Effie Awards Europe 2024 Winners Announced
The winners of the 2024 Effie Awards Europe were announced at Concert Noble in Brussels last night. Outstanding entries were awarded the Gold Effie, Dentsu Creative Amsterdam scooped the Grand Effie and McCann Worldgroup got the Agency Network of the Year title.
Over 160 industry professionals from more than 20 European countries contributed their time and insight to identify the most effective work of the year. The jury, co-chaired by co-chaired by Harrison Steinhart, global strategy director at DDB Paris and Iva Bennefeld-Stepanic, vice president marketing and brand excellence Europe | International at Mondelez, awarded 55 trophies to almost 40 agencies from 19 countries across Europe.
McCann Worldgroup was awarded the Agency Network of the Year title, winning two golds, three silvers, and two bronzes for their outstanding work for Aldi, Mastercard, UNICEF, Getlini EKO, Czech Insurance Associatio and Majorica.
Nusara Chinnaphasaen, regional chief head of strategy at McCann Worldgroup, said, "Creativity lies at the heart of building enduring brands and crafting impactful work for our clients. Guided by our mantra, 'Truth Well Told,' we maintain a clear and focused approach to producing idea that is strategically insightful, creatively inspiring, and powerfully effective. ‘Truth Well Told’ is not just a phrase; it’s our commitment to authenticity and relevance. No matter how the world evolves, we remain grounded in our truth and the stories we craft. It’s the bedrock for our success. And I’m so proud of everyone who’ve contributed to this achievement."
Darren Hawkins, head of effectiveness, Europe & UK at McCann Manchester, added, “Effie Europe is the region’s premier celebration of effectiveness, showcasing the power of advertising to touch people’s hearts and move minds to create tangible business results. Winning Agency network of the Year is a testimony to McCann’s commitment to embed effectiveness principles in every office and client; be they global brands like Mastercard, Aldi and UNICEF or strong local brands like Majorca, Getlini and CAP, achieving outstanding results is what matters most to McCann.”
The prestigious Grand Effie Jury, moderated by Achim Rietze, creative strategy lead, Google, decided that Dentsu's campaign 'A piece of me' for KPN was the single best case submitted this year. They wanted to transform attitudes to online shaming. Together with the Dutch musician MEAU, they co-created a song and a music video showing the devastating impact of online shaming based on victims’ true stories. As a result, they made a gold record, online shaming a crime, and made KPN the most valuable brand in the Netherlands.
Achim Rietze, creative strategy lead, Google, commented, "KPN’s 'A Piece of Me' campaign isn't just marketing - it is a cultural force for good. The brand embraced their social responsibility and successfully turned it into brand equity. Their cultural collaboration with MEAU and radical way of reframing the narrative created a lasting impact. The campaign resulted in a law making it illegal to forward intimate images without consent, increased KPN's brand equity, consideration and trust improved significantly, and made it the most valuable domestic brand in the Netherlands. This piece of work is a testament to the impact our industry can have when we use our voices for good."
Dave Frauenfelder, VP brand, MarCom and sponsorships at KPN, commented, "Winning the Gold European EFFIE and the rare Grand EFFIE is an extraordinary honour and a wonderful recognition of our continuous efforts to strive for a #BetterInternet. These awards highlight the power of creativity to achieve not only commercial impact but also positive societal change. We hope this inspires other brands and marketers to stand up for the greater good of society. This requires courage, but also patience. Creativity works – and it truly can make a difference in people lives."
Check out the winners here.
As strategic insights partner to Effie Awards Europe, Kantar has analysed three years of award-winning ads with its fast and scalable creative effectiveness tool, LINK AI. This has uncovered Effie Award winning ads are more likely to perform strongly on Kantar's ad testing metrics. A summary of the insights from 2024 winners was presented at the Effie Day on 11 December by Kantar’s Global Creative Thought Leadership Director Věra Šídlová. The research reveals five ways the very best ads achieve deeper connection with their target audience:
1. Courageous – Many of the winning ads showcase the power of doing things differently. One example is Gyno-Canesbalance’s silver-winning ad which tackled the taboo surrounding bacterial vaginosis by using a mermaid character to destigmatise the conversation.
2. Catastrophising – Drama is another tool that winning ads used to ensure audiences were able to not just hear the message, but to feel it. Deutsche Telekom's gold-winning 'ShareWithCare' uses a digitally aged version of a nine-year-old girl to highlight the dangers of oversharing children’s photos online, turning an abstract threat into a tangible reality.
3. Candid - A standout quality of Effie winners is their knack for authenticity and connecting with audiences through 'real' moments. One of these campaigns which embrace the reality of life is 'Safe to Play Hub' by Durex. This gold-winner addressed Romania’s low condom usage and championed the notion that sex education should transformed from rigid lectures into intimate, open dialogues.
4. Consistent – Creative consistency is a key builder of brand equity, which enables brands to cut through and differentiate themselves from competitors. Sardinian beer brand Ichnusa’s silver-winning campaign reinforces the brand's genuine understanding of Sardinian culture, which transformed it from a local favourite into one of Italy's most meaningful brands.
5. Comical - Humour is a powerful tool for creative effectiveness and a standout example of using humour is Magnum’s ‘Stick to the original’ campaign, which cleverly leveraged humour to address competition from private label copycats and helped the brand to defend its premium positioning and higher price point.
Věra Šídlová, global creative thought leadership director at Kantar, commented, “The ability to connect with consumers has never been more critical: the proliferation of channels and content means our attention is constantly divided. These highly effective campaigns serve as powerful examples of how to cut through, creating true and meaningful connection.”
A summary of the findings was presented at the Effies Europe Awards on 11th December by Kantar’s global creative thought leadership director Věra Šídlová. To read more about the research, read the paper 'Creative Connections: How Effie Europe winners connect with audiences to drive success' here.
Read the full report here.
The Effie Awards Europe are organised by the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) in partnership with Kantar as the Strategic Insights Partner, Google, ACT Responsible and the Ad Net Zero.
