Five ways to win an Effie
ThinkTV's Steve Weaver has compiled some juicy stats that highlight what it takes to win an Effie award.
So, are you on track to make the deadline for your Effies entry? No, well I have a really simple message for you: DON’T PANIC!
Why? Well, just for Mumbrella readers, we’ve collected some handy data to give you a little head start.
Launched over 50 years ago by the American Marketing Association and now running in 42 countries, the Effies recognise effective, impactful advertising.
So to help you as you as you are putting your entry together, ThinkTV has spent time and horse-power digging deeply into 2018’s batch of Effie finalists, looking for the common themes nestled amongst the most effective marketing campaigns from last year.
Without further ado, here are the top five learnings from last year’s winning entries:
1. Anyone can be a winner
Don’t assume that because you’re in a certain category you can’t win. Any marketer from any category can win an Effie as the diagram below shows.
And while anyone can win it’s worth noting that the most gold Effie winners in 2018 came from the ‘ROI’ and ‘Long Term Effects Strategy’ categories. So hopefully short-termism will be less of a thing next year… just sayin’…
2. Size doesn’t matter
It’s all about the money, right? Or is it? The 2018 winners worked with a broad range of budgets; from less than $500k right up to $80m, so the pool is both wide and deep if you decide to dive in and enter this year.
They say that money can’t buy you love, and our analysis of winners over the past three years proves that when it comes to marketing campaigns, money doesn’t always buy effectiveness either.
During the last three years more than 60% of winners had budgets less than $2m, in 2018 there were 16 campaigns that sat in that bracket and two Gold Effie winners achieved impressive results with spends less than $500k.
3. Being smart beats being rich
Ahhh, the age-old question. Would you rather be really smart or really rich? Based on ThinkTV analysis it appears that smart is more important than rich when it comes to marketing results.
Winning campaigns were very clear in defining the problem they were solving. All winners demonstrated this clarity – honing their goals to ensure they were laser-focused, actionable and measurable. You could say that all the Gold Effie winners knew exactly where they were heading before they even hit the road.
Our number crunching also shows that 70% of Effie winners wanted to change consumers’ attitudes around their brand’s products or services. Sound familiar? It’s important to remember the role advertising plays in priming long-term memory to influence future behaviour. Winning campaigns were able to work hard at the top of funnel job as well as hoovering up the folk at bottom of the funnel.
4. Craft your research
Gold Effie winners used more types of research, utilised different strategic techniques and were more likely to commission bespoke research for campaign development than finalists. So, put in the hard yards on research on your campaigns upfront – and– make sure you say plenty about it in your Effie entry because ThinkTV’s analysis shows that it pays off.
5 Use video and use it wisely
Our analysis of Effies winners shows that video advertising is key to effective campaigns. Some 88% of Gold Effie winners used video, up from 80% a year earlier. Video encompasses TV, BVOD and social video, which as we know can work in beautiful synergy together.
So there’s my five top tips. This weekend we will reveal the secret sauce behind the Gold Effie Winners. Don’t forget to subscribe, and if you have any questions, hit us up.
Steve Weaver is director of research and insights at ThinkTV.
