London - It's been a successful couple of weeks on the awards trail for Saatchi & Saatchi's European Network. Two of the region's major creative events, Epica and Eurobest, were held recently, and Saatchi & Saatchi offices from across Europe picked up 26 awards between them.
First up was Epica, one of the largest European advertising awards competitions which this year saw 4,945 entries from 51 countries. Of those entries, only 406 were judged worthy of an award - and Saatchi & Saatchi was well represented in that list, winning 2 Gold, 6 Silver and 5 Bronze awards.
Leading the way with Golds in the Print category were Saatchi & Saatchi Russia (for Procter & Gamble's Olay) and Simko Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland who teamed up with Saatchi & Saatchi Italy on the winning campaign for Novartis Otrivin. This pairing also took a Print Silver for their Novartis Voltaren campaign.
There were Silvers too for the Saatchi & Saatchi offices in Denmark (for Danish Parkinson' Disease Association), Germany (Amnesty International), Slovakia (Kooperativa Insurance), and Saatchi & Saatchi UK, whose campaigns for two Procter & Gamble brands - Ariel and Olay - were both winners.
To add to the impressive tally, Austria (T-Mobile), Denmark (Quiksilver), France (Total), Germany (Amnesty International) and UK (Carlsberg) picked up Bronzes.
The success continued last week at Eurobest, where entries this year broke all previous records, with a total of 5,895 entries from 38 countries. Again the Saatchi & Saatchi Network featured well on the winners' rostrum with a Gold, 5 Silvers and 7 Bronzes.
The Gold award went to Saatchi & Saatchi Sweden in Media for their successful 'Text A Coffin Away' campaign for Médecins San Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). This highly innovative idea to raise funds to fight child malnutrition also took 3 Silvers across the Media, Direct and Sales Promotion categories.
Denmark took home a Silver too for their Danish Parkinson's Disease Association client, as did Austria for T-Mobile.
This time, there were Bronzes for Romania (3 in all, for Procter & Gamble's Ariel and Head & Shoulders), Switzerland/Italy (Novartis Voltaren), UK (2 for QUIT, the 'stop smoking' charity as well for their 'call for entries' film for the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase).