The Hallway, MC&C Saatchi/Bang PR and McCann Melbourne were the stars at the ADMA Australian Creativity and Effectiveness (AC&E) Awards held last night at the Star, Sydney.

Sydney-based Hallway received the Grand Prix, the Innovation Award and the Out-of-Home awards for their work on Ask the Google App for Google.

M&C Saatchi and Bang PR produced the successful Game of Balls for Blue Ball Foundation. Their risqué men’s health campaign, Play with Yourself,  to encourage men to check for testicular cancer took out five awards — the David Ogilvy Courageous Client Award, Branded Content, Digital & Social Advertising, Media and Not-for-Profit Campaign – the most awards handed out during the evening to one agency.

McCann Melbourne’s humorous Infrequent Flyers Club for Tigerair came next with four awards: Customer Experience, Copywriting, Customer Retention\Loyalty Campaign and Integrated Campaign.

McCann Melbourne’s, Executive Creative Director Pat Baron also took Creative of the Year – a new award for 2015.

Unlike 2013 when the Dumb Ways to Die campaign swept the board and in 2014 when Melbourne agencies dominated the gala event, this was an evening when awards were more evenly spread across Sydney and Melbourne agencies.

In all, the gala evening delivered 34 winning trophies and 35 highly commended trophies during the evening.

The AC&E Awards were established in 2014 to replace the 36-year-old ADMA Awards.

“The AC&E Awards matter to clients and agencies because they’re the only awards in Australia that recognise exceptional creativity and solid business results in equal proportion, not as separate specialisations. Together they have the power to transform a business as the winners tonight have demonstrated. I congratulate all the winners, those who received highly commended trophies, and finalists,” said Jodie Sangster, ADMA CEO.

The judges did not award trophies  in three categories: the Ambient/ Experiential, Email Marketing, and Print: Adverts, Posters, Inserts, Sales Materials & Collateral, as judges felt strongly the entries had not attained the appropriate balance between creativity and effectiveness.

“This is controversial, I know, and some people will not be happy about it. But we will not give a category award if we think there aren’t any worthy campaigns that meet the creativity and effectiveness brief, “said Sangster.

The full list of 2015 AC&E Award winners by category comprises:

 Apps

Sydney Royal Easter Show 2015 for Royal Agricultural Society of NSW by Mobbidiction

Art Direction

Mini the Muttaburrasaurus for Medibank by Whybin\TBWA Group Melbourne

Best Use of Search

That’s the beauty of automated search price lines for Priceline by Resolution @PHD

Branded Content

Game of Balls for Blue Ball Foundation by M&C Saatchi & Bang PR

Broadcast: TV, Cinema, Radio

Break the Barrier for St John Ambulance WA by The Brand Agency Perth

Copywriting

Infrequent Flyers Club for Tigerair by McCann Melbourne

Customer Acquisition Campaign

No Wallet? No Worries for Commonwealth Bank by M&C Saatchi

Customer Retention\Loyalty Campaign

Infrequent Flyers Club for Tigerair by McCann Melbourne

Data Strategy

Telstra Smarter Building Better Businesses for Telstra by CHE Proximity

Data Visualisation

The Sound of Azure for Microsoft Australia by Wunderman Australia

Data-Driven Mail

Google Fast Growth for Google for Work by Apparent

Digital & Social Advertising

Game of Balls for Blue Ball Foundation by M&C Saatchi & Bang PR

E-commerce Website & Marketing

How Krispy Kreme’s new website drove 19 per cent sales increase and kept visitors coming back for more for Krispy Kreme by Whybin\TBWA Group Sydney

Integrated Campaign

Infrequent Flyers Club for Tigerair by McCann Melbourne

 Integrated Campaign – small budget

The Ninth Watch for The University of Queensland by Clemenger BBDO Sydney

Media Campaign

Game of Balls for Blue Ball Foundation by M&C Saatchi & Bang PR 

Mobile Marketing

Whiskas Catstacam for Mars Petcare Australia by Clemenger BBDO Sydne

Most Effective Use of Content

#MyFamilyCan for SPC Ardmona by Leo Burnett Melbourne

Not-For-Profit Campaign

Game of Balls for Blue Ball Foundation by M&C Saatchi & Bang PR

Out-Of-Home

Ask the Google app for Google Australia by The Hallway

PR Campaign

Reverse Reviews for Art Series Hotel Group by Cummins & Partners

Social Commerce

Honda Odyssey-Be Our Best Critic for Honda by Leo Burnett Melbourne

Social Media Campaign

Only GayTM in the Village for ANZ by Whybin\TBWA Group Melbourne

Use of New Technologies

Tourism New Zealand-#NZDronie for Tourism New Zealand by Whybin\TBWA Group Sydney

UX, Interface & Navigation Design

Website redesign for Blackmores by Holler

Pinnacle Awards…

Grand Prix Award

Ask the Google app for Google Australia by The Hallway

Overall Customer Experience Award

Infrequent Flyers Club for Tigerair by McCann Melbourne

Courageous Client Award

Game of Balls for Blue Ball Foundation by M&C Saatchi & Bang PR

The Innovation Award

Ask the Google app for Google Australia by The Hallway

Excellence Awards…

ADMA Marketer of the Year

Sam Viney, Marketing Director, ALDI

 ADMA Creative of the Year

Pat Baron, Executive Creative Director at McCann Melbourne 

The Jon Clark Award for Outstanding Contribution

Doug Campbell, Director of Decision Science and Analytics, Deloitte (and former Chair of IAPA 2008-2015)

ADMA Young Marketer of the Year

Tim Kenward, Senior Brand Manager, McDonalds

ADMA Young Creative of the Year

Alex Little, Copywriter and Karsten Jurkschat, Art Director, Ogilvy Melbourne

ADMA Hall of Fame

Tony Davis, Quantium