BRUSSELS: Ford, Hornbach and Hugo Boss were the big winners at the 2010 EACA Euro Effies, held last night.

The annual awards scheme seeks to "promote and recognise excellence in commercial communications among campaigns that have run and can prove effectiveness in at least two European countries."

All of the winning papers are available to Warc subscribers here, while the shortlisted case studies can be viewed here.

Some 29 finalists were shortlisted in 2010, representing 21 different agency groups from markets including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and the UK.

Ford took Gold in the automotive category for the "This is now" campaign on behalf of its Mark VI Fiesta, produced by Blue Hive, a dedicated network of WPP shops Ogilvy, Mindshare and Wunderman.

Covering the five largest Western European nations, this effort positioned the Fiesta as a fashion brand, sponsoring movie The Devil Wears Prada and delivering targeted activity in Vogue magazine.

This platform beat share objectives by 1.8%, and ultimately provided a return on investment of €3.41 for every €1 spent.

Elsewhere, Boss Orange, a perfume from Procter & Gamble's Hugo Boss, picked up Gold in the product/service launch category.

A programme devised by Grey, Ketchum and MediaCom - and running in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK - targeted women in their 20s who were expressive and prioritised being "happy in your own skin".

Featuring actress Sienna Miller, a celebrity thought to personify these attributes in an accessible way, the campaign aimed to achieve editorial coverage in fashion titles and encouraged shoppers to order samples online.

The fragrance became P&G's best UK rollout for five years, and set a precedent in terms of performance in Germany.

Hornbach, the DIY chain, carried off Gold in the retail sector, for its response to declining consumer confidence and spending in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland in the wake of the global economic crisis.

HEIMAT Berlin - which was also named Agency of Year at the Euro Effies - pushed a more emotionally-driven approach than typically adopted in the home improvement segment.

The big idea was "taking action" to help customers overcome feelings of powerlessness resulting from the downturn, and combined TV and internet advertising.

Hornbach held a pan-European competition asking for the "craziest DIY projects", receiving more than 1,000 entries.

Alongside generating organic sales growth of 5%, the advertiser reached around 4m new consumers thanks to this campaign.

Elsewhere at the Euro Effies, adidas, EA Sports, McDonald's, Philips, T-Mobile and Pernod Ricard's Ararat claimed Silver awards, while Sony Ericsson, Novartis' Otrivin Complete, Perrier and Nespresso took Bronzes.

Data sourced from EACA