Scottish IPA Effectiveness Awards - The Results

“I think the standard of entries demonstrated, at the end of the day, that there are good, strong agencies in Scotland and they should blow their trumpets more.”

That was the conclusion of Kwik-Fit founder and this year’s IPA Effectiveness Awards chairman of the judges, Sir Tom Farmer, as he handed the IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix to a deserving 1576.

To the layperson, an ad or commercial is the bright colourful “thing” you see on the TV, in the paper or on the billboard at the end of your street. But what most people don’t realise is that behind all of the glossy photography and the catchy straplines, there is another world. A world of research, of planning, of testing, of measuring results, of evaluation – a world of effectiveness.

And it was that effectiveness that 250 of Scotland’s leading advertising lights gathered in Edinburgh last night to celebrate at the Sheraton Grand hotel.

The judging of the 20-plus 2,500-word papers was tough, but with a judging panel made up of Kwik-Fit founder and chairman of the judges Sir Tom Farmer, BMP DDB chief strategic officer James Best, IPA president Bruce Haines, Martin Raymond of NHS Health Scotland, chief executive of Food From Britain David McNair, head of marketing support at Abbey National Alan McKenzie, Jim Law of MR UK, Malcolm McMillan of SMG, Richard Bogie of The Scotsman Publications and the retired Tim Hailey little was going to escape their attention.

And so it was that after the judging for the sixth Scottish IPA Effectiveness Awards, 1576’s light shone the brightest as the agency’s managing partner, Mark Gorman, and his creative directors, David Reid and Adrian Jeffery, stepped up to claim the prestigious IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix award.

The agency, which has recently retained the VisitScotland advertising business, won with its paper for Scottish Mutual.

The paper’s author, Gorman, demonstrated how Scottish Mutual’s initial investment of £600,000 will return 500 times on advertising investment over a 17-month period. The paper also showed how investment in new technology had helped to shift perceptions of the organisation and strengthened relationships with its customer base.

The Scottish Mutual paper also scooped an award in the Best Media Thinking Category for the way in which it highlighted how media thinking and application made a fundamental contribution to the advertising’s effectiveness.

Speaking of 1576’s Grand Prix winner, judge James Best said: “1576’s entry for Scottish Mutual proved beyond any shadow of doubt the substantial contribution advertising has made to this campaign.

“The Scottish IPA Effectiveness Awards celebrate the success stories of the brands that drive the Scottish economy. The papers illustrate the certain and calculable contribution Scottish agencies make on brands and the papers submitted to these awards become part of an important public record of advertising effectiveness.”

Other Gold Award winners on the night included The Union and Feather Brooksbank for s1jobs.com, Family and The Media Shop for Scottish Leader, and The Bridge and The Media Shop for Scottish Enterprise’s Modern Apprenticeships.

No doubt all the judges had their own personal favourites amongst the submitted papers, but it was only the chairman, Sir Tom, who got the chance to have his own favourite honoured with his Chairman’s Award.

And Sir Tom opted for Citigate Smarts’ paper for Age Concern Scotland’s Elder Abuse campaign.

He said: “This case demonstrated how, with a budget of only £18,000, Citigate Smarts helped Age Concern Scotland break the silence on elder abuse and bring the plight of older people into the open.

“The campaign utilised shock advertising to drive and generate PR coverage in order to maximise the overall impact and the campaign returned £44,000 worth of media coverage, 400 per cent increase in calls to the helpline and £193,000 worth of funding.”