Publicis Groupe's Marcel Worldwide received the Grandy, the top prize at the International Andy Awards, tonight for "Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables" -- the campaign it created for French supermarket chain Intermarché.
When the European Union declared 2014 the Year Against Food Waste, Marcel Paris and Intermarche moved to help reduce the 300 million tons wasted worldwide every year, included misshapen fruits and veggies that rarely make it into shopping carts.
An in-store campaign turned unwanted foods were turned into real products like Inglorious Vegetable Soups and Inglorious Fruit Juices with custom labels and their own aisle. TV spots with reassuring voice-overs reminded self-conscious produce that imperfections are nothing to be ashamed of.
The Marcel effort also nabbed the "Bravery Award," introduced last year in honor of the Andy's 50th anniversary.
"The bravest work stands the test of time, breaks through, provokes change, creates an impact and reminds us of our humanity, and Intermarché really achieved that," said 2015 Andy Awards Chair Colleen DeCourcy in a statement. "With just one campaign, they successfully changed the perceptions of a large and diverse audience. Bravery and creativity are the linchpins of advertising, and we need marketers like Intermarché to keep pushing us in the right direction for a braver future industry."
The annual awards were, as always, presented by The Ad Club of New York.
Leo Burnett London walked away with the Richard T. O'Reilly Award for Outstanding Public Service Campaign for its "Suffocation" effort against honor killings. The prize includes a $10,000 cash prize that is donated to the charity -- in this case, Karma Nirvana.
The Glenn C. Smith Award and Scholarship went to the Best in Show student winner, Sungrok Choi from Sookmyung Womens University for the "Scent Paint Project" -- a painting method that allows the visually impaired to experience and tell colors apart through their sense of smell.
