NEW YORK, June 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At the 50^th Effies Award Gala, Wavemaker US was awarded two Gold Effies for its work with clients BNP Paribas’ Bank of the West and Bausch + Lomb’s LUMIFY. WPP was also ranked amongst the top 5 Agency Holding Companies for the 9^th consecutive year.

Bank of the West won a Gold Effie Award in the Finance category for its “Unfund/Fund” campaign, while Bausch + Lomb’s LUMIFY was awarded the Gold Shopper Marketing Effie in the New Product/Service Introduction category for “Recharging Redness Relievers in a Beautiful Way”.  The most prominent award show recognizing marketing effectiveness, Effies honored the 2019 Effie Awards U.S. and Global Effie competitions at its annual gala at Cipriani 42nd Street.

“Congratulations to all of this year’s Effie winners, who are now a part of Effie history,” said Traci Alford, President and CEO of Effie Worldwide. “We are proud to celebrate the success of such great brands and teams as Effie continues to evolve with the industry to ensure that effectiveness sits at the heart of what marketers do best, which is deliver growth.”  

The winning campaigns were as follows:  

Bank of the West “Unfund/Fund” - GOLD Winner; Finance
How does a 135-year-old regional bank with low awareness, low consideration, and very low marketing spend capture outsized interest? By redefining what is important in banking. With “Unfund/Fund,” the eco-conscious and sustainable Bank of the West gave customers something that larger, corporate banking giants never could. Namely, shared values between them and the customer, illustrated by a commitment to investing back into the world they are a part of. With “Unfund/Fund,” the bank’s green investment policies were in plain sight, challenging customers to consider what they might be inadvertently funding through their current banking solution. The results: retail checking accounts are up 16% over prior year and at launch the bank had the biggest month for new customer acquisition in 7 years.

Bausch + Lomb’s LUMIFY “Recharging Redness Reliever in a Beautiful Way” - GOLD Shopper Marketing Winner; New Product/Service Introduction
Bausch + Lomb introduced innovation into a declining category with a new redness reliever eye drop, LUMIFY. With the goal of bringing new users into the category, Wavemaker and their creative partners carved out a unique position for LUMIFY, highlighting the benefits for whiter, brighter, more radiant looking eyes to a prime audience of beauty enthusiasts. Aiming to capture her when she was shopping in beauty, LUMIFY created a ‘bridge’ between beauty and eye care at retail stores with targeted media across TV, social, digital and beauty print magazines. LUMIFY even went as far to increase targeting and placement during timely, beauty-specific events such as New York Fashion Week. The results: the launch of LUMIFY not only single-handedly lifted the redness reliever category by 26%, but 70% of LUMIFY purchases were cross shopped with beauty products.

About Wavemaker
Wavemaker is a next generation agency that sits at the intersection of media, content and technology. We are obsessed with the customer's purchase journey and this is what connects our mission directly to our client’s business challenges. We invented WM Momentum, the world's most comprehensive study into how people make purchase decisions and have conducted over 500,000 surveys in 40 markets and across more than 80 categories. We are a business that is powered by the creativity and curiosity of our 8,500 people in 90 countries, united by our PACED values. We are a part of GroupM, WPP’s global media investment management company. For more information, go to www.wavemakerglobal.com.

About Effie

Effie is a global 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to lead and evolve the forum for marketing effectiveness. Effie leads, inspires and champions the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness through education, awards, ever-evolving initiatives and first-class insights into marketing strategies that produce results. The organization recognizes the most effective brands, marketers and agencies, globally, regionally and locally through its 50+ award programs across the world and through its coveted effectiveness rankings, the Effie Index. Since 1968, Effie is known as global symbol of achievement, while serving as a resource to steer the future of marketing success. For more details, visit effie.org.

Contact information:
Bianca Schemankewitz
646-380-4768
bianca.schemankewitz@digennaro-usa.com