June's always a major month for ad awards ceremonies and 2010 is no different, with the Global and North American Effies and the Cannes Lions all set to be handed out over the weeks to come. What's more, there's just one day left to get entries in for our own Warc Prize for Ideas and Evidence.
But the last few weeks have also been busy, with major ad events being held in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. One of the most important of these was the HK4As EFFIE Awards, whose jury voted to hand out three golds this year.
The first went to Grey/Maxus, which took the top prize for a quirky integrated campaign for PrimeCredit, a Hong Kong financial services company.
Consumer fears about getting a loan in the wake of the global credit crisis were confronted head-on with a buzz-building online video ad combining the Buddhist fable of the Monkey King, a martial arts movie aesthetic and a little bit of celebrity stardust - from local c-pop duo FAMA.
The other two gold awards of the evening went to DDB and OMD for 'Moments delivered', an integrated campaign promoting McDonald's Hong Kong's 24-hour delivery service, and to OMD and Leo Burnett for 'Who's the victim now?!', a campaign for Pfizer. A full list of HK4As EFFIE winners is here.
Staying in Asia, organisers of the Lotus Awards - which were originally to have taken place last month during the three-day Adfest festival - are working to find a new venue for judges to meet in the wake of ongoing political unrest in Thailand.
The (now-postponed) festival was to have been held in Pattaya, while the awards jury was to have met in Tokyo, Japan. But the disruptions led to several embassies in Bangkok closing their doors, making it hard for some judges to get their passports and visas.
A Tokyo meeting is still planned, although exact dates have yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, organisers of the Cannes Lions have announced the recipient of one of Europe's most-coveted ad prizes ahead of time: Unilever is to be named advertiser of the year at the awards ceremony on June 26th.
The consumer goods firm has a long track record of success at the event, having first won a Cannes Lions award in 1961, and picking up around 200 of the gongs in the years since. Notable Unilever wins of recent years include the 2007 Integrated Grand Prix for this campaign for Axe, a deodorant brand.
Turning to Latin America, the Peruvian Effies have now been announced, with Nestlé Peru this year's only multiple-gold winner.
Nestlé won its two top prizes in the advertiser of the year category and for corporate image, the latter due to 'Sentirse Bien' ('Feeling Good'), the firm's largest Peruvian marketing project to date.
The campaign's healthy eating message was promoted across a range of media, and included this series of glossy, upbeat TV ads.
For a full list of awards dates - including upcoming deadlines - check our Warc Awards Calendar.
