DMA Presents 2011 International ECHO Awards; Diamond ECHO Goes to BBDO New York for AT&T 'The Last Text' Integrated Campaign

October 5, 2011 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) last night presented its 2011 International ECHO Awards during a ceremony hosted by standup comic Greg Proops. DMA presented a total of 80 ECHO Awards to multichannel direct marketing campaigns from all over the globe.

This year’s awards were entered, categorized, judged, and presented in a dozen primary business categories. Seventeen (17) went to nonprofit campaigns.

Of the nearly 600 campaigns submitted for this year’s ECHO honors, 11 campaigns were honored with Gold, 29 with Silver, and 34 with Bronze. In addition, 6 campaigns, received special awards, which include the Diamond ECHO.

Reflecting the increasingly global nature of multichannel direct marketing, DMA’s 2011 ECHO Awards were presented to campaigns from numerous countries including: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, South Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Listed below are the recipients of the 2011 Special International ECHO Awards.

Diamond ECHO

Target Audience: Consumer

Category: Business and Consumer Services

Client: AT&T

Agency: BBDO New York

Campaign: AT&T The Last Text Integrated Campaign

The Diamond ECHO is the most prestigious award of the entire ECHO program. The Diamond is considered “best in show” and is presented to the top campaign overall.

ECHO Search Marketing Award

Target Audience: Consumer

Category: Automotive

Client: Volkswagen

Agency: MediaCom

Campaign: Super Bowl Search Campaign

The Search Marketing Award recognizes the most creative and strategic use of internet search technology (including search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising) to deliver outstanding results.

Hoke Award

Target Audience: Business-to-Business

Category: Information Technologies

Client: IBM

Agency: OgilvyOne London

Campaign: IBM Seer 2.0

Selected by Hoke Communications, this annual award reflects the campaign with the most courageous solution to a difficult sales marketing problem.

USPS Gold Mailbox Award

Target Audience: Business-to-Business

Category: Retail/Direct Sales

Client: Fiskars Germany GmbH

Agency: Heye & Partner GmbH

Campaign: Silhouette Mailing

The campaign that earns the USPS Gold Mailbox Award, which is sponsored by the United States Postal Service (USPS), employs mail in a groundbreaking way.

ECHO Governors Award for Strategic Innovation

Target Audience: Business-to-Business

Category: Information Technologies

Client: IBM

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

Campaign: IBM Watson

This award is given to a campaign that took strategic thinking to a whole new level.

ECHO Green Marketing Award

Target Audience: CONSUMER

Category: Publishing/Entertainment

Client: Consumer Reports

Agency: GG Creative, Inc.

Campaign: Do’s and Don’ts, Lessons, Shopping Secrets Galore!

The Green Marketing Award recognizes the most creative and strategic use of eco-responsible marketing tactics to deliver outstanding results, from a response or a return on investment perspective, while producing impacts that affect the environment in positive ways.

For more information please visit www.echoawards.org. For a complete list of 2011 DMA International ECHO Awards winners, please click here.

About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the world’s largest global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including half of the Fortune 100 companies.

In 2011, marketers — commercial and nonprofit —will spend $163 billion on direct marketing, which accounts for 52.1 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures will generate approximately $1.96 trillion in incremental sales. In 2011, direct marketing accounted for 8.7 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2011, there were 1.3 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 7.9 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.2 million US jobs.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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