Grey Colombo’s historic win at 2009 Global Effie

Grey Colombo’s campaign ‘Garments without Guilt’ became Asia’s first ever entry to win a Global Effie.

This win automatically makes Grey Colombo, the first Asian agency to win a Global Effie since the inception of the awards in 2003, making it a truly historic achievement not only for Sri Lanka, but also for Asia.

Global Effie known for its stringent judging annually selects only three winners, followed by finalists and a shortlist.

There are no categories or segments. This year, globally, only two brands will be awarded the winner’s trophy as none other matched the standards, one of which is ‘Garments Without Guilt.’ The campaign successfully positioned Sri Lanka Apparel, the world’s first apparel industry brand on a ethical platform.

This was before the world warmed up to green and ethical issues. This initiative effectively created a differentiator for the brand Sri Lanka apparel, in an industry marred by ethical issues.

Vice President and Country Head, Grey Global, Colombo Ajai V. Singh said, “We are extremely delighted at being the first Asian entry ever to win a Global Effie for our campaign ‘Garments without Guilt.’

Winning this award is truly historic to us as our campaign was not based on big dollar budgets, but extremely clear strategic thinking and new age marketing tools, which combined with equally immaculate execution and monitoring.

We have applied our hearts and minds with both insight and creativity across the board to make this a unique campaign and are glad to have been recognized for that.”

Director, Strategic Planning and Brand Services, Grey Global, Colombo Sailesh Waidhwa said, “This makes the ‘Garments without Guilt’ campaign the most awarded Sri Lankan campaign internationally, having won the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Award in Macau and the WPPED Cream Awards in New York. Historically these award ceremonies have been dominated by top global brands such as Apple, Adidas, Dove, Vaseline, Mc Donalds, Kelloggs, Citi and Mastercard.

Rubbing shoulders with them in the same league is an honour.

The Global Effie is considered the Oscars of advertising and marketing effectiveness as it combines creativity and business effectiveness to make ideas that work.

The high profile event will be held on June 3, in New York with the attendance of top marketing, advertising and media professionals in the world.