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- [00:00]
Narrator
When you're trying to pick a grand FE winner from a group of cases that have already won gold that year in their own categories, the winner isn't going to be obvious and it's not going to be easy. But that is what was happening on May 7th in a conference room in New York City. Fe judging is not a simple process. It's deliberately difficult. As an effectiveness award, it's rooted in evidence, not in personal preference. It starts with individual review, where judges sit quietly reviewing the case from their own laptops. This is followed by viewing of the case film. Only then does group conversation, debate and reflection begin. You quickly notice that this is where the benefit of mixed skill sets comes into play, where the more analytically minded judge helps with the interpretation of data, where a judge with near category experience can help explain the category's growth and revenue dynamics, where media experience can help others more deeply understand media strategy and metrics. None of the gold winners were known publicly outside the room, nor to the judges in advance, and the Grand Effie winner would only be announced from the stage at the US Gala Awards Night in New York City, which took place last night, May 27, 2026. Among the group gathered in our room on that floor were senior creatives, strategists, account leads, and chief marketing officers. Judging is an imperfect process, but it is not a predictable or predetermined one. Judges genuinely deliberated. They changed their minds. They advocated for underdogs. They pushed back against the pull of early consensus. An entry that seemed like a lock can lose ground under scrutiny, and an underdog can build momentum. When someone reframes how everyone is thinking about its goals in its intentions. The ultimate outcome is shaped by debate and the kind of honest reckoning that people bring to the table when they take their responsibility seriously. So bravo to all of the judges. From the start, this was not a one horse race. As you'll hear in my interviews, it was a race among two that demonstrated magic in strategy, execution and integration. Tubi and Uber Eats were neck and neck right up until the end. There were times I was convinced it would be Uber Eats. Then it switched to Tubi and back and forth again for quite a long time. It was incredible to experience how it all happened. The judges agreed to have a conversation with me afterwards, a select number of the judges and I wanted to thank Nick Chidiak, Chief Strategy Officer, Razorfish New York Craig Allen, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Callen Tim Smith, Founder of chemistry Nick Hammett, CMO, Newell Brands Thomas Harris, co founder of 11oz Julie Skelzow, global Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative. Val Battini, Chief Client Officer at Arnold Worldwide and Janelle Shah, CMO at Zip. Stay tuned towards the end of this short episode and you can hear the case film from this year's winner of the US Grand Effie, Uber Eats. Congratulations and well done to everybody at Special Group and Uber Eats. What an extraordinary achievement. Special Group LA under CEO Kelsey Hodgkin and team are killing it and Uber Eats as a brand in the Effies has been doing phenomenally well for the last 12 to 18 months. So here it is, my conversation with the judges which took place after they had made their decision. Enjoy.
- [03:48]
Nick Chidiak
You know it's really interesting because the Effie's is very different than any other award show, right? I think you judge a lot of creative award shows and I'm just, truth be told, most of the time you don't look at the written submission. You know, it's really based on the case film. So to be able to take a pretty good chunk of time and go in depth into the written film, written case, I mean the importance on the written case is like, you know, paramount because that is where the slivers of light come through anyone, you know, with, with the work. You know, the work has to be there, but they can make a good case film. You know, we have been studying how to make a good case study for a long time. So I think, you know, you can make something that's entertaining or you get music and sound design and imagery to make you feel something. But when you really dive into the written case and you can still feel something, I think that's what, what kind of can put the sliver of daylight between entries. So I think it's a really important thing when people enter the Effies to really think about how the written story to life. Because it's one of the only award shows that I know where that really matters wholeheartedly.
- [04:52]
Janelle Shah
I think look, at the end of the day, Fes is about effectiveness and marketers have to have commercial impact on the business that we are responsible for. So when a case is presented, when a problem is stated, of course I'm going to look at how the results have addressed the problem. And I cannot tell you the number of times I was like, well this doesn't match up or they stated this to be the problem and how does this result make sense in the context of the problem that they've identified?
