MANILA, MARCH 25, 2013 – DDB Philippines ‘Pacquiao Positive’ campaign for Sting Powerpacq Energy Drink picked up Gold at the 2013 International Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness Awards – a win that according to executive creative director Joey Ong, inspires his team to produce more award-winning work.
Riding in on Manny Pacquiao’s alleged use of performance enhancers, the campaign led off with the speculative hashtag #PacquiaoPositive causing an online brawl between the king of the ring’s supporters and detractors. To answer the controversy, within 48 hours Pacquiao made simultaneous appearances in major TV channels – through a taped press conference – admitting that he was indeed "positive"…for Sting Powerpacq. The campaign sold 24 million bottles of the gold-labeled product in less than a month, and earned recognition in local and regional competitions such as Tinta Awards (two Golds), Spikes Asia (Bronze) and ADFEST (Finalist).
"This win for Pacquiao Positive Sting shows that we can be both creative and effective," comments Joey Ong, executive creative director at DDB Philippines. "It’s been a good run for DDB and this just adds pressure to us because our other clients seeing us win for one account kinda puts a lot of pressure…in a good way."
Also snagging metals for the Philippines were McCann Worldgroup with three Bronze Awards and one Silver Award for The OFW Project for Coca-Cola, and TBWASantiago Mangada Puno a Bronze Award each for ‘KNOxOUT Project: EDSA’ (Boysen) and ‘ t of Life’ (Energizer).
27 countries entered 2013 AME; celebrity endorsement a huge trend
The Grand Jury presented the prestigious AME Grand Award and Regional Platinum Award/Europe to DDB Tribal Germany. DDB Canada, Vancouver/North America and PHD China/Asia-Pacific also earned AME Regional Platinum Awards.
The 2013 AME Grand Jury awarded 17 Gold AME Awards, 20 Silver, and 23 Bronze Awards to entries received from 27 countries worldwide. Celebrity-focused brand interaction was a huge trend, with campaigns employing actual celebrities or creating contests where the consumer or their ideas would be the star. Entries submitted into newly launched categories, including Social Benefit, Branded Entertainment, and Use of Discipline/Low-Budget also scored Gold Awards for multiple campaigns.
DDB Tribal Germany was honored with the AME Grand Award and AME Regional Platinum Award/Europe for ‘Don’t Make Up and Drive’, for client Volkswagen AG. The campaign exposed women to the danger of applying make-up while driving by partnering with online make-up star, Nikkie, whose tutorial is interrupted by a crash delivering an impactful, life-saving message. The campaign mobilized community support to persuade women that life’s not worth risking, even for the most beautiful make-up, scoring 2 Gold AME Awards, as well as 1,364,000 views, thousands of re-tweets, blog posts, and world-wide PR.
The AME Grand Jury awarded two global agencies the AME Regional Platinum Award: DDB Canada, Vancouver received the Platinum AME Award/North America for ‘Canada. Keep Exploring’ created for the Canadian Tourism Commission. The campaign employed consumer participation and leveraged the power of peer-to-peer influence by presenting real journeys documented by fellow travelers. The marketing effort shifted perceptions amongst international travelers propelling Canada to the #1 country brand two years in a row, and reversed the decline in international visitation to Canada. The campaign also earned an AME Gold and Silver Award.
PHD China earned the Platinum AME Award/Asia-Pacific for “Dive Into Love” for Cornetto. The campaign targeted young lovers in China, and was designed to help Chinese teens and young adults navigate modern love. The campaign employed a series of four 12-minute films focused on different aspects of love with Cornetto ice cream as the star, using product placement and branding woven into the story lines. The results: Cornetto doubled their sales over a two year period, and the medium launch generated a total of 320 million video views, and over 2.8 million posts on Sina Weibo.
Heimat Werbeagentur GmbH, Germany was honored with the 2013 AME Green Award for ‘CNN Ecosphere’. CNN International created an interactive digital ecosystem based on Twitter where politically and environmentally active opinion leaders around the globe could take part in a worldwide debate on climate change during COP17. The motto: “Plant a thought, watch it grow”. Every Tweet containing #COP17 was added to a visualized discussion on the ECOSPHERE micro site and became part of a worldwide debate on climate change. CNN ECOSPHERE gathered more than 227,000 tweets, generating more than 6.7 million unique media impressions around the globe. ‘CNN Ecosphere’ also scored 2 AME Gold and 2 Silver Awards.
This year, celebrity-focused campaign themes scored high. DDB Hong Kong “McDonald’s Chinese New Year McGreeting” featuring comedic duo Soft Hard earned 2 Gold AME Awards and 3 Silver; DDB Chicago’s “GED Pep Talk Center” for the Ad Council, featuring celebrities such as Christopher Lloyd and Terry Crews, was honored with 3 Silver AME Awards; and Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO’s “Going from Good to Great” for PepsiCo/Walkers, starring British comics Stephen Fry and Jimmy Carr, received a Silver AME.
For the complete list of winners, log on to www.ameawards.com/winners/2013
