AFFINITY was awarded the prestigious President’s Prize for Best Use of Tech-Led Data at the 2018 IPA Effectiveness Awards for their ground-breaking cough predictor. Developed for natural cough remedy Prospan, their revolutionary algorithm allowed them to target consumers at the moment their child was at most risk of developing a cough, and increased sales by 27% despite having a budget of less than 1% of the overall market spend in Australia.
AFFINITY wins prestigious President’s Prize at 2018 IPA Effectiveness Awards
After identifying that most Australian mums were inclined to ignore the early signs of a cough as they tend to ‘sort themselves out’, AFFINITY used social, Medicare, temperature and pollution data to pinpoint the conditions most likely to cause a cough. This allowed AFFINITY to target the mums most likely to take action, and caused Prospan’s market share against its larger competitors to increase by 18.5% in just six months. This impressive growth came despite a significant drop in the overall market during one of Australia’s warmest winters on record.
The President’s Prize was created by IPA President Sarah Golding to celebrate the demonstration of technology-led data in the generation of strategy, delivery, execution, optimization or measurement of effect.
Says Sarah Golding, IPA President and CEO and Partner of The&Partnership: “Technology and data are enabling us to develop highly creative and effective brand-building tools that can truly transform our industry. This case study is a fantastic example of how to use AI, data and insight to dynamically target the consumer, and I’m delighted that it has won this year’s President’s Prize.”
Says Neil Godber, Convenor of Judges and Head of Planning, J. Walter Thompson London: “AFFINITY used insight, creativity and big data to fascinating effect in very challenging conditions. Not only were they up against big budget competitors and apathetic attitudes towards coughs, but also the weather as well. With everything considered it is remarkable that they have caused such a dramatic shift in Propsan’s market share in such a short space of time.”
The 2018 IPA Effectiveness Awards are the world’s most rigorous and prestigious Awards scheme with entrants having to prove the payback of their communications activity. In total nine gold, 18 silver and 11 bronze prizes, along with 10 special prizes, were awarded to companies from six countries.
Australian agencies also won three other prizes at the Awards, with whiteGrey picking up a silver for their work with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and Ogilvy Australia claiming two bronzes for their Soothers and U by Kotex campaigns.
Full list of 2018 IPA Effectiveness Awards Winners:
Special Prizes:
- Grand Prix – sponsored by Thinkbox:
- Audi UK by BBH - Beauty and brains: How we supercharged the Audi premium 2015-2018
- Effectiveness Network of the Year
- McCann
- Effectiveness Company of the Year
- BBH
- The Simon Broadbent Prize for Best Dedication to Effectiveness – sponsored by Newsworks
- Diageo
- The President’s Prize for Best Use of Tech Led Data – sponsored by Google
- Prospan (Flordis Australia) by AFFINITY - The world's first cough predictor
- The Channon Prize for Best New Learning – sponsored by Radiocentre
- Direct Line Group by Direct Line Group and Ebiquity - They went short. We went long
- The Tim Broadbent Prize for Best International – sponsored by WARC
- Heineken by Publicis Italy - A Game Changer: How Heineken reinvented its champions league communications
- Best Multi-Market – sponsored by System 1
- Heineken by Publicis Italy - A Game Changer: How Heineken reinvented its champions league communications
- Best Small Budget – sponsored by DBS Data
- Ella's Kitchen by Havas London - Selling up doesn’t mean selling out
- The #IPASocialWorks Prize for Best Use of Social Media – sponsored by Facebook
- True Match (L’Oréal Paris) by McCann London - How L'Oréal Paris UK True Match climbed to No.1 by making everyone feel ‘Worth It’
Gold winners:
- Audi UK by BBH - Beauty and brains: How we supercharged the Audi premium 2015-2018
