The FMBE awards – my personal top100 (40 -36)

40 iD Experiential, Lipton’s Iced Tea (2010, Sampling)

Beating the dual challenge from M&S and Morrisons to win gold in sampling was a major coup. Sampling is a heck of a category these days bursting with creative and logistical solutions.

Brtivic called this their best ever sampling activity and it was certainly hard to imagine one that has been better targeted or evaluated in terms of both sales and brand perception.

The ROI was so compelling that the brand eschewed all other alternative marketijg channels in Summer 2010.

iD Experiential in the agency directory

39 Chemistry, Plenty (2009 Roadshow)

Pure effectiveness. When SCA Hygiene took over the Bounty brand from P&G the agreement insisted on a rebrand in 3 years. This rebrand was powered forwards ouside stores where a simple game had shoppers wiping away the Bounty logos using Plenty on a big screen game.

In a massive category it looked as if this campaign might get wiped aside by competition that looked more compelling. But this category celebrates effectiveness and we’ve rarely seen anything work so well as this. Chemistry had been engaged as something of a loss limitation exercise, but instead this lively campaign helped market share to increase during the rebrand, a fact that raised eyebrows all around a judging table that had several FMCG manuafacturers present.

38 RPM, Smirnoff (2006, brand theatre)

The agency and brand have featured many times in the award’s shake up. Back in 2006 we didn’t know that this relationship would build and grow in strategic reach and  ambition each year to the heights of the recent  Nightlife Exchange Project.

Had we done so, the Smirnoff Ice campaign from FMBE 2006 might have won, as it was possibly this activity that excited Smirnoff sufficiently to invest a major part of its marketing budget into brand experience.

The snowball fights that RPM held on the banks of the Thames in a lit arena drew crowds and created a flurry of excitement for the brand. The campaign still resonates today and was recently mentioned by RPM’s MD, Dom Robertson as a personal favourite.

37 Gigunda, Charmin (2007, International)

Pop up anything was still in its conceptual infancy when Gigunda popped up in NY Times Square with its Charmin Rest Rooms. They were, literally, all singing all dancing, as videos proved. People were bursting to have their turn – especially during the holiday shopping peak that these Restrooms coincided with. And that is often Gigunda’s unique skill, presenting a much needed service and then elevating the experience. It was beautifully executed and very very popular. Fortunately the hard working toilets were staffed by an equally hard working hygiene team.

36 Cosine, Sainsbury’s (2007, new agency)

Cosine’s relationship with Sainsbury’s developed from launch until the partnership finally won gold in tactical marketing in 2010 for an incredible sampling campaign. Before then, Cosine had been very narrowly edged out in a new/developing agency of the year contest that was, and remains, the pinnacle of this category that marks the emergence of new agencies and new divisions.

I think Cosine’s emergence in 3 years to near the top of the turnover league table was a staggering achievement based on innovative management. Sampling, and later a special relationship in merchandising and compliance, in Sainsbury’s has put Cosine in the FMCG vanguard  as a link through from the supply chain to shopper taste, attitude and behaviour.