India brings home 10 Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards

Ogilvy wins six metals of three Gold and three Silver; BBDO India bags one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze

The winners of the 2011 Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards were announced at the much-anticipated Awards Gala which took place last week at the Pudong Shangri-La hotel in Shanghai.

Meeting in Shanghai, the jury, led by Bob O’Leary, Head of Global Marketing for Citi, discussed and debated the shortlist, awarding 54 winners from the initial 858 entries received this year.

Of the winners, there was one Platinum trophy awarded along with 15 Gold, 20 Silver and 18 Bronze trophies. Australia took home the most awards (13), followed by India (10), Hong Kong (seven) then China and Vietnam (six awards each).

The biggest accolade of the evening, the Platinum Award, which is chosen by the jury 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’.

Commenting on the Awards Tim Waldron, Managing Director of Haymarket Asia, said: “With the huge increase in entries this year, what is clear is that this has not diluted the quality of the work. There were some outstanding pieces of work and we were lucky to have a jury of such calibre that these were judged with integrity and the worthy winners awarded and celebrated.”

The Awards Gala was the culmination of the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival which saw a packed programme taking place across Thursday and Friday. Delegates attended seminars from Ogilvy Group UK, Young & Rubicam, DDB, Red Spider, McCann Worldgroup, Sina, JWT China and many more. 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.

Speaking about the Festival, Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions, who with Haymarket are joint organisers of the Festival, said: “This has been a fantastic Festival, the content was topical and thought-provoking, the standard of work high and the energy and buzz noticeable. Everyone has taken something away from it, both on an educational and inspirational level. It really has set a benchmark for the region’s industry to aspire to.”

For the full list of winners see http://ame.asia/winner/2011.

How hiding a restaurant proved Yellow Pages worked better than ever

THE biggest accolade of the evening, the Platinum Award, which is chosen by the jury 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’. Here is a quick take on the winning entry.

Campaign: How hiding a restaurant proved that Yellow Pages worked better than ever – The Hidden Pizza Restaurant

Agency: Clemenger BBDO & Proximity, Melbourne

Client: Sensis – Yellow Pages Australia Brand Yellow Pages

Objectives: Australian businesses no longer believed in the Yellow Pages, seeing it as merely an out-of-date print directory. The challenge was to change that perception. Yellow Pages came up with a bold demonstration of its effectiveness as a digital advertising tool.

Strategy: With the annual Yellow Pages selling cycle due to kick off, directories company Sensis realised it had to change advertiser perceptions fast. Its core clients, small businesses, were losing confidence in Yellow Pages’ ability to reach customers and drive sales. The solution started from the recognition that Yellow Pages – both print and digital -was used by 4.5 million Australians a week. Thanks to a distribution deal with Google, its advertisers turn up in Google search results, giving Yellow Pages the largest digital reach of any Australian marketing services brand. That gave Sensis the confidence to show the effectiveness of Yellow Pages with a live product demonstration. It opened a pizza restaurant that could be found only through the Yellow Pages. Customers could only get to it after calling a call centre through a number found in the Yellow Pages. Sensis filmed customers’ reactions via hidden cameras in the restaurant and these formed the basis of its advertising campaign.

Results: The demo worked powerfully on the audience of advertisers, lifting perception scores across the board. The campaign exceeded lead targets by 15% and delivered a $10.80:$1 ROMI (return on marketing investment).

MEC sole media agency winner at AME

MEC Asia Pacific, www.mecglobal.com, was the sole media agency winner in Asia Pacific at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards 2011 bagging two Golds and a Bronze.

The AME Awards took place in Shanghai on 13 May.

Both Golds were awarded for MEC’s campaigns with Mercedes-Benz China ‘smart - from Buzz to Buy!’ in the Most Effective Use of Direct Marketing and the Most Effective Use of Interactive Marketing categories.

MEC Singapore also won a Bronze for Singapore Tourism Board’s ‘A Tourism Brand for The Digital Age’ in the Best Marketing Campaign for Regional Brand Development category.

The three awards are testament to MEC’s commitment to integrated digital and emerging technology platforms.