Effie Awards 2025—Leo Burnett’s blood work takes the Grand Effie, CeraVe and Change the Ref named most effective brands

“Blood Appétit,” which transformed a museum exhibit into macabre meals, took home the Grand Effie Award at the 2025 Effie Awards Gala in New York Thursday night.

Leo Burnett Chicago, with contributing agencies Publicis North America, Aisle Rocket and PXP Studios, created “Blood Appétit” on behalf of the Field Museum in Chicago and its “Bloodsuckers: Legends to Leeches” exhibit, which explored how blood is a life-sustaining source of nutrients for animals such as vampire bats and leeches.

In an imaginative interpretation for humans, Burnett teamed up with chefs from some of Chicago’s most famous restaurants to craft dishes that each featured a special ingredient—blood—turning diners into blooducksers. Participants earned discounted museum tickets, resulting in a 42% increase in attendance, more than double the original goal.

“The work was so innovative, surprisingly creative, and just had this magical spark to it that really made it stand out,” said Soyoung Kang, chief marketing officer of eos Products, who served on this year’s Grand Jury. “I think the message this win sends to the industry is that sometimes the magic is in the unexpected.”

The daring dishes featured in the ad included Morcilla Tacos from Taqueria Chingon; Blood Devil’s Food Cake from Mott St.; and Bloody Wiener and Bloody Malort shot from The Wieners Circle. Judges said the nonprofit museum stood out from larger contenders for its cultural relevance and imaginative execution.

“It was a tough call because there were a lot of big brand contenders, but this year’s Grand winner just had everything—from a really ingenious way to turn their problem into an insight, into a creative execution … it just turned nothing into so much magic,” according to Mo Said, founder and CEO of Mojo Supermarket, another of this year’s Grand judges.

The Grand Effie is selected from the year’s top-scoring Gold Effie winners. The contenders alongside the Field Museum were:

• Advil, VML and Grey for “The Advil Pain Equity Project | Believe My Pain,” with Edelman, Publicis, Sibling Rivalry and Duotone.
• Change the Ref and MullenLowe U.S. for “The Shotline,” with Mediahub, Edisen Tech and March For Our Lives.
• Dove and Ogilvy UK for “Let’s Change Beauty,” with Edelman New York and Mindshare.
• L’Oréal and Ogilvy USA for “Michael CeraVe,” with PrettyBird, Mackcut, and Blacksmith (also named Campaign of the Year in Ad Age’s 2025 Creativity Awards).
• Miller Lite and DDB Chicago for “Running of the Beer Ads,” with Phaedon, Connect@Publicis Media, Merkle and Wasserman.
• Sandy Hook Promise and BBDO New York for “Just Joking,” with Smuggler.
• Spotify and FCB New York for “Spotify Spreadbeats,” with Uncharted Limbo Collective, Colossa, Bogota and We Are Volume (also a Creativity Awards winner).
• Verizon, Ogilvy USA and MJZ for “Verizon-Can’t B Broken,” with Parkwood Entertainment, Cabin Editing Company, Art & Science Partners and R/GA.
• Volkswagen and Johannes Leonardo for “An American Love Story,” with PHD and The Community.

L’Oréal was named the most effective marketer, taking home two Gold Effies and earning a Grand Effie contender spot for its buzzy Michael CeraVe campaign. CeraVe was named the most effective brand, sharing the honor with the Change the Ref non-profit.

Change the Ref took home two Golds and two Silvers, as well as a place among this year’s top Grand contenders. Another anti-violence non-profit, Sandy Hook Promise, earned two Golds, a Silver and a Grand contender spot for its powerful public service work.

The Effies also honors the industry’s most effective agencies and holding companies of the year. This year’s winners for Most Effective Agency Offices were, in order: Ogilvy, Mischief@NoFixedAddress and BBDO.

Mischief also came in first in the Most Effective Independent Agencies ranking, followed by Tombras and MJZ.

Ogilvy also led the Most Effective Agency Networks ranking, followed by BBDO Worldwide and McCann Worldgroup. Interpublic was named the Most Effective Holding Company, trailed in order by WPP and Omnicom.

This article was originally posted on Ad Age: https://adage.com/creativity/aa-effie-awards-2025/