CHICAGO: Valspar, the paint brand, took top honours at the 2016 REGGIE Awards for its "Color for the Colorblind" campaign developed with agency FCB Chicago.

The REGGIE Awards recognise "the best marketing campaigns activated by brands and agencies", with 70 prizes in 23 categories ultimately handed out on the final night of the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) Brand Activation Conference.

Alongside picking up Gold awards in the partnership and social media contests, Valspar claimed the Super REGGIE for the best campaign of 2015.

More specifically, "Color for the Colorblind" was lauded for its use of innovative eyewear – as manufactured by EnChroma, a firm based in Berkeley, California – to let colorblind people accurately see color for the first time.

A short online documentary highlighting the stories of four colorblind individuals was the campaign's centrepiece, with multiple channels being added into the mix.

Viewers with experience of this condition were also prompted to share their own stories online using the #ColorForAll hashtag, with Valspar then giving out EnChroma glasses to 150 people.

Between March and May 2015 alone, the main campaign video logged 4.8m views on YouTube, and the campaign generated 841m impressions on social media.

More than 200 judges – a panel comprising industry experts at director/VP level or above – were responsible for choosing the REGGIE winners, based on criteria including originality, execution, results and beneficial brand effects.

The disciplines under consideration spanned experiential, digital/social, sponsorship, cause marketing, retail and shopper-focused marketing.

Among the other Gold winners were WestJet, the air carrier, MasterCard, the payments group, Target, the retailer, and Western Union, the money transfer specialist.

"Since 1983, the REGGIE Awards have been the premier industry awards program recognising the best marketing campaigns activated by brands and agencies," Bob Liodice, the ANA's President/CEO, said.

"Our congratulations go out to all the winners, and our thanks to everyone who participated in the competition."

Data sourced from ANA; additional content by Warc staff