Clients Fifth Third Bank and O’Keeffe’s were both recognized at the award show.

“They don’t call Cincinnati the consumer marketing capital of the world for nothing,” said Rob FitzGerald, president and chief operating officer at Empower. “Seeing MediaPost’s Creative Media Awards recognize three Cincinnati-based companies for outstanding and effective marketing further solidifies the hot-bed of talent we have here plus the competitive edge Empower’s Creative Media thinking brings” FitzGerald said.

Winning in the Online Media: Search category for the use of creative search engine marketing, Empower and Fifth Third Bank successfully implemented search campaigns across Google, Yahoo and Bing to acquire new checking account customers through a combination of online and in-branch applications. Using data, the campaign ran in the first half of 2018, resulting in 71% more accounts opened with 38% less spend at a 20% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) versus the same time period in 2017.

“Empower is a trusted agency partner who helped Fifth Third Bank be the authority in digital marketing as evidenced by this Creative Media award and the groundbreaking results of our search campaign,” said Nick Ferrugia, vice president of marketing at Fifth Third Bank.

Empower’s client O’Keefe’s was honored as a finalist in the Media Plan category for a never-been-done-before idea with The Weather Channel. For the campaign, Empower’s team of Creative Media experts defined “cold” and triggered media based on real-time weather conditions and layered on audience data to strategically target dry skin sufferers across digital screens. The triggered messaging also served on out-of-home digital screens at malls, gyms and doctor offices. The Weather Channel created a fully flexible schedule that shifted spots based on changing weather patterns – a revolutionary approach that had never been attempted. With a 22% smaller media budget, the campaign resulted in double digit sales.

We’re honored that the O’Keeffe’s campaign was recognized, and are grateful for the Empower team’s creativity, partnership and figure-it-out mentality that helped bring to life a new, more effective and efficient way to run our digital media, said Kevin Namaky, associate director at O’Keeffe’s.

As described by MediaPost, The Creative Media Awards is the only awards program that honors the media industry. The Creative Media Awards express their belief that media — the process of buying, planning and strategy — is every bit as creative as depicting storyboards for a print or TV ad campaign.

By the time a Creative Media Award entry has reached the winner’s circle, it has survived two rounds of judging. The combined experience of the judges enables the Creative Media Awards to honor the industry’s most effective work.

Round one judging consists of an internal editorial team reviewing and judging the briefs and creative materials. MediaPost editors handpick three finalists per category and then send the results to the jury for the final round.

The final round of judging is comprised of a panel of industry experts including the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi, Carat, Fallon, UM Studios and Starcom. Together they decide which brief in each category was the most effective in conveying the “IDEA” and how the idea drove the campaign.