in the competition (4). Goodby Silverstein & Partners, JWT and PR Agency Dig Communications won 3 Gold Effie Awards each. MillerCoors and Ford Motor Company are the marketers with the most Golds (3 and 2 respectively).

The Grand Effie Award was deliberated by a jury of esteemed marketers on the day of the ceremony. Grand Effie Award finalists (top scoring campaigns, which were also Gold winners) included Apple and TBWA\Media Arts Lab’s “There's an App for That.”; Ford Motor Company and Team Detroit’s “Drive One 4 UR School”; Hyundai and Goodby, Silverstein and Partners’ “Assurance”; Kraft Beverages- Capri Sun and Ogilvy & Mather’s “Respect the Pouch”; Miller High Life and Saatchi & Saatchi and Dig Communications’ “1 Second Ad Campaign”; People's City Mission and Bailey Lauerman’s “Great Coffee for the Greater Good”; and Thirteen Reasons Why (a novel) and Grey’s “Thirteen Reasons Why Viral Campaign”.

“I’m in.” was a Grand Effie finalist and Gold winner in the Government/Institutional/Recruitment category.  It also won a Silver Effie in both the Small Budgets – Services and GoodWorks – Non-Profit categories. Contributing agencies credited included Berg Muirhead and Associates, Brian Alexander Productions and their media partner, Starcom.

According to Leo Burnett’s Effie Awards entry: In March 2009, Detroit Public Schools was facing bankruptcy, a $305 million deficit, a decade-plus of substantially declining enrollment and now the public backlash of closing 29 schools. All told, the schools could lose as many as 16,750 students for the 2009-2010 school year and millions in funding. The schools needed city families to believe great things happen there. The schools didn’t need ads but rather a movement. They got one. Results exceeded their enrollment projections and generated the $49 million in funding necessary for financial viability.

Carl Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Effie Worldwide, Inc. and Co-Founder of Anomaly, said that today’s Grand Effie deliberation was one of the hardest decisions in recent years due to the level of excellence displayed by the finalists. Past Grand Effie winner Apple once again demonstrated their mastery of communications strategy with massive sales success, while Hyundai acted with boldness, simplicity and insight to perfectly gauge the mood of a nation allowing them to reverse the dynamics of an entire category.

“Our deserved winner is Detroit Public Schools who took on a challenge decades in the making,” said Johnson. “Acting with passion and proactivity, they reversed the negative perceptions surrounding their schools with a powerful and engaging multimedia campaign that moved people emotionally, inspired them to get involved and resulted in them being entrusted with people’s most valued possessions-their children’s futures.”

A complete list of winners can be found on www.effie.org>.

Winners of the Media Effie Awards follow.

In the Media Idea category, Starcom Worldwide teamed up with Leo Burnett to win a Silver Effie for Kellogg’s “Frosted Mini Wheats: Mom's Homeroom” and Saatchi + Saatchi and Dig Communications won a Gold Effie for MillerCoors’ “1 Second Ad Campaign” for Miller High Life.
 
In the Media Innovation category, OMD and Juniper Park won a Silver Effie for Frito Lay’s “Only in a Woman’s World” and OMD also won a Silver Effie for CBS and Pepsi’s “Monday to The Max" First-Ever Video-in-Print” campaign.   Goodby, Silverstein & Partners won a Gold Effie for Media Innovation for Adobe Systems’ “Adobe Acrobat 9 Ultimate Tourney Guide” campaign.  

In the Single Media Company Activation category, CNN Marketing & On-Air Promotions won a Gold Effie for their “CNN.com - Facebook Inauguration Collaboration“ campaign, while Mindshare won a Silver Effie for Unilever’s “GOSSIP GIRL: real NYC stories revealed” for Dove.