Citi and Bank of America Merrill Lynch Vie for Top Honors at 18th Annual FCS Portfolio Awards
But Prudential Steals Spotlight with 3 Best in Show Wins
- Financial Communications Society recognizes 32 companies for excellence in financial services advertising, collateral, digital media, ROI and public relations
- Best in Show Awards won by Prudential, Fidelity and Allstate
- State Street Global Advisors Shines with 5 Gold Trophies
Citi, including its Citibank and Citigroup brands, garnered a total of 14 awards, including an event-high 6 Gold trophies. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (including its Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and U.S. Trust brands) also scored 14 awards, with 7 Silver trophies and 7 Bronze trophies. State Street Global Advisors also made an impressive showing with a total of 11 awards including 5 Gold trophies.
But it was Prudential who shined brightest with 3 Best in Show Awards – a first time feat for any marketer in the 18 year history of the FCS Portfolio Awards. Capping off 4 Gold trophies, a Silver and a Bronze, Prudential won Best in Show in the Corporate Image category for its Day One TV Campaign (created with Droga5) and Best in Show in the Digital Media category for its Day One web site (created in-house). Pru’s “African American Financial Experience” multimedia campaign won Best in Show in the Multicultural category.
Best in Show for the Business to Business category was won by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Management for its “In Pursuit of Independence” direct mail campaign (created in-house). Best in Show in the Consumer Retail category was won by Allstate for its “Digital Locker” web site (created by IQ). Best in Show trophies are awarded based on the highest average scores of the FCS Portfolio Awards judging panel, which consisted of 21 senior executives from financial firms and communications agencies. (List of 2012 judges.)
- For a full list of award winners, email me at kevin@fcsinteractive.com.
The FCS Portfolio Awards Gala Committee was chaired by Dave Briggs, Newspaper National Network; Elizabeth Brooks, The Wall Street Journal, and John Derbick, MetLife. This year’s event was sponsored by more than a dozen major media firms, including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, and Investor’s Business Daily/investors.com.
Following a cocktail reception, sponsored by The Financial Times, and a buffet dinner sponsored by Forbes, FCS President Kevin Windorf welcomed the audience with a satirical music video called “I Want A Gold.” To view the video, click here.
The annual FCS Portfolio Awards gala serves as a significant fundraising event for the FCS, which supports three children’s charities. During the gala, the FCS presented a check for $150,000 to be shared equally by Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund, the Make A Wish Foundation of Vermont, and Downey Side Adoption Agency. The funds are raised primarily during the FCS’s annual charity ski weekend at the Stowe Mountain Resort. Representatives from the charities and the Resort were welcomed onstage for the check presentation by the co-chairs for the FCS Race for Kids: Tim Hart of FT and VP of the FCS Board; and Ahmed Yearwood of Y Interact and Digital Media Officer of the FCS Board. Since the FCS became the title sponsor of the Race for Kids, the FCS has donated more than $1.65MM to these three charities.
This year’s Awards competition included nearly 300 entries, with Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies awarded to ROI, Public Relations, Collateral, Web Sites, and Advertising in print, television, out-of-home, direct mail, interactive and multimedia categories. Winning entries were received from financial services providers, including investment firms, credit card companies, investment banks, brokerages and exchanges, insurance companies, mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, accounting firms, clearing corporations and commercial banks.