- [05:20]
Julie Skelzow
And I feel like a good jury that work together well are a jury that immediately identify the strengths of the individual people in the room and can say, all right, that's, that's a creative executional thing. Let's ask a CCO for their opinion on that. Or that's a, that's a technical outcomes based question and let's ask the most analytical person in the room. And so I think the good thing about this room is one, we work together really, really well, and two, we interrogated the cases using the right people in the room as well.
- [05:58]
Val Battini
I can't overemphasize the need to take the time and think through and write your case well, because I think the amount of times that we talk today about, wow, if I'd only known this or if they had clarified that, yeah, I felt the same way, you maybe we would have walked away with a different kind of takeaway from this. But we can infer, we don't know what happened. We weren't there in the room. And so I think it leaves us a lot of times saying we got a bunch of puffery here, but only if they brought this piece to life, it would have been more compelling.
- [06:30]
Janelle Shah
We are obviously only judging what is in front of us, but the context layer that we bring towards judging that is informed by what else we've seen in culture or like we've seen maybe a continuation of their story that they haven't necessarily pinpointed. So I do think that the context and the bias can add another layer which, if you're not in control of your story, that will dominate the inference. Will dominate. Like, was this what you want to be? What's the control that you should have of your story?
- [07:03]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah. So let's talk about what your impression is at the end of the day. Now you've judged, you had a body of work. What did you come away with? What surprised you? Did anything delight you?
- [07:15]
Val Battini
I think the thing that delighted me was in our winner and the level of depth that they carried the idea and the campaign through. There was no detail that hadn't been thought through across the board on every piece of activation, on every channel that they used, on every element that they brought this campaign to life. They, they covered it and it was consistent. There was not, there was never anything where they kind of force fit a little bit or mailed it in a little bit. It was consistently good, no matter which level that you engaged with the campaign on and that, I mean, having had to do that in my day job, that's not easy. That is really hard. And they made it look seamless and that, I mean, I got a whole bunch of delight out of that.
- [08:04]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah.
- [08:04]
Nick Chidiak
I think what was really fascinating is the cases that we did debate out of the seven we looked at today. I mean, we were debating everything from something that was pretty commercially driven, which we are in a business that drives,
- [08:17]
Host/Interviewer
you know, so we can talk about it. This is. This is primarily with Uber Eats and with Tubi.
- [08:22]
Nick Chidiak
Yes, like Uber and Eats and Tubi.
- [08:24]
Craig Allen
But the.
- [08:24]
Nick Chidiak
I don't know if we're allowed to say this, but, like, the third contender was somebody who created a species that had been extinct by cloning something. So to put these things in, you know, one. Two of the two contenders both had super bowl spots. And then you're talking about, you know, a brand that cloned, you know, a direwolf out of DNA. And so it's. It's a very hard thing to compare when you get to the grand jury stage, because the grand Duffy stage, because you're comparing things that shouldn't be in the same room together at all. And I find that kind of delightful, because you really do have to boil it down to the strategic rigor that was done, the insight that, you know, and how they brought it to life. So it still comes down to the idea. It still comes down to what role did marketing play in driving effectiveness for this brand or this project. So it's interesting to put those things together, but really, when the discussion happens, it still comes down to the same points that we're trying to make with no matter what we're talking about a super Light or creating an extinct species.
- [09:24]
Val Battini
I think what both of our lead cases in Tubi and Uber Eats did was they really changed the game. They changed, you know, the approach massively. Some. Some of the other cases did some things that are out there, but did it really well. But it wasn't a completely new approach. You could see elements of a standard playbook in it. They just executed it with excellence to drive very strong results. In Tubi and in Uber Eats, they created the playbook as they built these campaigns.
- [09:59]
Nick Chidiak
What I think is really interesting, and Nicholas did a great job of, like, let's boil it down to these things and check the boxes. And one of the biggest things for me, why the degree of difficulty is so high is they both did a really good job of talking to two different audience. They both had a B2C and a B2B component and did it so seamlessly with the same message. And I felt like they were both fandom out, which is, I think, in this day and age, just a much More modern way to market. It started with what problem are they solving? Of course, And a lot of strategic rigor. But there was. At the core of both of them was really like, who are we talking about? And what do they care about? And that was really evident in both Tubi and in Uber Eats for me, which I thought was, you know, set them apart from a lot of the other ones.
