BBH drives Audi to IPA Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix victory

Using the guiding principle that Audi makes ‘beautiful cars with amazing brains’, BBH’s creative focused on both the ‘beauty’ of its cars by dramatizing the poetry of performance and the ‘brains’ of its technical innovations, to supercharge Audi’s premium vehicle sales and add an exciting new chapter to the Vorsprung durch Technik journey.

Key learnings:

• Sales grew three times faster than the UK market
• The price gap to the highest priced competitors fell by 10%
• Lifetime customer value increased by 6%
• An estimated £1.78bn of incremental value was generated from 2015-2017
• Audi recorded its highest ever profit ROMI, £2.07 for every £1 invested

Says Chair of Judges Dame Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive, ITV:

“Despite its longevity, the IPA Effectiveness Awards continues to surprise, stretch and present new learnings for the industry. From  extensive initiatives to small budget apps across a whole range of media, the breadth was impressive, the innovation inspiring. The cases awarded offer fresh insights – about data-fuelled creativity, for example – and confirm established truths, such as the importance of long-term approaches to brand-building. Of particular note is of the Grand Prix Winner from Audi which illustrates the formidable combination of this. Audi has a heritage as a consistent and effective brand advertiser, and  it used fresh thinking, tools and multiple media to supercharge the brand’s desirability and sales. This strategy resulted in Audi UK’s highest ever return on investment, an extraordinary achievement given the many years it has been advertising. It really is deserving of the industry’s ultimate accolade - a unanimous decision by the judges”

Says Neil Godber, Convenor of Judges and Head of Planning, J. Walter Thompson London:

“BBH have transformed Audi’s footprint at the top end of the automotive market and given us all a fantastic example of how to accelerate an established brand using research and data. It is a brilliant reminder that sometimes the best way to excite consumers about your brand it is to keep things simple, and thoroughly deserves to take adland’s chequered flag, the IPA Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix.”

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.

In addition to winning the Grand Prix, BBH were also named Effectiveness Company of the Year, picking up one gold, three silver and one bronze Award in total.

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.