SYDNEY: A recruitment campaign for the Australian Defence Force has won the Grand Effie in the 2018 Effie Awards Australia, while the award for the year’s most effective advertiser went to the supermarket Aldi.

The Host/Havas campaign for Defence Force Recruitment a recruiter for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), tackled the target audience’s outdated perceptions of the Force with a series of culturally diverse, human stories about personal struggle and progression which ran on TV and 360° video on social.

The ADF also developed operational changes to make sure the entire recruitment experience is now the best possible.

For Aldi, a BMF campaign encouraged new consumers to shop at the store by addressing widespread scepticism that it was able to supply quality products at low prices. Aldi ‘loyalists’ set challenges for the sceptics – including blind taste and lie detector tests – to help them see past their initial doubts about the brand.

The campaign has been Aldi’s most effective to date – and it already claimed its marketing is 51% more effective than rivals – delivering revenue growth and attracting new households to shop at the store.

In addition to the Grand Effie and the Effective Advertiser Award, a total of seven Golds, seven Silvers and ten Bronzes were awarded at an event in Sydney last night. WARC subscribers can read most of them here.

In addition to the Effective Advertiser Award, BMF picked up two Silvers and a Bronze. Other multiple award winners included The Monkeys with two Golds, CHE Proximity with one Gold and one Silver, GTB with two Silvers and AJF Partnership with one Silver and one Bronze; Clemenger BBDO Melbourne won three Bronzes.

Sourced from Effie Awards; additional content by WARC staff