• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 23, 2013

Video game marketer Activision Blizzards’ ad campaign “The Vet and the nOOb” for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" has won the 2013 Grand Effie for North America. The creative ads for the campaign featured action-packed spots starring Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill.

The effort was led by MDC Partners’ 72and Sunny, with contributions from media shop OMD, digital agency SapientNitro and PR firm Edelman.

The award was given at the 45th annual Effie Awards gala in New York Wednesday night.

The campaign was driven by the insight that “the fun isn’t in winning, it’s in the progression.” With the campaign behind it, the game generated $1 billion in sales in its first 16 days on the market, which the Effie organization described as “the biggest entertainment launch of all time.”

“The Grand Effie jury was unanimous in its selection of "Call of Duty' as this year’s Grand Effie winner,” stated Mark Baynes, global CMO of Kellogg’s and chair of the 2013 Grand Effie Jury. “The big idea was brilliantly executed and distributed across the paid, owned and earned media landscape.”

Consumer-goods giant Procter & Gamble was cited as the all-around most effective advertiser for the third year in a row. Sports equipment marketer Mizuno was named most effective brand, while Omnicom Group was designated most effective holding company.

For the second straight year, WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather was cited as the most effective agency network, with O&M New York winning acknowledgment as the most effective individual agency office. Wieden + Kennedy was ranked this year’s most effective independent ad agency.

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