"The threshold was deliberately set very high for a Grand Effie," said the moderator of this year's judging panel, TBWA\ Hong Kong CEO Ian Thubron. "You're really looking for something that has shaken up the market, that is major."
Thubron pointed out that Hong Kong's modest marketing budgets limited the options available to advertising agencies compared with larger markets but this did not mean that a marketing savvy city like Hong Kong should not be able to bag the big prize. "Hong Kong is absolutely, totally capable of obtaining a Grand Effie," he said.
Nevertheless, the four gold winners all displayed strong work, Thubron said: Ogilvy & Mather for its 'Cortisol --Stress management' work for Brand's Essence of Chicken; Leo Burnett and iLeo for the 'U gotta be free' campaign for CSL; CTWCM Advertising Firm together with MindShare on behalf of the 'KMB Civic Education Campaign' for The Kowloon Motor Bus Company; and McCann Erickson, Universal McCann and MRM Partners for Cathay Pacific's 'It's the little things we remember'.
Grand Effie slips away for second year at HK show
Local agencies again failed to secure a Grand Effie in the city's second effectiveness awards, though four golds were awarded at the event staged in the SAR earlier this month.