LONDON: A BT integrated modem and wireless router that can fit through any letter box has won the Grand Prix at the 2015 DBA Design Effectiveness Awards.

Held by the Design Business Association each year, the Design Effectiveness Awards seek to recognise brands combining innovative design thinking with a meaningful return on investment. Warc subscribers can view the winning papers here.

The BT Home Hub 5 was developed by Alloy for the UK internet service provider in order to deliver a better customer experience and reduce business costs. Earlier versions had been designed to eliminate the need for engineer installation, with the product simply being posted to customers.

But as they weren't always available to take delivery – leading to a poor customer experience and additional costs – BT decided to redesign the product so that it would fit through any letterbox inside its packaging.

"The combined savings of an integrated device, reductions in packaging and engineer visits total substantial savings per new customer for BT," the winning paper said.

And with the ISP projecting around 500,000 new customers in the year ahead that translates into millions of pounds.

The new Hub's 30% lower energy consumption and the elimination of the need for installation leaflets and instructions also produced a saving of more than 13,000 tonnes in CO² emissions, which helped it take the DBA's Sustainability Award as well.

A total of 63 awards were handed out at last night's ceremony, including 16 Golds, 24 Silvers and 23 Bronzes.

The International Expert Award went to Intel, the microprocessor manufacturer, for an experiential design strategy that enabled it to stand out at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Created by L2K "to deliver a compelling and intuitive 'connected experience' on the show floor", Intel reported "remarkable results across all performance metrics".

Not least among these was that an astonishing 80% of all those attending the event had visited the stand, while a Net Promoter Score of +77% far exceeded the show's average of +29%.

Other Gold winners included Virgin Atlantic, Johnnie Walker, Fortnum & Mason, Procter & Gamble's Fairy and AkzoNobel's Cuprinol.

Data sourced from DBA; additional content by Warc staff