Christina Aventi Thanks Competitors at Effies: “Sometimes You've Got to Down The Tools, Come Together”
Christina Aventi used the opportunity to accept BMF’s Effective Agency of the Year title to thank her competitors.
“I really want to acknowledge a few agencies,” the CSO said on stage at last night’s Effie Awards ceremony.
“Saatchi & Saatchi, you've done so well ... VML, KitKat. I wanted a KitKat too. Want a break. Got a bit dull there, and then we got some momentum, and then I was happy, and I'm like, I don't need that KitKat anymore. Accenture Song, you always do well. You always help the industry rise. Well done. Love seeing the lamb. And Telstra, Bear, +61, thank you for being the reference point. When we go to clients, 'We'll say, let's do a Telstra'. Thank you. We always say, 'Let's do a Telstra', quickly followed by, 'Let's do an ALDI.’”
Asked by LBB afterwards why that felt important to say, she added, “The industry is doing it tough at the moment. I think that it's harder to maintain those kinds of relationships where you're aligned in your ambitions around effectiveness that meets creativity. We all rise when someone raises the bar. And I just want to constantly feel that, because we all stand to benefit.
“I'm competitive. It's a sport. But I really respect some of the work that people are producing out there, and I respect the nature of the relationships that they're building with their client and agency partners. And I just wanted to put oxygen behind that. Sometimes you've got to down the tools and come together so that we all stand to benefit.”
BMF’s client ALDI won Effective Advertiser of the Year, also for the second year running. BMF head of effectiveness Hannah McHard told LBB, “When we have effectiveness absolutely innate in the work we do, there's no way not to create work that's effective. We've honed stories that tell that well. ALDI and BMF -- there's a partnership that keeps getting stronger and work that reflects that absolute commitment to deliver for their business and work that we want to do.
“When you have clients who trust you, then you don't create work from fear. And when you have people in the business that trust each other ... where you have relationships, where you can bounce and you can chat, and you can throw things around, you don't have to make stuff that fits a certain rule or fits a certain guideline. You can make things that actually deliver.”
Christina noted, “We've got no choice but to be effective, because most of our brands won't spend as much as the market leader. We've got these great challenge origins. We're outspent by two to one, three to one.”
On stage, she added of the longstanding relationship with the supermarket, “Thank you for your trust and your belief in us through the ups and downs. It's a great case study in a long term relationship. What, it's 25 years? It's longer than I've been with my husband, and I do give him tips on the back of our relationship. You deserve Effective Advertiser of the Year. Thank you so much for how you conduct yourself.”
The agency won a Gold for Short Term effects for the paper, ‘Proving That Going Extra Needn't Cost Extra, How ALDI Pushed the Boat out to Bring Aussies in at Christmas’. It also won a Silver for its work for the Australian Government’s Attorney General Department, ‘Ending the Silence to End Child Sexual Abuse, One Talk at a Time.’
“I'm really glad that the Australian Government got acknowledged tonight with child sexual abuse, that's a heavy topic, and it's really hard to ROI as well, but we're so proud of that,” Christina said.
Leo Australia won the Grand Effie for a body of work for Suncorp that includes ‘One House to Save Many’ and ‘If Your Home Could Talk’. The judges said ‘From Recovery to Resilience: How Suncorp Rewrote Insurance Rules and Revitalised Its Business,’ was “a showcase of effectiveness that all marketers should aspire to.”
"The Effies are such an important award show to Leo because we believe our creative work should demonstrate value to the business and continue to deliver that value over time," the agency's CEO, Clare Pickens, told LBB.
"So, to win the Grand Effie for long term effectiveness with our Suncorp partners is a great honour, which so many of our talented team have had a hand in and which speaks to our ambition to deliver great creative which delivers for the business as well."
Accepting the award, Suncorp CMO Mim Haysom said, “This is truly unexpected. There's so much great work and so many great agencies and marketers in the room. We're all blown away … I couldn't be more proud and just kind of shocked.”
273 judges pored over the entries to arrive at 111 finalists representing 33 agencies and 47 brands. 24 agencies and 26 clients took home metal.
Australian Association of National Advertisers chair and Arnott’s CMO Jenni Dill said of the winners, “You are the best of the best. The work you have done is being recognised for effectiveness, not just great creative, not just great media plans, not just great client work, but for driving business results that matter. And at the moment in this world, in this industry, in this country, we need that more than ever.”
This year’s awards program marked the first of Google and YouTube’s three-year marquee Effies sponsorship.
Melanie Silva, Google AUNZ managing director said last night, “We love a bit of math. We love a bit of magic. We love it when we connect those two things together,” while Advertising Council Australia chair Mike Rebelo added, “This is the crux of why we as marketers and agencies come to work, is to create magic in science.”
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