About the Effie Effectiveness Index

Updated: September 2012*

The Effie Effectiveness Index identifies and ranks the marketing communications industry’s most effective agencies, advertisers and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from 39 worldwide Effie Award competitions.

Launched in June 2011, the Index has been compiled by Effie Worldwide in partnership with Warc, the global marketing intelligence service.

The Effie Effectiveness Index can be used to reveal the most effective agencies, advertisers and brands globally, regionally, in specific countries, or even in different product categories.

Eligibility Time Period

For the 2012 Effie Index, data from Effie Award programs announced between June 13, 2011 and June 12, 2012* qualify. A list of participating Effie programs is shown on the Awards page.

Please Note: *The Effie Romania program held two award programs between June 13, 2011 and June 12, 2012. For the 2012 rankings, we have included the results announced on June 13, 2011. Effie Romania awards announced on June 4, 2012 will be included in the tabulation of the 2013 rankings.

Finalists in the Rankings

Not all Effie programs publicly announce and award finalists. For programs with multiple rounds of judging, work that moved on to the final round of judging and was publicly announced earns points towards the Effectiveness Index. Some Effie programs in smaller markets consist of only one round of judging.

Primary vs. Contributing Agencies

The Effie Award competition rules allow for up to six different companies to be credited on an Effie entry. A maximum of two agencies can be credited as the lead or “Primary Agency”, the main driver(s) of the submitted work. Agencies not listed as the Primary Agency are recognized as “Contributing Agencies”. A maximum of four companies can be credited as a “Contributing Agency”.

Point Structure

Points for the 2012 Effectiveness Index are distributed as follows:

Primary agencies, advertisers and brands receive:

Contributing agencies receive:

When multiple agency offices are credited on a single winner/finalist record, agency networks and holding companies will receive only one set of points towards their respective ranking.

Companies Included in the Index

Finalist and winning companies featured in the Index also include production companies, post-production houses and media owners.

Agency Network and Holding Company Classifications

Agency network and holding company affiliations have been provided by the entrant, supplied by the official worldwide Effie partner or identified through research of key industry resources. Research occurred between April 1 and June 1, 2012.

Independent Agencies

Agencies that are not majority-owned by a holding company are categorized as “Independent” in the Index. Please note that the ownership of individual agencies may have changed since the data was compiled.

Advertiser Classifications

In some instances, credits for global advertisers included their local affiliation, like Coca-Cola Hellas in Greece. For consistency purposes, we have attributed the points to the global advertiser, in this case Coca-Cola.

Product Category Classification

Product category information has been sourced either from the official Effie Award partner program or identified through industry research. In some instances we have made necessary judgments about how certain types of campaigns should be categorized to ensure consistency across all 39 Effie programs.

Geographical Classifications

Throughout the Index, ’Country’ and ’Region’ refer to where a campaign ran, not the location of the agency or advertiser responsible for it.

Translations

As a global Index of marketing effectiveness, there were instances where data was provided in the program’s local language (other than English). We have attempted to translate as much information into English as possible. If you find inconsistencies, please let us know.

Top 100

Although nearly 2000 Effie Award finalists and winners from around the globe are included in the 2012 Index database, only the Top 100 rankings for agency offices, advertisers and brands will be publicly listed. For agency networks the Top 50 are listed and for agency holding groups the Top 5 are listed.

Year to Year Comparisons

Effie Index rankings are a result of Effie Award Winner/finalist point aggregation over a single year. Rankings are not cumulative year over year. A company’s change in ranking status is featured in each of the six individual rankings. Companies that do not feature a rankings change (represented with a -), were not included in the inaugural Index rankings.

Database Research

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the Effie Effectiveness Index, neither Effie Worldwide nor Warc can accept liability with respect to errors or omissions. If you notice inconsistencies or errors with the data, please let us know.

Note: Each worldwide Effie program – with the exception of Effie Switzerland, Effie Greece, Effie Slovenia, and Effie Turkey – hosts an annual competition. Effie Switzerland, Effie Greece, Effie Slovenia, and Effie Turkey host biennial competitions.

Tell us what you think

Our aim is to make the Index as insightful as possible, so we encourage your feedback.

Comments, suggestions and feedback can be sent to index@effie.org.  

*Rankings were adjusted to correct minor inconsistencies in data compilation from one program.

About Effie Worldwide

Effie Worldwide stands for effectiveness in marketing communications, spotlighting marketing ideas that work and encouraging thoughtful dialogue about the ever-changing marketing industry.  The Effie network works with some of the top research and media organizations worldwide to bring its audience relevant and first-class insights into effective marketing strategy. This has taken shape in webinars, white papers, global conferences, winner showcases and more. 

The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry, and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand’s success.  Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement. Today, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with the Global Effie, the Euro Effie, the Middle East / North Africa Effie and more than 40 national Effie programs. For more details, visit www.effie.org.  Follow @effieawards on Twitter for updates on Effie information, programs and news.

About Warc

Warc is the global provider of ideas and evidence to marketing people. Warc’s premium online service, warc.com, is the largest single source of intelligence for the marketing, advertising and media communities worldwide. Information on warc.com is drawn from more than 50 international sources, including Effie Worldwide. With subscribers in over 100 countries, it is a unique resource relied upon by major creative and media agency networks, market research companies, media owners, multinational advertisers and business schools, to help tackle any marketing challenge. For more information take a free trial.

In addition to the online service, Warc publishes magazines, provides industry data and runs events. Learn more.