PHD US took home a prestigious Gold at the Effie Awards US in the Seasonal Marketing – Services category for its ‘Back-to-School Essentials’ campaign for Sandy Hook Promise. The Effies recognise and celebrate all forms of marketing that contribute to a brand’s success; inspiring and championing the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness.
The ‘Back-to-School Essentials’ campaign was born from Sandy Hook Promise’s goal to recapture America’s attention as the 2019–20 school year began. Their back-to-school ad began as a typically saccharine promo about kids and their must-buy goods, but soon turned harrowing as they highlighted the items kids needed to protect themselves in case of a school shooting incident, underscoring the threat of gun violence they face every day at US schools.
With over 3.9 billion impressions, shares from 11 presidential candidates, and outpourings of emotion around the country, the winning campaign brought the terrifying ‘new normal’ of gun violence to life, and redefined what a back-to-school campaign could be.
Sandy Hook Promise’s distressing ‘Back-to-School Essentials’ campaign also recently won an Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Science for Outstanding Commercial 2020.
The Effie Awards were launched in 1968 by the New York American Marketing Association as an awards programme to honour the most effective advertising efforts. The award now honours all forms of effective marketing and the companies and individuals creating effective work across the globe.
All of this year’s winners and finalists will receive points towards their rankings in next year’s Global Effie Index, the annual worldwide ranking of marketing effectiveness for agencies, advertisers, and brands.
See the full list of Effie US Awards 2020 winners here.
