George Patterson Y&R won a total of 17 ADMA Awards including Agency of the Year and the David Ogilvy Creative Award at the Friday 1 November gala event held at Sydney’s Star City Casino, but McCann Melbourne won the Grand Prix thanks to its all conquering Dumb Ways to Die.

Rob Morrison, creative director at Ogilvy One Sydney, won the ADMA Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award, while Tourism Australia’s Nick Baker was named Marketer of the Year and Lavender Communications founder Will Lavender was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Leo Burnett Melbourne won the Lester Wunderman Effectiveness Award.

The Young Marketer of the Year award went to Leigh Allen, international marketing solutions manager with ESPN and Tony Simmons, art director at Brand Agency won young creative.

ADMA said this year’s judging panel looked for campaigns that were stand-out examples of exceptional creative and business effectiveness, with The Australian Defence Force proving a big winner for multiple campaigns in Creative and Effectiveness categories.

Ben Coulson, chief creative officer at George Patterson Y&R, said, “It’s wonderful to see our offices on top with strong work across our client base, in both Creative and Effectiveness. ADMA is a very important show because it is judged and noticed by clients from all parts of the marketing community, recognising creative and effectiveness together ‚Äë proving a great barometer of where the industry is heading.”

Jodie Sangster, ADMA CEO, said:“This year, we had a record number of campaigns enter the ADMA Awards and the quality of those entries has increased to a whole new level. It’s now harder than ever to win an ADMA Award and only campaigns that represented exceptional creativity and outstanding effectiveness made it through.

“The winning campaigns show that Australian marketers and advertisers have embraced the new world of marketing. Campaigns are increasingly data-driven, multi-channel and focused on customer engagement. However, they also deliver a creative quality that maintains the essential ‘magic’ that differentiates between good marketing and great marketing.”