Marketing Innovation Solutions

All campaigns that ran in a single country in Europe between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2021 are eligible to enter.

Today, marketing is present in all market activities of modern enterprises - it is present in shaping of sales mechanisms, product and pricing policy, CRM, selection of distribution channels, customer experience and many other areas.

This category, aims to show the entire spectrum of business activities where marketing plays a key, albeit not the only role. We want to present integrated activities in many business areas - to ask the judges to find a perfect selection of marketing-mix elements that meets the business assumptions and through appropriate execution lead to the definite success of the brand/company. Our goal is evaluation in terms of effectiveness of the marketing activities that have been appropriately communicated inside the organisation, to partners and consumers.

That is why we also want to award bold, innovative marketing and business decisions that bring unprecedented results. Small and big steps that are not widely known, because they are not publicised in the media.

It is about ideas and activities that have the potential to change the company, but also may change the market characteristics and business and consumer behavior.

Current business models change under the influence of market and consumer changes, expanding access to new technological solutions - therefore, what matters most is the identification of an opportunity that exists on the market, and success achieved through well-defined goals and properly selected tools.

In this way, we invite to Effie also start-ups, B2B companies, and companies that produce goods on a white label basis.
Finally, we want to appreciate the fact that in today's world the boundary between marketing and strategic management is getting blurry
. Many companies look at all their activities through the lens of brand and marketing.

The aim of the Marketing Innovation Solutions Effie award is to recognise the most effective companies in which marketing is the leader of change.

In this category it is possible to submit activities such as, for example, change of packaging, both in terms of its appearance and size; introduction of a loyalty program or change in the loyalty program; introduction of a new distribution channel; use of e-commerce; use of modern technology at the point of sale; introduction of a completely new product in a category in which the marketer was already present; involvement of consumers in product development, etc.

The jury will assess the results in the context of business challenge set out by the entrepreneur, the action strategy developed to cope with it, and finally, the selection of tools that bring the effect of the action. Overriding values are a mix of implementation activities and the result achieved (assessed, of course, in terms of the effective employment of the available funds).

Examples of solutions that won an Effie, in this category, in 2019:

  • Alepa Block Wishes (Gold Effie Winner) transformed the way in which grocery stores determine their supply in Finland. With the help of a Facebook Messenger mobile phone chatbot, customers were able to request for their favourite products to be added to the shelves of their local Alepa store. By building Block Wishes inside of media that Alepa customers actively used. They managed to evolve from prehistoric Alepa store chain into a network of corner stores to hip local shops with unique selections.
  • RTMC In-house Digital Marketing Solution (Bronze Effie Winner). The Philips RTMC is a truly unique in-house social performance team. Being 100% dedicated, sitting and partnering on-site with the Philips Brand Leads in HQ, it has transformed the performance of paid social and infused an entrepreneurial social first way-of-working across the Division. With media strategy, content development, campaign management all organised into integrated campaign delivery squads, the RTMC is able to respond to changing campaign performance through real-time optimisations of creative, strategy and media spend. Its also been proved to be more effective and performant that local in-market agencies.