Green Effie finalists announced

Inaugural winners of the Green Effie Award, which honors effective eco-marketing, were announced last week.

Winning campaigns for GE, HSBC and Wal-Mart, were deliberated by a panel of judges with a strong knowledge of marketing and Green issues. The Effie Awards, now in their 40th year, are known for recognising the most significant achievement in marketing communications: effectiveness. Green Effie winning marketing communications campaigns must demonstrate that they have moved the eco­marketing needle forward.

“Green has the most to gain when extremely large companies take the opportunity to create change,” said Eric Ryan, Chair of the Green Effie Award Jury and Co-Founder of Method.

“We as agencies know how hard it is to get big companies to turn around,” added Charles Rosen, Green Effie Award Jury Member and Founding Partner of Amalgamated. “It’s hugely admirable to see GE, Wal-Mart and HSBC put a stake in the ground when it comes to sustainability.”

GE’s “Ecomagination Round Two”, created by BBDO New York, set out to beat the launch of its iconic campaign and maintain GE’s edge in a landscape where credibility and believability are paramount to success.

Wal-Mart’s “PSP 2007- Personal Sustainability Project” (in partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi S) rallied each Wal-Mart employee to make a small change, called a personal sustainability practice (PSP), in order to play an active role in sustaining the Earth’s resources now and for generations to come.

Created by JWT, HSBC’s “There’s No Small Change” campaign met its objectives, which included generating new accounts, protecting HSBC’s environmental credentials and meeting its financial obligations to shareholders.

“In true Effie fashion, each Green Effie winning campaign created tangible results, from Wal-Mart employees developing positive sustainability habits to HSBC customers making real change to GE creating and selling greener products,” said Ryan.

Green Effie winners will learn if they won a Gold, Silver or Bronze Effie at the 40th Annual Effie Gala on June 4 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. The Green Effie Award is sponsored by Discovery Communications’ network, Planet Green.

Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing is the official representative of Effies in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Effies is conducted by a committee headed by Wasantha Mallikarachchi Past President of SLIM, and includes representatives from the 4As and SLIM having a mix of marketers and advertising agencies.