- [10:47]
Host/Interviewer
I was excited to hear about the. About a factor that isn't necessarily on the FE pillars, but it's degree of difficulty. You guys talked about degree of difficulty that the agency and the brand had to overcome. Why did that become such an important part of the consideration?
- [11:06]
Janelle Shah
You guys hold me true here. I don't think we got to the difficulty as a vector until sort of the very end on let's actually acknowledge it. And because, look, that I'm sure the difficulties across the board, right. But when it gets to the final two and they're both so amazing, you sort of look for more meat on why one should edge out over another.
- [11:29]
Host/Interviewer
Was this the year of strategy or was this the year of creativity? And I know they're inextricably linked when they're done well, but were you most impressed by strategy or by something else?
- [11:43]
Nick Chidiak
I was more impressed by something else. I think I'll take away probably two different things from the cases I think from to be sticking to a tone consistently over the course of three years. I think as marketers, our clients tend to want to pull the cord really quickly and not commit to something for longer than it needs to be to actually work. And so I think their consistency and their commitment to atonement and how they pulled that through, even when marketing different pieces, whether it's, you know, sort of the niche programming or the free, the tone still remained the same, even though the message was different. So I think there's just a lot of learnings to be said or learned, you know, gleaned from watching how they've done that over the course of a few years. And then from Uber Eats, for me, there is such. There has to be such rigor to be consistent throughout every single touch point. And it's. Yeah, we have a wide marketing matrix that we have to think about, but the way that they were able to bring it live really native to the place and the people they were talking to is pretty brilliant. And you don't see cases like that all the time. They'll get the TV right, but everything falls in social, or they'll get the social right and the TV's not as good And I think the way they executed that across the board was just really, really brilliant. Even the in game, the way they brought commerce to it even and sweepstakes was still consistent with their kind of overall campaign message and tone. So I think there's a lot to be learned of how to truly do an integrated campaign. By the way that Uber Eats did it. So it's funny because it's not really strategic or creative. It's more almost how you commit and how you do it in a way that feels effortless.
- [13:29]
Craig Allen
I think on Uber Eats, for instance, the spot was funny and I guess I wasn't aware of how much behind the scenes went into that campaign. So what was really impressive was strategically how much they did with partners, how much they did with media. Media. The media stuff I found very inspiring. And you forget how much of a weapon media can be.
- [13:49]
Host/Interviewer
And I think it's a media meaning what?
- [13:52]
Craig Allen
In the case of Uber Media, in the case of they. I don't know. Am I allowed to say this?
- [13:57]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah, yeah, you are.
- [13:59]
Craig Allen
I thought it was really inspiring, the fact that they had done research and this is where you're like, where, you know, strategy's worth its weight and double in gold is they did the research that if they ran their ads around food ads that were from other partners, fast food, whatever it may be, they, those partners would benefit and they would benefit immediately from it. That's a genius insight. Like just the media placement of, oh, we don't just put it in the game. We want to put it in between a McDonald's and a taco Bell commercial. Because people watch food ads and then they go, crap, I'm hungry. I want to order something. Yeah, that is like, great. That's as inspiring as the idea and the execution itself, because that's crazy. What a crazy human insight. And they're getting free media. That means they, they may have a whole media block because it's food, food, and then we're going to tell you how to order it. I think it was nice in that, like you said, it was a team effort where it felt like everybody deserves equal parts of this award, from the media to the strategy to the creative. Like, without any one part of that wouldn't have worked.
- [15:00]
Host/Interviewer
Obviously. I think during the, during the judging, the two cases that bubbled to the top were UberEats and Tubi. You guys had a pretty healthy discussion about those. I mean, I was sitting on the sidelines going, oh, it's going to be Tubi, it's going to be Uber Eats. And I'M like, it's going to be Uber Eats. It's going to be Tubi. And I mean, you guys went back and forth. So I think it's important for people to know, like, what are you debating that's driving you back and forth.
- [15:26]
Thomas Harris
I flip flopped like three times during the discussion and my first two Bs. