SKINS WINS GOLD PINNACLE AT AFA EFFECTIVENESS AWARDS

Skins, a small independent Australian sportswear brand, which successfully took on the titans of the sports world, has won the Millward Brown Gold Pinnacle Award at the 9th AFA Advertising Effectiveness Awards held tonight at the Westin Hotel in Sydney.
The Skins campaign ‘Skinning the Competition’, originally created by Jay Furby and team at Arnold Sydney - now The Furnace Sydney, also won the Return on Investment award and the Most Original Thinking Award – the one which prompted judges to think – “I wish I’d thought of that!”
The Furnace's Amy Cuthbert, Group Account Director and Tony Singleton, Head of Strategy Planning made a compelling business case convincing the judges to award Skins the Pinnacle in the face of some serious competition from four other Gold Award winners – Lion Nathan’s XXXX Gold (BMF Sydney), Diageo’s Bundaberg Rum RTD (Leo Burnett Sydney), Sunbeam Expresso Machines ‘Unleash the Barrista’ (Bellamyhayden Sydney) and the Football Federation of Australia’s launch of the Hyundai A-League: (Lowe Hunt Sydney).
The Skins strategy turned the competitors’ strengths against them with a campaign based on the brand truth that “ Unlike our competitors, Skins don’t pay sports starts to wear our products – They pay us”.
Compared with the previous year, monthly sales of the brand increased 1400%. The success of the campaign had a massive effect on the company, successfully establishing the brand in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The plan now is to storm the rest of Europe, parts of Asia and the USA within the next couple of years.
A total of 29 awards were presented – and the majority will now be published in the ninth edition of the AFA Effectiveness Book available in October 2007. This series of books has been established as a vital tool for students of how effective marketing works in the Australian context.
Chairman of the AFA Effectiveness Awards Matthew Melhuish said that the overall standard of entries had been very high: “Agencies and marketers are under pressure to deliver results all the time. It goes with the territory.
“The new media landscape and the explosion of touch points has added to the opportunities, but also the complexities we need to manage.
“What hasn’t changed is the need for marketing and advertising people to prove the impact of their investment and make a compelling case for what we do.
“That’s what the AFA Effectiveness Awards is all about. These awards are unique in requiring successful winners to definitively prove their case beyond a shadow of a doubt. And I’ m pleased to say we have 29 awards here of which agencies and marketers can be very proud.
“The AFA is pleased that the Australian Association of National Advertisers and the Australian Financial Review have again partnered in these awards. We are also grateful to our loyal sponsors as well as the judges who give their time so generously in such a universally valuable cause, said Mr Melhuish.

Gold Pinnacle, sponsor Millward Brown:
The Furnace, ‘Skinning the Competition’, SKINS

Gold Awards, sponsor Free TV Australia:
• BMF, "Good as Gold". ‘How a long-term strategy about four mates and a dog paid big for XXXX Gold’
• The Furnace, ‘Skinning the Competition’, SKINS
• Bellamyhayden, ‘Unleash the Barista’, Sunbeam
• Leo Burnett Sydney, ‘From a Cult Regional Drink to a National Icon’, Diageo Australia.
• Lowe Hunt, ‘The Launch of the Hyundai A-League’, Football Federation of Australia

Silver Awards, sponsor Free TV Australia:
• BMF Sydney, ‘How to embed a ‘new’ tradition into Australian culture’, Meat & Livestock Australia
• Clemenger BBDO Sydney, ‘ A local campaign to weather the worst snow season of all time’, Amalgamated Holdings
• Belgiovane Williams Mackay Sydney, ‘How a leader delivered outstanding results by out-thinking the challengers’, Telstra BigPond

Bronze Awards - sponsor Free TV Australia:
• Lowe Hunt Sydney, ‘The Australian Institute of Music - Fuelling Inspiration and Business’, The Australian Institute of Music.
• DDB Sydney, ‘The Great Australian Dream is not dead; it just had a makeover’, AV Jennings.
• Clemenger BBDO Sydney, ‘How to overcome a crisis with confidence’ Mitsubishi Motors Australia.
• Clemenger BBDO Sydney, ‘How Masterfoods disturbed a sleeping giant and reignited an entire category’, MasterFoods.
• Leo Burnett Sydney, ‘How advertising started Johnnie Walking Again in Australia’, Diageo Australia.
• The Campaign Palace Sydney, ‘Illicit Drug Use - Telling it like it us’, Department of Health and Ageing.
• The Campaign Palace Sydney, ‘How MLA and the campaign palace achieved a 5 year turnaround in Red Meat’, Meat & Livestock Australia.
• Clemenger BBDO Sydney, ‘How Hahn Super Dry defied conventional wisdom to turn a market on its head’, Lion Nathan Australia.
• Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, ‘Here's Proof: How Simplicity In Advertising Helped Move Sales (and Value) For Olympus Australia’, Olympus Imaging Australia.

Return of Investment Award, sponsor - Commonwealth Bank:
The Furnace Sydney, ‘Skinning the Competition’, SKINS.

Long Term Effects Award, sponsor - The Newspaper Works:
BMF Sydney, "Good as Gold". How a long-term strategy about four mates and a dog paid big for XXXX Gold’, Lion Nathan Australia.

Most Original Thinking Award, sponsor – adstream:
The Furnace, ‘Skinning the Competition’, SKINS.

Best Small Budget Campaign Award, sponsor - Advertising Standards Bureau:
Clemenger BBDO Sydney, ‘A local campaign to weather the worst snow season of all time’, Amalgamated Holdings.

Integration Award, sponsor - Yahoo!7:
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, ‘ M&Ms: What is it about the Green Ones?’, MasterFoods Snackfoods.

Innovation Award, sponsor – EYE:
Bellamyhayden, ‘Sunbeam Espresso Machines’, Sunbeam.

Best Healthcare Case Award, sponsor – Medical Publishers Association (MPA):
Medicus Sydney, ‘A Clever way to Lower Blood Pressure’, Bayer Schering Pharma.

State Winners, sponsor - OzTAM:
SA: KWP! Advertising, ‘Clipsal 500 Pricecap’, SA Motor Sports Board.
NSW: Clemenger BBDO, ‘A local campaign to weather the worst snow season of all time’ Amalgamated Holdings.
QUEENSLAND: Redsuit Advertising, ‘Young Women and Alcohol’, Queensland Health.
VICTORIA: Grey Worldwide, ‘Maintaining Pressure on Victorian Drivers to Wipe off 5’, Transport Accident Commission.