Madrid-based CP Interactive’s multimedia “Amnisty for Safiya” campaign for Amnistia Internacional took top honors—the Diamond Echo—last night at the 73rd annual International Echo Awards.
The online/offline campaign—which also won a gold Echo in the nonprofit category—was created to save the life of Safiya Husseini, a Nigerian woman who was to be executed in a brutal manner. With only 15 days to collect signatures, CP Interactive combined a viral e-mail campaign with a direct mail piece. The effort resulted in over 600,000 signatures obtained online, 60,000 by mail or fax, and 40,000 calls to the Safiya call center, leading to a reprieve of Husseini.
The USPS Gold Mailbox Award—for the most innovative use of direct mail—was presented to MRM Partners, New York, for its dimensional mail campaign “Living With It” for Aventis Pharmaceuticals. The effort also won a gold award in the consumer services category.
FMS Direct of Tarzana, CA put together the Henry Hoke Award-winning “Ship of Gold California Gold Rush Program” for Monaco Financial LLC. The Hoke Award goes to the campaign with the “most courageous solution” to a difficult sales or marketing problem.
“She’s Rocking the USA”—an interactive campaign from msdbm/Sourcelink of Los Angeles for Universal Music/Lost Highway Records—received the Echo Digital Award for the entry that uses new technology creatively to “execute proven DM principles in the most compelling way.” The campaign also won a gold award in the publishing category.
This year’s competition received 1,113 entries from 83 direct and interactive marketing agencies; 14 gold, 24 silver and 45 bronze Echoes were awarded to agencies and their clients from 14 countries. Campaigns were evaluated on response, marketing strategy and creative components.
MRM Partners led the list of direct marketing agency winners in this year’s competition, winning 12 Echoes for work done in its offices in New York; Los Angeles; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; and São Paulo, Brazil.
Other big agency winners included Proximity Worldwide, which received a total of 11 awards; and DraftWorldwide and OgilvyOne Worldwide, which took seven Echoes each. A total of 39 agencies were honored last night in a ceremony hosted by Kevin Nealon.
The Echo Awards, first presented in 1930, were originally called “The Best of Direct Mail.” They were renamed in 1979.
Other 2002 gold winners included:
o “Lemon,” created for CPFL by Grottera.com, São Paulo, Brazil; business services—dimensional mail.
o “Practice Makes Perfect,” created for DM-Huset by MRM Partners Worldwide (JBR McCann Direkte), Oslo, Norway; business services—dimensional mail.
o “Red Moon Launch,” created for Honeywell Aerospace and Max Q Digital Division by MRM Partners, Los Angeles; business services—dimensional mail.
o “Medicine Shoppe International” campaign, created by Brighton USA, St. Louis; business services—multimedia/integrated media. o “Vodafone V24 Challenge,” created for Vodafone New Zealand by Lowe Worldwide, Auckland, New Zealand; communications/utilities—DRTV.
o “Bears Permanent Seat Licenses,” created for the Chicago Bears by Beyond DDB, Chicago; consumer services—dimensional mail.
o “Pit Stop,” created for Shell C.A.P.S.A. by di Paola & asociados/TSG, Buenos Aires, Argentina; consumer services—dimensional mail.
o “GoalTender DRTV ‘Not Her,’” created for Aegon Direct Marketing Services by Doner Direct, Baltimore; financial services—DRTV.
o “Teacher Recruitment Campaign,” created for Teacher Training Agency, London, by McCann-Erickson (Manchester) Ltd., Prestbury, U.K.; nonprofit—multimedia/ integrated media.
o”Experience the Arctic Pureness,” created for Global Fish International A.S. by MRM Partners Worldwide (JBR McCann Direkte), Oslo, Norway; packaged goods—dimensional mail.
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