Effie Awards Announces 2021 Ireland Winners

The Effie Awards Ireland 2021 winners were celebrated during a virtual broadcast from The Mansion House on Thursday 23rd September. Hosted by IAPI, over 600 agency folk and their marketing clients tuned into the online ceremony that was presented by Jennifer Zamparelli. The online awards ceremony celebrated the most effective Irish marketing and advertising campaigns chosen from nearly 100 entries to these inaugural awards.  

Damian Devaney, senior vice president, TBV Global, the international Business Transformation Consultancy, spoke about why he willingly accepted the role as Chair of Effie Awards Ireland and what it means for the industry. “The introduction of the Effie Programme to Ireland is a significant step for IAPI and the industry because they go to the very heart of the advertising business. They are proven over 50 years and are the only worldwide standard awards in creative effectiveness. 

Having proven examples of how the craft of creativity can demonstrably impact a company’s performance is what makes this whole industry tick. I’ve been passionate about proving the importance of what agencies do for over 20 years. Effie Awards are designed to illuminate as clearly and professionally as possible great examples of that in practice to the same standard across the world.”

The scarcity value and the standard required by Effie Worldwide became apparent during the ceremony where only seven Gold, 12 Silver and 12 Bronze Effies were announced across 22 categories. However, given the intensive judging process and, the scrutiny that the jury applied to ensure that each case was assessed to the global benchmarking standard, it proves yet again, that Ireland can hold its’ own when it comes to effectiveness in commercial creativity, media innovation and advertising.

Charley Stoney, CEO, IAPI congratulated the winners saying; “The Effie Programme is more than the awards themselves. The process of entering; taking part in the judging; receiving verbatim jury feedback; having a bank of effectiveness cases to research within our own country – all of these things create a centre of learning for the Irish Marketing & Advertising industry.

"We should be so proud of the positive impact we have on the Irish Economy and now, through Effies, we have case studies that prove it. Brands and agencies are working together every day to build businesses; launch new products; carry out social change for good; raise donations for worthy charities and sell products to willing consumers. We are all about keeping the economy going!” 

Effie Awards Ireland has provided the Irish advertising and marketing industry with their first ever opportunity to pitch themselves against their peers globally. Every Gold winner this year can now enter both Euro Effie Best of the Best and Global Effie Best of the Best in 2022. 

Effie Awards Ireland is supported by RTÉ Media Sales, An Post Commerce, Pluto, Wide Eye Media and Twitter. A representative from each sponsor was on stage during the ceremony to award and congratulate the Effie winners.

The winning agencies and their clients were announced in the following order:

FMCG / Petcare & Homewares

• BRONZE

Entry Title: The Welcome In-Between

Brand: Jacob’s & OMD Ireland

Lead Agency: Havas Dublin

• SILVER

Entry Title: Convincing the Irish to Drink No-alcohol Beer

Brand: Heineken 0.0

Lead Agencies: Publicis Dublin & Core

Crisis Response/Critical Pivot 

• BRONZE

Entry Title: You are not alone. The lifeline support line.

Brand: ALONE

Lead Agency: Bonfire

• BRONZE

Entry Title: Saving Lives At The Speed of COVID

Brand: Health Service (HSE / Dept. of Health)

Lead Agencies: Core & TBWA Dublin

• SILVER

Entry Title: Every Donation is an Intervention

Brand: Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

Lead Agencies: In the Company of Huskies & Mediacom

Business to Business

• GOLD

Entry Title: The Connected Island

Brand: Three Ireland

Lead Agencies: Boys + Girls & Core

IT, Telecoms & Consumer Electronics

• SILVER 

Entry Title: Busting myths by connecting islands

Brand: Three Ireland

Lead Agencies: Core & Boys + Girls

Positive Change – Brands, NFP – Environmental or Social Good

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: Proving compassion has no borders - The Trócaire Story

Brand: Trócaire

Lead Agency: Core

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: Remember the Rainbow

Brand: BeLonG To

Lead Agency: In the Company of Huskies

• SILVER 

Entry Title: Address Point; postal service for the homeless community

Brand: An POST

Lead Agency: Folk Wunderman Thompson

• SILVER

Entry Title: Every Donation is an Intervention 

Brand: Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

Lead Agencies: In the Company of Huskies & Mediacom

Leisure, Media, Sport, Travel and Gaming

• GOLD 

Entry Title: A little museum taking on big stereotypes

Brand: EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum

Lead Agency: The Public House

Retail & Fashion (Bricks or Clicks or both)

• SILVER

Entry Title: Swap & Save 2.0

Brand: Aldi Ireland

Lead Agency: McCann Manchester

Public Service, Government & Utilities 

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: Making The Potato Sexy Again

Brand: Bord Bia

Lead Agency: BBDO Dublin

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: You are not alone. The lifeline support line.

Brand: ALONE

Lead Agency: Bonfire

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: PUTTING POWER BEHIND THE BRAND

Brand: Energia

Lead Agencies: Boys + Girls & dentsu X

• SILVER 

Entry Title: Ireland vs COVID-19. How public service 

communications played an extraordinary role in Ireland’s COVID response

Brand: Health Service (HSE / Dept. of Health)

Lead Agencies: Core & TBWA Dublin

• SILVER 

Entry Title: Every Donation is an Intervention

Brand: Society of Saint Vincent de Paul

Lead Agencies: In the Company of Huskies & Mediacom

• GOLD 

Entry Title: The Shop That Nearly Wasn't

Brand: Breakthrough Cancer Research

Lead Agency: The Brill Building

New Product or Service Introduction 

• BRONZE

Entry Title: Making Waves In The Drinks Category

Brand: ROCKSHORE

Lead Agency: BBDO Dublin

Finance & Insurance Services

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: Live Your Best Second Life

Brand: Standard Life Ireland

Lead Agency: Publicis 

Small Budget – less than €50k

• BRONZE

Entry Title: Sleeping Flags; a small action with massive impact

Brand: Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann (O.N.E)

Lead Agency: Rothco Accenture Interactive

• GOLD 

Entry Title: You are not alone. The lifeline support line.

Brand: ALONE

Lead Agency: Bonfire

• GOLD 

Entry Title: The Shop That Nearly Wasn't

Brand: Breakthrough Cancer Research

Lead Agency: The Brill Building

Media Content & Partnership/Sponsorship Effectiveness

• SILVER 

Entry Title: The Darkness Into Light Sunrise Appeal

Brand: Electric Ireland

Lead Agency: Rothco Accenture Interactive & Core

Topical Marketing (Current Events)

• SILVER 

Entry Title: Reframing value in a Pandemic: How Vodafone stayed on top during a race to the bottom

Brand: Vodafone

Lead Agency: Folk Wunderman Thompson & Carat

• SILVER 

Entry Title: The Shop That Nearly Wasn't

Brand: Breakthrough Cancer Research

Lead Agency: The Brill Building

Sustained Effectiveness

• BRONZE 

Entry Title: Establishing a youth brand in Ireland's competitive telco market

Brand: Vodafone

Lead Agency: Folk Wunderman Thompson

• SILVER 

Entry Title: Getting the nation sending love again at Christmas

Brand: An Post

Lead Agency: Folk Wunderman Thompson

• GOLD 

Entry Title: THE POWER OF ONE LITTLE WORD

Brand: ŠKODA

Lead Agencies: Boys + Girls, PHD Media

• GOLD 

Entry Title: It’s a Treat! The 5 Year Turnaround Story

Brand: Baileys

Lead Agency: Mother London

For more information and to view the stellar line up of Irish and International judges that made up the Effie Awards Ireland 2021 jury, please visit here.