At the IPA Effectiveness Awards ceremony last night, which was held at the London Hilton on Park Lane, the big winner was Adam & Eve DDB's Foster's “Good Call” campaign, which has become synonymous with Channel 4 comedy over the last year. The campaign, which stars two laid back Australian surfers (Brad and Dan) doling out “Manly” relationship advice to British men won the Grand Prix award for demonstrating how it managed to help restore the brand to its place at the top of the British lager food chain (it was formerly third behind Carling and Heineken) and produce a huge return on the brand's initial investment.
The Foster's campaign, which stars two laid back Australian surfers (Brad and Dan) doling out “Manly” relationship advice to British men won the Grand prix award
Lorna Hawtin, convenor of judges and disruption director at TBWA\Manchester, called the campaign “A real fight back story with a happy ending.” She said “The judges admired not only the scale of effect versus competitors and previous winners, but also the particular contribution of insight-led creativity to this brand’s obvious resurgence.” The campaign has been credited with driving nearly 70% of Foster's sales growth with the IPA declaring that the campaign has achieved the highest estimated revenue return of any beer campaign in the 34-year history of the awards, generating £32 in revenue for every £1 spent on advertising, almost twice that of its nearest rival; a Carling campaign from 1996 which managed a return of just £19.27 for every £1.
Foster's – Good Call – The Paddle of Rebuke
Other special prize winners on the night included Sainsbury's, who claimed “Best Dedication to Effectiveness,” Grey London, who were named the most effective company and M&C Saatchi, who claimed the special “Channon Prize” for best new learning for their London 2012 work for Transport for London. A full list of winners (there were 8 special awards, 9 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze prizes in all) can be found on the official IPA website. Lord Davies of Abersoch the chairman of the judges and of marketing at Chime Communications, said of the winners that “Despite the variety of different categories, causes, creative, channels and conclusions, what underpins all of these winning campaigns is the clear, unquestionable return on marketing investment that they have generated.” He added that “Any client in any doubt about the powerful effect advertising can have on a business need only skim these incredible papers to be amazed and convinced of this.”
The campaign has achieved the highest estimated revenue return of any beer campaign in the 34-year history of the awards
Gold awards went to four other commercial brands, with Renault and Mercedes-Benz picking up golds for campaigns produced by Publicis London and Manning Gottlieb OMD, and AMV BBDO respectively. Manning Gottlieb also had a hand in another gold winning campaign from Specsavers, with Grey London and Uncle Grey's combined efforts on the Bestseller storytelling campaign for Danish fashion brand ONLY also claiming golden honours. More than 70 campaigns were entered into the competition, which is regarded as the world's most rigorous awards scheme for demonstrating marketing payback.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK who (given his circle of friends) could probably do with his own paddle of rebuke.
