DDB, Colenso, Special, TBWA, YoungShand, Lassoo, FCB, EightyOne, VMLY&R, Tracta, TimeZoneOne, dentsu, Motion Sickness, Strategy Creative & Māia named Effie finalists

EditorNews Make a Comment

AUCKLAND, Thursday: DDB Aotearoa has made a strong showing in the first round of judging for the 2022 Aotearoa Effie Awards – scoring 23 finalist spots, followed by Colenso BBDO and Special with 12 apiece, and TBWA\NZ with five.

PHD has three spots, while YoungShand, Lassoo Media, FCB/SIX and EightyOne have two finalists each.

Agencies with one finalist each include VMLY&R NZ, Tracta, TimeZoneOne, dentsu Aotearoa, Motion Sickness, Strategy Creative and Māia.

This year’s theme for the Effie Awards is “awarding ideas that work” celebrating the most effective advertising campaigns in NZ from the last year.

Convenor Lisa Divett said: “Effie’s writing this year coincided with a winter wave of Covid, which meant extra tough conditions for authors to get the data they needed, or indeed be well enough themselves to write.

“That said, once again New Zealand has demonstrated incredible resilience over the last couple of years and the calibre of work represented in the Effies is testament to this. We are also delighted to introduce a new category this year, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion which recognises the mahi many of you are doing to create a more progressive Aotearoa.

“A panel of 130 industry peers judged the preliminary round online over the past two weeks. 


“New Zealand has demonstrated incredible resilience over the last couple of years and the calibre of work represented in the Effies is testament to this.”

“The quality of entry’s this year impressed the judges, making the selection of 72 finalists across 22 Effie categories that much harder.”

The category judging round starts this Tuesday 13 September, and five panels of judges will determine the bronze, silver and gold Effie contenders, and identify which campaign is up for the title of Hardest Challenge.

This year’s executive judges who will be leading the final judging rounds are:

  • Amy Phillips – GM marketing & design (CMO), BNZ
  • Helen Costello – marketing director, The Collective NZ
  • Jodi Williams – GM marketing & customer experience, TAB NZ
  • Jonathan Symons – marketing director, TVNZ
  • Michael Healy – chief marketing officer, Meridian Energy

Joining this year’s executive judges – in person – will be the international judge for 2022, Yash Gandhi, head of marketing for Baiada Poultry Sydney.

The winners will be announced at the Effie Awards show on the Thursday 20 October at The Civic.

Thank-you!
The 2022 Aotearoa Effie Awards in association with TVNZ are sponsored and supported by commercial partner oOh!media, along with NZME, Nielsen, The Radio Bureau, Google, Cartology, Neuro-Insights, NZStory, Meta, and Stuff.


Share this Post