The PRS Effectiveness Award Winner 2010

The 2010 Award was won by Nicky Holmes of Zebra Square for her paper "Can you see it yet? Painting the bigger picture!" carried out for Wickes.

The Prosper Riley-Smith Award enjoyed its hottest contest ever this year. With a 100% increase in entry and submissions from over 20 agencies, making it to the finalists list was a victory in itself, let alone winning. The award seems to have really come of age, perhaps so much so that it’s time to think about introducing another?

Working through the entries is a very illuminating and privileged task. It’s a bit like looking into a kaleidoscope at the best case studies of the year, lots of different colours whirling around from all the client issues, consumer types, creative methodologies, analysis and reporting techniques. There’s heaps of inspiration and aspiration everywhere you look and focusing on the unique pattern of each entry allows you to determine its level of effectiveness.

Our judges certainly had their work cut out trying to choose the finalists. Yet in the midst of all this colour was one entry that was definitely very black and white. It managed consistently to win the hearts and minds of every judge in the room, joining up ALL the dots, to create a mouthwateringly good example of qualitative excellence. Where did it hail from? Well, it could only be the entry from Zebra Square!

The winning entry

Our congratulations go out to Nicky Holmes, our 2010 winner. Nicky’s paper "Can you see it yet? Painting the Bigger Picture!" (for Wickes) tells the story of a seemingly simple brief for a paint category review that unearthed a more significant issue than expected. She had to tackle the client team’s strong belief in their product before guiding them through an extensive programme of research to completely redevelop the offer.

It was no easy task, and the judges felt Nicky demonstrated effectiveness in every way, from her befitting and inventive methods, to her justified challenge of the client team, her ability to engage all stakeholders in the process and findings and, the cherry on the cake, the fact that the research even managed to markedly increase sales and market share in result.

In the judges’ own words: "Zebra Square were unwittingly faced with a difficult challenge here, and they made it good. They used inventive methods, got absolute client buy in and delivered a commercial result that gave Wickes the know how to successfully tackle the market leader head on."

For a full article on the project, see:
Experiencing a new reality

Runners Up

Our congratulations also go out to our other Finalists:

Jochum Stienstra, from Ferro Explore!
Connected Insights for Philips Lighting

Amanda Anderton, from 2CV, and Alison Hardy, from DH (Department of Health)
Killing with Kindness: The Qualitative Research that Informed the Government’s Childhood Obesity Strategy

The Judges

And our thanks again to 2010 judges:

Danny Russell (BSkyB)
David Howells (News International)
Rosemary Slee (Aura)
Richard Drury (Boots Opticians)
John Clark (M&C Saatchi)
Rosie Campbell (AQR)
Andrea Higgins (AQR)

We couldn’t have done it without you.

Elle Atton
Razor Research