The advertising industry held its breath last night as the year’s most awaited award was announced – the Grand Effie Award was given to Happy Soldiers for its Tontine ‘Best-Before’ pillow campaign. With a 345% uplift in sales during activation week, the judges were highly impressed that the campaign moved beyond simply an ad campaign.

Colin Wilson-Brown, the chairman of judges at this year’s awards tells Marketing: “We have seen more entries where the central idea is a marketing solution rather than just an advertising campaign. The Grand Effie winner is a great example of this, and its not the only one. This demonstrates that agencies are using their creativity to generate truly original ideas.”

With 8 Golf Effies awarded, other campaigns that walked away with the coveted title include:

– Wrigley’s 5 Gum campaign by Clemenger BBDO Sydney

– Bega Cheese by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

– WhybinTBWATequila for RaboDirect

– Sportsbet.com.au by Leo Burnett Melbourne

– HSBC Bank Australia by Multicall Connexions

– Junior’s Bank of Queensland campaign

While this is only the third Effies Awards, the committee saw 214 entries and according to Daniel Leesong, CEO of the Communications Council, the Australian advertising industry is at the forefront of creativity.

“The Effies are judged on results first and foremost but great creativity is usually a prerequisite for the most effective campaigns,” says Leesong.

13 silver and 22 bronze Effies were also awarded, while Clemenger BBDO Melbourne walked away with ‘Effective Agency of Year’ for the second year in a row.

The complete list of winners can be found here.