• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 2, 2016

WPP won big at the Effies tonight. The holding company’s Grey Canada and grass roots group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America won the North America Grand Effie for a campaign called “Groceries Not Guns.” SPY Films, The Field, Rooster Post and Alter Ego were cited as contributing agencies to the campaign. 

The judging took place this afternoon and the trophy for the best in show award was presented tonight at a gala in New York City where all of this year’s NA Effie Winners were announced.  The awards honor the most effective ad campaigns, agencies, brands and marketers of the year. WPP and its agencies won several other top awards as well. 

Grand Effie Finalists (the top scoring Gold Effie Award winners) also included: 

• Abbott Nutrition’s Similac and Publicis North America for “In Support of New Moms,” with contributing agencies Mindshare and MSLGROUP. 
• CVS Health and BBDO New York for “Cigarettes Out. Health In.” with contributing agencies Mindshare, Edelman and The Marketing Arm. 
• Gerber, Ogilvy & Mather and Terri & Sandy (co-lead agencies) for Gerber’s “Chew University. “
• GlaxoSmithKline and Epsilon for “FLONASE Allergy Relief Over-the-Counter Launch” with contributing agencies Geometry Global and Brand Union.  
• Taco Bell and Deutsch LA for “Breakfast Defect from the Routine Republic” with contributing agencies Starcom, DigitasLBi and Edelman. 
• Unilever and Team Unilever Shopper for “CVS Love Your Skin” for brands Dove, Vaseline and Simple with contributing agencies Shopper2Buyer, Lunchbox and Barrows.

North American rankings for the Effie Index were also revealed at the gala and showed WPP to be the most effective holding company. The most effective agencies in the Effie Index included WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather (agency network), Ogilvy & Mather New York (agency office) and San Francisco-based Heat (independent agency). Procter & Gamble secured most effective marketer honors for the six consecutive year. 

The Effie Index identifies and ranks the industry’s most effective firms and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from worldwide Effie Award competitions.  The North American Index rankings reflect finalist and winning work from the 2016 North American, Global and Positive Change Effie Award competitions.  

Commenting on the awards Neal Davies, CEO and President of Effie Worldwide said success in the competition means that “marketers or agencies have proven that they have created an effectiveness culture that has delivered results consistently…Winning an Effie is something to be relished and celebrated. It means that a campaign has met a certain gold standard – a benchmark of success recognized all over the globe.” 

More information on the North American awards competition, as well as the Global Effie Index rankings, which were announced last month, can be found here.