• September 15, 2009

The Effie Worldwide organization has created two new media-category awards: Single Media Company Activation, and Media Innovation. The first recognizes effective partnerships between brands and single media owners to create and activate strategic, multi-touch point experiences with their target.

Media Innovation will award campaigns that, per the Effies, "had the insight and creativity to change the way a particular media channel is traditionally used and consumed."

These are in addition to the existing Media Idea category, which was introduced in 2006 to recognize that media can be the fundamental driver of an entire campaign.

Advertising Age and Effie Worldwide are partnering on a new GoodWorks Effie for communications programs proven effective in addressing a social problem or in expanding an existing program in ways that benefit society or Earth.

Entry materials for the 2010 Effie Awards are at www.effie.org. The on-time entry deadline is Oct. 14, while Nov. 4 is the last-chance deadline. Entries for the GoodWorks Effie are due Nov. 4. But the due date for entries into the Effie Media categories is Dec. 16.

The Effie Awards have released data on 2009 Effie entry trends. Eighty-nine percent of entrants used a digital component in their mix; 49% used PR; 35% used guerrilla elements; and 34% consumer involvement. Also, TV is down 5% among Effie entrants since 2008, although 70% of entrants utilize this medium to some extent.

When comparing the media budgets of the Gold and Silver Effie winners, 42% of Gold winners had a budget of under $500,000, while 12% of Gold Effie winners had a budget over $40 million. --Karl Greenberg