IPA Awards: Mediaedge:cia wins top prize for Morrisons campaign

Mediaedge:cia scooped the top prizes at this year’s IPA Effectivess Awards for its “Let’s Grow” Morrisons campaign.

The agency was awarded the Grand Prix, a Gold Awards, a special prize of ‘Best Integration’ and Effectiveness Company of the Year for its Morrisons campaign at last night’s award ceremony, which was held at The Hurlingham Club in London.

The IPA, which has opened up the awards to campaigns with an annual marketing budget of up to £2.5 million for the first time, said the supermarket campaign “has transformed children’s understanding of fresh produce, has integrated growing into the national curriculum, and has boosted Morrison’s profits”.

The Let’s Grow campaign, which is fronted by celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin, created a engagement programme via a voucher redemption scheme that provided schools with gardening equipment and seeds.

It was followed up by a national television, print and direct marketing campaign, as well as a dedicated Let’s Grow website, in-store posters and leaflets and additional media in and around schools.

Andy Nairn, a judge and executive planning director at Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy, said: “These awards have traditionally been dominated by creative agencies, so it is particularly pleasing that a media agency has won the Grand Prix for the first time in its own right.”

Other winners include McCann Erickson Communications House in Manchester, which was awarded the special prize of ‘Best Media’ and a Bronze Award, for its “Don’t be a cancer chancer” social marketing campaign.

Total Media took home a Bronze Award for their joint campaign with Maximuscle.  Red Bee Media and UKTV were also awarded a bronze for their campaign to rebrand UKTV Documentary and UKTV People into two new brands Eden and Blighty, which has generated a projected payback over the next four years of £9.1 million.

In total 3 Gold Awards, 3 Silver Awards, 10 Bronze Awards, and 7 special prizes were presented.