Wanna Win An Effie? What I Learned From Being A Judge

 As someone who believes that craft and business results should reinforce each other, I am a big fan of the Effies and proud to have participated in Innocean's Effie win for Hyundai's 'Smart Park' in 2021.

But winning Effie submissions are hard to write! Wanting to know more, I was honored to be invited to be a judge this year and spent all day yesterday judging the finalist round... and I learned a lot! While I am under a strict NDA regarding any of the 12 individual cases that I reviewed during all-day judging session, I came away with a greater understanding of the process, what to do, and moreover, what not to do when writing an Effie case submission.

Understanding the Judging Context

First of all, it's great to understand how the judging works. The day, including breaks, instruction and judging sessions spanned 9 hours, 6 of which were spent reviewing and judging the actual cases. This adds up to approximately 30 minutes per case. Those 30 minutes were broken into:

• 10-15 minutes to read the actual submission and review the video. 
• 10-15 minutes  discussing the case with the other 17 people in the room, 
• A few minutes were left for scoring the case and providing any feedback. 

Depending upon the time of day, the judges reviewing your submission may have already read 10 + entries that day. 

The 5 Principles of Winning

1) Less is More 

To paraphrase Henry Ford II - Never overexplain, and you'll never complain. Several of the cases went to great, or shall I say too great lengths to explain every minor detail of the thinking that led to the development of the campaign, whether it was relevant to the case you are making or. Just because the Effies are about effectiveness, doesn't mean that irrelevant metrics, charts and graphs will help you win. 

In our session, the simplest, shortest submission received the most positive reception from the judges. This brings me to the second principle:

2) D = A + B = D

While some campaigns can have softer objectives, be sure to tell a linear story in which everything is clearly connected. Clearly stated objectives should see used as the North Star for the articulation of the insight, strategy and corresponding executions. The most brilliant insights and strategies will fall short, if they don't ladder back to the objectives. Similarly, the most amazing executions will not guarantee a win if they don't linearly connect the insight to the results.

In our session, some cases required a big leap in logic to move from what were smart insights to the execution. For others, the greatest results were not tied to the stated objectives. This tended to degrade overall scores.

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3) Clarity over Poetry  

One of favorite people, Rob Schwartz always endorsed clarity over poetry, and if ever there was a time to stick to this principle, it's in writing Effie submissions. Remember the context--judges come from a myriad of disciplines and categories. They are clients they are agency people. Their expertise may be strategy, creative, media, or management. They may come from categories as diverse as financial services or breakfast cereal. Your submission may be the last of ~12 that day. Thus, it's important to be succinct; to leave the category jargon on the cutting room floor; to use short, clear bullets rather than long winded, complex sentences. The judges will greatly appreciate it, and it might help you win.

In our session, we reviewed 2 back to back cases. One was extremely efficient with words and charts, and crystal clear to everyone in the room. The other was laden with word, chart and jargon overload. Although the fundamental idea was sound, the story was so mired in detail, and in stark contrast to the previous one, that again, it led to overall lower evaluations.

4) All that Glitters Is Not Gold

Just because your case leverages the latest technology, doesn't mean it's Effie worthy. Why and how the technology is used is the key to winning. Does it reflect the target insight? Does it punctuate the idea? Is it true to the brand? Does it help drive efficacy? If not, it might be a small piece of context, but if that's all the case is about, don't waste your time writing it. 

We reviewed 2 cases that utilized VR/AR. One in which the tech had a very strong purpose for being, while the other was merely tech for tech sake. Needless to say, the latter did not fare well in our group discussions.

And finally, a corollary to point 4...

5) Effies and Cannes are Not the Same

Know your awards and the corresponding audience. Always first filter your cases to ensure they meet the requirements of Effie. Ground breaking creative that didn't drive measurable business results might be better reserved for Cannes. While some campaigns might be both Effie and Cannes worthy, do not try to cut and paste from one submission to the other. Begin each from scratch understanding the rules of the game. 

So my closing advice to any aspiring Effie winners is to spend more time thinking through the submission narrative, and judiciously selecting the relevant support points, and less time writing the case--with the right forethought the case will write itself!

Good Luck!