The 42nd annual North American Effie Awards were handed out this week by the New York Chapter of the American Marketing Association in recognition of the most effective advertising efforts in the US last year. While the awards weren’t handed out by channel, the role played by print in several of the winning campaigns invites a closer look. • CBS and Pepsi won a silver Effie in the Media Innovation category for the first-ever video-in-print ad which ran last fall to promote Pepsi Max soda and the network’s TV lineup. The ad, which had a video chip embedded in it, appeared in a magazine insert in geographically targeted issues of Entertainment Weekly magazine. OMD was the agency involved in the effort and Americhip created the video chip. It’s great to see electronic media and print combined in this way. Esquire magazine did something similar with a cover printed by Structural Graphics that used electronic paper and blinking type to inform readers: “The 21st Century Begins Now.” Bringing these two media together makes the printed page come alive and jump out at readers, something that print needs to do if it’s going to compete with iPods and smart phones for consumer attention. Obviously, the costs for something like this is going to prevent any kind of widespread use but, I could see it working in targeted business-to-business campaign. • SuperMedia won a bronze Effie in the Media Companies category for a national TV campaign. SuperMedia offers local businesses a variety of direct marketing advertising vehicles, including yellow pages, direct mail and digital advertising. The campaign, developed by TM Advertising, showcases its SuperGuarantee, which promises consumers that if they are not satisfied with the service provided by a business featuring the SuperGuarantee shield and found through one of its direct marketing vehicles, SuperMedia will work to resolve any issues or reimburse the consumer up to $500. While there has been increasing competition in yellow pages and shared mail this campaign also addresses the lack of confidence that consumers have in these direct marketing vehicles. Overcoming this trust issue is what’s going on with a lot of what we see happening in direct mail these days, from the growing use of personalized closed-faced envelopes to PURL’s. I like the fact that SuperMedia is addressing the issue so directly. And it seems to be working. The company reports it is seeing an upward trend in the possession and usage of its SuperYellowPages directories for the first time in years. • The winner of the Grand Effie award this week was Leo Burnett’s “I’m In” campaign for the Detroit Public Schools. The integrated multimedia campaign was designed to reverse negative perceptions about the schools, declining enrollment and school closings and used such innovative means as an art installation of light-blue painted doors situated around town. There were also live events and a signature song. I’m seeing this a lot lately, where advertisers are getting very creative at finding ways to break through the media clutter, often using out-of-home placements. However, some combination of traditional media is almost always included in the mix, just as it was for the Detroit Public Schools effort, which has TV and radio commercials as well as direct mail. The blue doors, events and song are a great way to get people to take notice. When it comes to telling a story and building a relationship, however, print remains an essential part of today’s most successful integrated multimedia campaigns.