BRUSSELS: A campaign by Aldi and McCann Manchester in the UK and Ireland, which placed a humanised carrot at the centre of a Christmas campaign to emphasise the magic of the holiday season, has won Grand Prix at the EACA Euro Effie Awards.

Using the insight around the Christmas paradox – the everyday made new – and taking inspiration from the millions of children who leave a carrot out for Father Christmas’s reindeers, Kevin the Carrot - Making Christmas Amazing aimed to match 2015’s sales performance and to improve shopper loyalty.

The results were impressive with Aldi, traditionally seen as a discount retailer selling budget imitations of mainstream brands, beating all of the other UK grocers by achieving a 15.1% year-on-year increase in sales compared to overall market growth of 2.9% in the same period. This translated to close to 1 million new shoppers in the UK and 37,000 in Ireland.

In addition to the Grand Prix, the campaign also picked up a Gold in the retail category. A total of 18 campaigns were honoured at an event in Brussels last night where eight Golds, six Silvers and five Bronzes were awarded across eighteen categories. A list of the winners is available on WARC where subscribers can also read the awarded papers in full.

Icelandair won three Gold awards – in Leisure & Entertainment, Brand Experience, and Small Budget categories, and a Silver in the ‘David vs. Goliath’ category – for Stopover Buddy, by The Brooklyn Brothers, which connected passengers stopping-over in Iceland with a local ‘buddy.’

Bolia.com also took two Golds with two separate campaigns that challenged the typical marketing of a furniture brand and used a small budget

The Swedish Number, by Sweden’s Tourist Association and INGO, also took multiple awards, with a Gold in Brand Experience and two Silvers in the Small Budget and Leisure & Entertainment categories. The campaign, which has featured in a multitude of this year’s major awards, used an app to put tourists in contact with Swedish people to promote travel to the country.

WildAid: #JointheHerd took a Gold and a Bronze with a campaign against the ivory trade. The final Gold was awarded to Amnesty International Poland.

Like the year before, the UK dominated the medal table, with thirteen awards in total; Iceland took four, Sweden three.

Sourced from Euro Effies; additional content by WARC staff