- British Army, (Capita for the British Army) by Karmarama and MediaCom - Helping a new generation find where they belong in the British Army
- DFS by krow communications and MediaCom - Turning DFS from a value brand into a brand that people value
- DLG by Direct Line Group and Ebiquity - They went short. We went long
- Guinness (Diageo) by AMV BBDO – Guinness: Made Of More, 2012 - 2018
- Lidl by TBWA\London and Starcom - How Lidl grew a lot
- Suzuki by the7stars - Suzuki Saturdays
- The AA by adam&eveDDB and Carat - The AA: From spark-plugs to singalongs
- True Match (L’Oréal Paris) by McCann London - How L'Oréal Paris UK True Match climbed to No.1 by making everyone feel ‘Worth It’
Silver winners:
- Aldi by McCann Manchester - Kevin the Carrot 2016 and 2017: How Aldi UK won Christmas with the help of a humble carrot
- Art Institute of Chicago by Leo Burnett Chicago and Art Institute of Chicago - Van Gogh's Bedrooms: The power of an immersive idea
- Baileys (Diageo) by Mother and Carat – Baileys: A radical brand turnaround story with extra sprinkles
- Barclays by BBH - Purpose pays
- David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust by whiteGREY - Hello in Elephant: Translating an endangered language to help save an endangered species
- Ella's Kitchen by Havas London - Selling up doesn’t mean selling out
- Heineken by Publicis Italy - A Game Changer: How Heineken reinvented its champions league communications
- IKEA by Mother and Vizeum - The Wonderful Everyday
- Nationwide Building Society by VCCP and Wavemaker London - How Nationwide found its voice and the difference that made
- Prospan (Flordis Australia) by AFFINITY - The world's first cough predictor
- Purplebricks by SNAP London - How Purplebricks brought Commisery to the UK's estate agents
- SK-II (P&G) by Forsman & Bodenfors - SK-II: The Marriage Market Takeover: How giving 'leftover' women in China a voice transformed a luxury skin care brand
- Skittles (Mars) by adam&eveDDB - Breaking conventions with Pride
- Sport England by FCB Inferno - This Girl Can: Giving judgement the finger (& inspiring millions of women to get active)
- Starbucks by Manning Gottlieb OMD - Starbucks and social: How Starbucks created the fourth place in coffee culture
- Virgin Media by BBH - Finding our Virginity: How fighting fact with feeling helped Virgin Media take on the might of Sky
- Weetabix by BBH and Ebiquity - A Rembrandt in the attic: Rediscovering the value of 'Have you had your Weetabix?'
- Yorkshire Tea (Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate) by Lucky Generals and Goodstuff Communications - Waking the sleep shoppers: A proper effective campaign for Yorkshire Tea
Bronze winners:
- 32Red (Kindred Group) by M.i. Media - 32Red: How marketing communications fuelled an online casino's hot streak
- Aldi by McCann Manchester - Shop, Eat. Repeat. How a bold repositioning campaign restored Aldi to record growth
- Covonia (Thornton & Ross) by Bray Leino - Rediscovering the power of Covonia
- IAG Cargo (International Airlines Group) by BBH - IAG Cargo FWD.Rewards: Building strength in numbers
- National Art Pass (Art Fund) by MullenLowe London - The art of effectiveness
- Parodontax (GSK) by Grey London - Selling an oral care oxymoron: Toothpaste for gums
- Ribena (Lucozade Ribena Suntory) by J. Walter Thompson - Ribena: A case for the defence
- Rogue (Nissan Canada) by Juniper Park\TBWA - From also-ran to front-runner: How Nissan made Rogue a sales hero by making winter heroes of Canadian drivers
- Soothers (Nestlé) by Ogilvy Australia - Any number of sore throats
- U by Kotex (Kimberly-Clark Australia) by Ogilvy Australia – ‘Let's move on’
- Vype (British American Tobacco) by J. Walter Thompson - Vype quality: A tale of two marketing models
The 2018 Effectiveness Awards are sponsored by DBS Data, Facebook, Google, Marsh, Newsworks, Radiocentre, System1, Thinkbox and Warc.
Full details about the winning campaigns and additional effectiveness content, including what the judges thought, can be found on the IPA website or WARC.
Last updated 10 March 2021