IAPI launched Effie Awards Ireland to an audience of 200 agency members and marketers at a breakfast briefing in Twitter HQ on Thursday 28th November.
Founded 50 years ago, Effie is a global symbol of achievement within the industry. It's mission is to lead, inspire and champion marketing effectiveness globally with winners being assigned to the Global Effie Index. This prestigious programme replaces ADFX and the inaugural awards in Ireland will take place in 2020.
The speaker line up included some of the industry’s most respected figures. Carlos Cantu, Director of Marketing, Twitter EMEA is an Effie veteran from his previous role in Mexico. He hosted the event in their stunning HQ in Dublin and welcomed everybody to the Effie family. Shenda Loughnane, Group MD of Dentsu Aegis Network recently elected IAPI President then opened the discussion sharing IAPI’s intention to fully embrace the Effie ethos of ‘awarding great ideas that work’.
Neal Davies, CEO, BBDO and previously CEO of Effie Worldwide talked about the irony of doing his ‘old job’ in explaining to the audience why Effies have become a globally recognised symbol of success over the last 50 years. The photo that used to hang on the wall of his New York office of Steve Jobs and Lee Clow, Chiat Day accepting an Effie Gold Award demonstrates just how prestigious and aspirational these awards are.
Damian Devaney, Senior Partner, TBV Global and Chair of Effie Ireland’s jury talked passionately about how vital creativity and great ideas are for the financial wellbeing of organisations. And how there appears to be a paradigm shift in thinking now by C Suite who recognise this and who will be keen to embrace Effies and the global case studies it generates.
Nichola Mullen, Fundraising Director of St. Vincent de Paul and Nicky Doran, Brand & Marketing Strategy Director, Davy both spoke about their experience in judging Effie at a European level and shared their favourite case studies. They have both been appointed to the jury for Effie Ireland along with other 16 other Effie veterans from the Irish and International panel of judges.
Among others, the case studies shown included the brilliant Freedom of the Press campaign from newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the highly effective virtual billboard campaign from the road safety authority in Paris, the powerful Dare to Sponsor campaign for Special Olympics Belgium and a French love story for Intermarche. All the case studies shown demonstrated the power of great creativity in driving extraordinary results.
The sponsors for Effie Awards Ireland will all contribute hugely to the success of the programme for 2020 beyond their cash support. Twitter by providing the venue for this launch, the How to Win an Effie event on 26th February and the judging days. An Post Commerce for producing the DM communications throughout the year.
RTE Media Sales and Wide Eye Media for providing us with their media expertise and PR support. And Pluto for providing IAPI with their event management team for the awards gala next September.
Effie Awards Ireland will be open for entries by the end of February 2020 and there will be 21 categories to choose from. Visit effieireland.com for more details.
