ASIA-PACIFIC – MAY 2011 – The winners of the 2011 Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards have been announced at the much anticipated Awards Gala which has just taken place at the Pudong Shangri-La hotel in Shanghai on May 13.
From the 858 entries received this year, one Platinum trophy was awarded along with 15 Gold, 20 Silver and 18 Bronze trophies. Australia took home the most awards (13), followed by India (10), Hong Kong (7) then China and Vietnam (6 awards each). The jury, chaired by Bob O’Leary, Head of Global Marketing for Citi, awarded 54 winners.
The biggest accolade of the evening, the Platinum Award, chosen from the Gold winners, was presented to Clemenger BBDO & Proximity Melbourne for their work for Yellow Pages Australia, “How Hiding a Restaurant Proved that Yellow Pages Worked Better than Ever – The Hidden Pizza Restaurant”. The message of how the Yellow Pages help people find things faster was communicated ingeniously by challenging the public to find an underground restaurant without the aid of street signs or banners in exchange for free pizza. The campaign won six other awards: Golds in Best Integrated Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Use of Media and Best Idea; Silvers in Most Effective Use of Advertising, Best Marketing Campaign for National Brand Development and Best Insights/ Strategic Thinking.
Other notable campaigns a number of metals from the coveted Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards.
To make men buy more Gillette Mach 3 razors, BBDO India appealed to the only people that men will listen to – women. After launching their “Women Against Lazy Stubble (W.A.L.S.)” which featured women voicing their opinions on how clean-shaved men appealed to them through a Facebook fan page, sales of the P&G product rose significantly, earning a Gold in Best Marketing Campaign for National Brand Development; Silver in Best Integrated Marketing Campaign; and Bronzes under Best Insights/ Strategic Thinking and Best Ideas.
In a Hong Kong entry, DDB Group & PHD took advantage of the packaging of soy drink brand Vitasoy to connect young consumers. Their “70 Instant Message Packs” campaign–limited edition packs containing different messages that consumers could pass on to friends and family–saw a 40% increase in Vitasoy sales and bagged an award on the Most Effective Use of Product Design and Packaging and Best Integrated Marketing Campaign category.
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts’ “It’s in our Nature” campaign by Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong beautifully presented the hotel’s tagline with a film showing a traveler stranded in the snow saved by a pack of wolves. Embracing a stranger as one’s own also made them embrace awards for Most Effective Use of Advertising and Best Ideas category.
With an online sale of Mercedes-Benz China Smart Cars, MEC Beijing rejected the traditional sales campaign. The “smart – from Buzz to Buy!” campaign created awareness using social networking buzz, earning Golds in Most Effective Use of Direct Marketing and Most Effective Use of Interactive Marketing.
The “Bad Timing” campaign for Rexona Men in Vietnam successfully staged a seemingly badly timed product launch alongside the noisiest sporting event in the world. Incorporating two male obsessions“Rexona Cheerleaders” asked men surfing the net to choose from among 11 cheerleaders representing World Cup countries. Using augmented reality and their webcams, the users are asked to create cheers for the teams for a chance to win a World Cup ticket. The entry won Silvers in Most Effective Use of Direct Marketing and Best Insights/ Strategic Thinking.
Lowe Asia-Pacific in Vietnam built an emotional impact for the “Say it with kids” campaign of OMO by making kids express their gratitude to their mothers through hand made pots for flowers for the Lunar New Year. The campaign earned them Bronze for Best Marketing Campaign For National Brand Development and Gold in Best Brand Loyalty Marketing Campaign.
The Awards Gala was the culmination of the two-day Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival which saw a packed programme of seminars from Ogilvy Group UK, Young & Rubicam, DDB, Red Spider, McCann Worldgroup, Sina, JWT China, among others. Ongoing throughout were the exhibitions showcasing the shortlist and allowing delegates to learn and be inspired from the some of the greatest work in the region.
To view the winners of the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival, visit www.ame.asia.
