BMW Wins Two Effies; Iffier Effies for Nissan, Cars.com

(MoneyWatch)  BMW won two out of three Effie Awards for advertising effectiveness in the automotive category earlier this month, proving yet again that there's no substitute for the basics, namely a strong, consistent brand image backed up by strong, consistent products, and strong, consistent marketing.

That sounds simple, but it never ceases to amaze me how car companies waste literally billions of dollars missing the mark ?€" especially the "consistent" part.

BMW's Mini won the gold Effie award in the automotive category for its "Zig. Zag. Zug" campaign for the Mini Clubman, a three-door hatchback that gives Mini customers in the United States what they've been demanding, which is more room, without taking away what they like about Mini, which is they're fun to drive, they have just the right amount of prestige, and they have an irreverent brand image that says, "I'm different."

Jim McDowell, the vice president responsible for Mini in the United States, said earlier that the Clubman campaign was an easy-to-understand reference to the fact that Mini "zigs" while others "zag." Mot to mention it's eyecatching and just fun to say. Mini's agency is Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.

Parent BMW is a paragon of consistency. The BMW brand has been "The Ultimate Driving Machine" for a couple of generations now, through thick and thin.

A campaign for the BMW 1 Series, called "Pure BMW," won the silver Effie in the automotive category. It's straight-up-the-fairway advertising to make sure people know that even though the 1 Series is a little smaller and not much cheaper than the 3 Series, it's still a pure BMW. That only works if people know what a "pure BMW" is. They do. BMW's agencies are GSD&M Idea City, Dotglu, Federated Media.

The bronze Effie in the automotive category went to Nissan and its "marble maze" ads for the Nissan Rogue. The Effie Awards people maintain that the Effie only goes to "advertising that works." I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the Nissan Rogue ads increased consideration, or however else the Effies determine what's effective.

My personal reaction was that the ads featured a cool special effect, but they didn't tell me anything unique about the Nissan brand or the Nissan Rogue. However, I'm enough of an advertising expert to know that the experts are often wrong. Nissan's agencies are TBWAChiatDay, Tequila, OMD.

A fourth automotive winner was Cars.com, with a gold Effie in the Internet Products and Services category, for its "No need for Plan B" ads. These are another example of ads I disliked personally, but Cars.com swears that they made hits go up and caused other good things to happen. The ads show that people don't need to resort to some outrageous "Plan B," like a witch doctor, to get what they want from a dealer.

This comes close to violating my short list of rules for advertising, one of which is, "Thou Shalt Not Make Fun of the Customer." But like I said, the experts are often wrong.