‘Wii would like to play’ heeft gewonnen!

Advertising holding company WPP won the most Effie awards, with 26 agency wins, while Omnicom agencies had 21 agency wins. Publicis agencies were awarded 15 Effies, IPG agencies landed 11 Effie wins and Havas agencies won six Effie awards. San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein won the most Gold Effies of any agency in the competition, taking home three Gold trophies for their campaigns for Adobe, Doritos and HP.

The “Wii Would Like to Play” campaign chose not to embrace an obvious strategy, namely fawning over the prized teenage male gamer. Instead, Wii targeted his mom, dad and grandmother. While the competition catered to a narrow audience, Wii invited everyone to play. As a result, the Wii has been sold out nationwide since the launch and ignited a cultural phenomenon in how people experience video games.

The Grand Effie winner decision was based on a deliberation of the top five scoring Effie campaigns by a jury of top marketing executives from the client and agency side, led by Deborah Meyer, Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Chrysler LLC.

“Leo Burnett’s marketing strategy for the Wii will forever change the gaming industry and its dialogue with consumers”,” said Deborah Meyer, Chair of the Grand Effie Jury and Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Chrysler. “The Grand Effie winning campaign delivered results that any CMO would want to take back to their CEO.”

The five Grand Effie finalists, who also received Gold Effies included:

Anomaly Communications for the Keep A Child Alive campaign “KCA’s Media Ambush of the iPhone Launch” in the Media Idea category.

BBDO New York for GE’s “Ecomagination Round 2” campaign in the Green category. Agency partners included OMD, AMV BBDO, Stinson Partners and Syrup.

JWT for Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex “Let it Out” campaign in the Household Supplies & Services category. Agency partners included Mindshare, GMR and Ketchum.

Leo Burnett for Nintendo of America’s “Wii Would Like to Play” in the New Product or Service category. Agency partners included Starcom Worldwide and Golin Harris.

Secret Weapon Marketing for the Jack in the Box “Sirloin vs. Angus” campaign in the Fast Food/Casual Dining/Restaurants category. Horizon Media was the media partner on the campaign.

“Effie’s 40th anniversary comes at a time of economic recession, when clients and agencies are striving for what the Effies stand for- results,” said Mary Lee Keane, Executive Director of the Effie awards. “The most memorable Effie winners from the last 40 years were also the most creative and innovative, proving that playing it safe isn’t always the most effective approach.”

Effie award winners are determined by a pool of judges who score Effie entries based on the following criteria: 70 percent accounting for the Strategic Challenge, Idea and Bringing the Idea to Life, and 30 percent accounting for the campaign’s results. The judges’ scores determine which marketing efforts will be awarded a gold, silver or bronze Effie trophy. Each winning level – gold, silver, bronze –has a minimum score requirement to receive an award. Effie Trophies are awarded in each category at the discretion of the judges.