Top marketers on the state of effective advertising in 2023

“Creativity is like the engine that powers business growth. Even though it can be a bit tricky, especially during uncertain economic times, it’s the right path to follow.”

Tourism Tasmania's Off Season campaign was among this year’s honours at the 2023 Australian Effie Awards

The 2023 Australian Effie Awards prove effective advertising campaigns continue to deliver significant return-on-investment from brands, despite a challenging economic climate. Three of this year’s judges from some of Australia’s biggest brands explain what the state of creativity looks like this year.

Brent Smart
Chief marketing officer, Telstra

One of the positives that I’m seeing is the marketing pendulum is firmly swinging back to brand. I think it swung too far into digital performance tactics. And now I think most marketing leaders are having really positive conversations about brand building.

Telstra’s chief marketing officer, Brent Smart. Photo: Jane Dempster/The Australian.

Yash Gandhi,
Head of marketing, Baiada

One of the most distinctive challenges faced by marketers this year was the delicate balance of achieving more with limited resources, all while safeguarding brand integrity and maintaining a strategic focus on the long-term objectives.

Yash Gandhi, head of marketing, Baiada Poultry

What struck me most about this year’s awards was the pervasive trend of effective marketing that truly generates business growth.

Many of the winning campaigns effectively leveraged this approach and had the following key ingredients – an insight-led strategy, clear objectives, brilliant creative and measurable impact on the business.

This year’s Effie Awards showcased how, in a world saturated with content, the work that stood out were those that displayed a profound understanding of their customers’ values and needs, and delivered campaigns that were not just memorable but genuinely impactful.

Creativity is like the engine that powers business growth. Even though it can be a bit tricky, especially during uncertain economic times, it’s the right path to follow. The proof is in the pudding: companies that focus on building their brands for the long haul tend to come out on top, leaving their competition in the dust.

Nicole McMillan is general manager, marketing at Carlton & United Breweriews. Photo: Aaron Francis / The Australian

Nicole McMillan
General manager marketing, Carlton & United Breweries

As well as obviously having to be effective, I sensed a real “human truth” element in the work that was awarded the top metal. I love seeing campaigns that remember first and foremost they are talking to humans and not rational robots.

We saw some great creativity but there is always room for more, and there should always be a seat at the table for creativity in solving business problems. Creativity does get harder when there is short-term pressure on businesses so I really hope the marketers hold their nerve and continue to produce work that has empathy and not just value deals. I think it will be interesting to see in 12 months how creativity has held up in this environment.

How businesses respond to budget pressure and uncertainty in the economy will depend on two factors, in my view – the first being the culture of the organisation and how prepared are they to protect investment in their brands and, secondly, it does matter what category you are operating in; some are more robust in times of uncertainty.