• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 1, 2017

Burger King’s The McWhopper Proposal campaign from Y&R New Zealand with contributing agencies DAVID The Agency, ABPR, Code and Theory and Turner Duckworth was awarded the Grand Effie trophy (best in show) at the 2017 North American Effie Awards Gala in New York Thursday evening. 

Other NA Grand Effie finalists (companies, agencies and campaigns) included: 

• Be the Match/space150 for Be The Guy.
• Seventh Generation/72andSunny for How Seventh Generation Turned The Environment Into A Personal Matter For Millennial Moms.
• SimplyGo Mini/Ogilvy & Mather for Breathless Choir - The Triumph Of The WHY Over The WHAT, with contributing agenciesCarat London and FleishmanHillard
• Lockheed Martin/McCann New York for Lockheed Martin Field Trip To Mars, with contributing agencies Momentum Worldwide, Universal McCann and Weber Shandwick
• Donate Life America/The Martin Agency for Even An Asshole Can Save A Life
• Office Depot OfficeMax/McCann New York for The Co-Worker Collection, with contributing agencies Merkle and AGAIN Interactive 

“This year’s Grand Effie winner proved once again that when agencies and clients exhibit shared courage to support a bold, insightful idea, the results can indeed be both creatively outstanding and indisputably effective - even against the greatest odds,” said Vineet Mehra, EVP and CMO, Ancestry and member of the 2017 Grand Effie Jury and Effie Worldwide’s Board of Directors. 

The rankings for the most effective North American holding companies, marketers, brands and agencies were also revealed at the gala.   

Tied for number one, the most effective marketers in the latest rankings are Unilever and PepsiCo. Mars and IBM rounded out the top three in the marketer category. 

Interpublic Group is the top-ranked holding company (for the first time), followed by WPP and Omnicom. 

WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather was revealed to be the top-ranked agency network, followed by IPG’s McCann Worldgroup and Omnicom’s BBDO. 

IPG’s McCann New York took the number-one spot for an agency office, followed by Ogilvy New York and Leo Burnett Chicago. 

Droga5 was number one among independent agencies. Periscope and VaynerMedia rounded out the top three. 

IBM ranked first among most effective brands. Extra Gum and JetBlue tied for second, followed by Pepsi. 

Staying power was also recognized at the celebration. Sustained Success winners (products or service communications efforts that have demonstrated effective results for three or more years) were recognized during the gala including:  Share Some Soul (Kia Motors and David & Goliath), Give Extra, Get Extra (Extra Gum & Energy BBDO), Hello, my name is Watson. (IBM & Ogilvy & Mather), Small Business Saturday (American Express & DigitasLBi), You Above All (JetBlue Airways & MullenLowe U.S./MullenLowe MediaHub), A Movement for Michigan (Pure Michigan & McCann Detroit), Tips from Former Smokers (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & Arnold Worldwide). 

More on the selection process, case studies and the complete list of Gold, Silver and Bronze winners for the North American Effie Awards, is available at www.effie.org.