Special categories are open to single & multi-market entries. If your campaign ran in multiple countries, please enter the multi-market track. Campaigns that ran in only one country should be submitted to the single-market track.
In collaboration with the World Economic Forum, open to single & multi-market campaigns
The Positive Change Effies reward and celebrate the brands and non-profits that are promoting the greater good through purpose-driven marketing. The program has two tracks - Environmental and Social Good.
Positive Change: Environmental
For efforts that have measurably shifted audience behavior toward more environmentally sustainable choices, and/or grown demand for more sustainable products and services. Explain how your efforts created positive impact on the environment and the business. Efforts entered must have as one of their main strategic objectives changing audience behavior towards more environmentally sustainable choices . Entrants should address how the sustainability goal relates back to the overall brand and business strategy. Demonstrate immediate impact while articulating progress toward long-term objectives. Highlight the most interesting, effective and impactful elements of the work, including the actual change-making components. Criterion for this award is the result of behavior change toward more environmentally sustainable choices, with these elements being considered in judging:
Enter in one of the two sub-categories:
Positive Change: Social Good
For marketing efforts proven effective in solving/impacting a social problem or in expanding an existing program in ways that benefit our society. This is about creating positive societal and cultural change, challenging the established status-quo and changing accepted norms and stereotypes that create societal inequalities with inspired action.
Examples include initiatives that tackle food poverty; access to healthcare or education; creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive society; or creating equal opportunities at work and in wider society for all members of our society. Any effort that sets out to give back in some way for the greater good is eligible to enter, and any/all marketing efforts, whether full campaigns or unique efforts within a campaign are eligible to enter as long as measurable results exist.
Demonstrate immediate impact while articulating progress toward long-term objectives. Highlight the most interesting, effective and impactful elements of the work, including the actual change-making components. Include the impact your work had on the cause and why it was a match for your business.
Enter in one of the two sub-categories:
The Health Effectiveness category celebrates marketing efforts proven effective in making a positive impact on health outcomes at an individual and societal level. Winners of this award will be recognized for innovative marketing strategies, technologies or creative approaches that bring about change to improve patients’ lives. Audiences can include, but are not limited to, patients, professionals, caregivers, advocacy groups. Examples include improving patient understanding, engagement and treatment adherence or perhaps a change in healthcare professional behaviour or clinical practice. Demonstration of significant collaboration with key healthcare stakeholders is important, as is the potential for long-term impact and scalability across regions or populations. Entries must demonstrate clear results associated with improvements in health outcomes and be underpinned by data that provides a robust-evidence base.
Enter in one of two sub-categories:
Note: There is a special entry form required for the Health Effectiveness category.
The objective of this new category is to champion the role of advertising and marketing to promote civic engagement, inclusive institutions and democratic values. It aims to inspire the creative and communications industry to use their skills and platforms to positively impact civic engagement and participation, institutions for justice, fairness and equal representation, media literacy, and democratic values. The category recognises efforts from brands or NGOs that actively promote and strengthen democratic values. It would honour communications and ideas that inspire people to care about human rights, free expression, fair representation, accountability and the essential freedoms that allow democracy to thrive. Rather than simply illustrating these principles, the work should motivate audiences to protect and advance them, whether it is at a local, national or regional level. Campaigns must demonstrate measurable results in inspiring civic engagement or strengthening democratic values. The following provides examples of the type of campaigns that would fall into this category:
Celebrating creative work that inspires voter registration, turnout, and civic involvement through non-partisan initiatives and in a non-partisan way — empowering citizens to participate and shape their societies.
Celebrating young people shaping the democratic conversation. Youth-focused campaigns that promote democratic values and amplify the voices of young people in civic life, including collaborations between brands and youth that champion electoral participation, justice, inclusion, and freedom of expression.
Celebrating campaigns that stand up for fundamental rights — from free expression to equality, inclusion, representation. Honouring ideas that advance social equity, uphold human dignity and challenge discrimination.
Creative work that promotes fairness and equal access to justice. Entries that highlight the importance of laws that protect citizens challenge corruption or the abuse of power and encourage honesty and transparency, such as equal access to justice and independence of the judiciary system.
Honouring campaigns that confront false narratives, promote fact-based dialogue, and help audiences navigate today’s complex information landscape, empower citizens to discern truth from manipulation.
Work that demonstrates bravery in defending democratic values, even under threat. This work challenges injustice and the abuse of power, defends fundamental freedoms, and amplifies unheard voices.
Recognising creative work that builds bridges between communities and reinforces shared human and democratic values.
Efforts that experienced sustained success for at least 10 years are eligible for entry. At a minimum, include at least ten years of creative work and case results, and include the current competition year’s results. Work must have a common objective in both strategy and creative executions, with a continuation of core executional elements (e.g., spokesperson, song, theme, tagline, etc.) that demonstrates effectiveness over time. [add]Entries should present the campaign as a clear journey across the years, highlighting key moments, milestones, and turning points that shaped its evolution and effectiveness. As part of the entry, specifically address how the effort evolved over time (e.g., media choices, targeting, insights, new products/services, etc.). Answer all questions for the initial year and describe how/why change occurred over time.
Enter in one of two sub-categories:
Note: There is a special entry form and different creative requirements for the Sustained Success Award. The creative requirements, including different rules for the creative reel, can be found in the Sustained Success form.
This category recognizes brands that successfully partnered with influencers to achieve short or long-term marketing goals. Influencers can range from micro to macro and include social media personalities, brand ambassadors, and bloggers. Clearly define the strategy, target audience, and why the influencer was chosen. Highlight how the influencer engaged the audience, influenced consumer behavior, and contributed to the brand's success by driving measurable business results.
Enter in one of two sub-categories:
