"The demand for effective communication is timeless"

Anna Kohler: Jung von Matt won the Grand Effie at the Effie Awards 2022 for the Zweifel campaign "Sixth Sense". How Did the agency and the client benefit from this gain?

Roman Hirsbrunner: First of all, it's obvious that the team's joy at winning a prize like this is huge - both on the award night itself and far beyond. The award provides motivation, but also confirmation of the appreciation and involvement of consumers. At the same time, it pushes the intensive collaboration between agency and client even further and, in the case of Zweifel, has further increased the brand's dynamism and paved the way for further, surprising ideas. For the follow-up projects to "Sixth Sense", we have learned a few lessons and gained a lot of self-confidence. Experiencing that creative ideas also have an above-average impact is something like the elixir of life for a creative agency.

For this year's edition, the Effie sponsors have Focus on relevant twelve categories decided. With what considerations were these categories chosen?

We have taken another close look at the work submitted in previous years. The categorization must lead to a better comparison of works in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. The selected categories not only reflect a large number of works from previous years, they should also make it easier for submitters to select the appropriate category and provide specific information on the required criteria.

The Effie Awards have a special position among the awards in the industry, as they focus on the effectiveness of communication and its value contribution to corporate success. Is this still relevant in today's fast-moving times?

The demand for effective communication is timeless. What is constantly changing, however, are the framework conditions. How do I reach consumers in the flood of information? How do I keep them close to my brand? Today's "fast pace" increases the demands on communication - but also constantly creates new opportunities. Those who succeed in this game, not only in attracting attention in the short term and driven by effects, but also in translating the attention gained over time into emotional closeness and transactions, create a real value contribution to the company's success. And wins an Effie. (laughs)

Your personal tip for a successful Effie submission?

Take part in a submission workshop organized by the LSA! And in general: show credibly and comprehensibly in which context - market, competition, previous periods - the work was created, what goals were set and how these were achieved or exceeded. And provide the jury with information as to why the achievement of the objectives can be attributed to the effectiveness of the communication. For example, show that the 100 percent increase in ice cream sales compared to the previous year is not due to a better summer, but also to the campaign.