Euro Effies Supports Positive Change Marketing with New Category

For the first time this year, the Euro Effies, Europe’s leading Marketing Effectiveness Awards for multi-market campaigns, is introducing a new Positive Change category, run in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and Effie Worldwide.

Since 2012, Effie Worldwide has worked with partner companies and key stakeholders to design, launch and scale up programmes to create a movement to change consumer attitudes and behaviour towards more sustainable lifestyles. 

Marketers are in a unique position to influence consumers to bridge the gap between ‘intention and action’ when it comes to purchasing more sustainable products.

Two factors get in the way: on the consumer side, while 72% of them say they would be willing to buy sustainable products and services, only 17% actually do; when it comes to marketers, while over 70% are aware of their company’s plans for, and commitment to, sustainability, less than 25% feel empowered and incentivised to prioritise sustainability strategies, according to a research conducted by the World Economic Forum.

So the Effie business challenge has been framed around the key question, “How can companies engage consumers to trigger simple behavioural shifts that enable more sustainable lifestyles, grow demand for more sustainable products and create business value?”

In the context of the Positive Change Effie Award, sustainability is defined as: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Brundtland Commission)

According to Dominic Lyle, Director General of EACA, the European Agencies’ Association which manages the Euro Effies, “The Positive Change category will add a new and important dimension to the European Awards – by giving marketers the opportunity to gain recognition for the social and environmental work they do, we will be promoting not just their efforts, but the important role they can play in shifting consumer attitudes and eventually behaviour to a more caring and sustainable model.”

Positive Change Effies reward and celebrate the brands and non-profit organisations that are promoting good through marketing communications. The programme has two tracks: Environmental and Social Good.

The Environmental track is open to brands and non-profit organisations with marketing programs that have measurably shifted audience (B2B or B2C) behaviour toward more environmentally sustainable choices, and/or grown demand for more sustainable products and services by incorporating environmentally-conscious messaging into their marketing communications. 

The Social Good track is for brands that are making the world a better place by using the power of their communications platforms for "good."  This category celebrates for-profit brand efforts that effectively combined business goals with a social cause (health, education, community, family, etc.) and successfully related that cause back to the company's overall brand strategy, resulting in positive business and social impact.

In the case of non-profit organisations and associations the communications efforts must have effectively driven positive change for society and successfully contributed back to the organisation's purpose.  

In all cases, campaigns must show measurable impact and proven results in support of the cause. 

The Euro Effies are currently open for entries until 24 May 2017 at www.euro-effie.com