What Elements Make an Effective Advertising Campaign? A Review of Common Elements among Proven Effective Advertising Campaigns

What makes a marketing or advertising campaign effective? Many advertisers and marketers have asked this question at the start of creating a campaign. The goal is to create a campaign that generates a desired response effectively. To find and commend effective campaigns, the New York chapter of the American Marketing Association founded the Effie Awards in 1968 to determine the year’s most effective advertising work. These awards are not based on creativity, instead they measure the outcome of campaigns as effective or not and to what extent. Effie Worldwide Inc. then shares the gathered information with the advertising industry and public. This thesis determines what elements create an effective advertising campaign through a scholarly review of articles, journals, as well as Grand and Gold Effie Award winning campaigns from the past five years (2008-2012). According to the Effie Awards’ website, “With marketing budgets under pressure in many parts of the world, there is ever-increasing pressure on marketers and their agencies to demonstrate a return on their investment. A great creative idea is not enough – there must be proof that the idea worked” (Effieindex.com). Measuring effective elements from various Effie Award winning campaigns and finding the most prevalent elements is the primary goal of this thesis. Comparing past winning campaigns of Effie Awards, this thesis will determine if there are common elements found within the majority of the winning campaigns. Since any medium for marketing is eligible for an Effie Award submission print, TV, radio, online, public relations, paid, and unpaid media will be examined (and explained). The benefit of this thesis to the advertising and marketing community will be to provide elements proven to be effective to the industry for future use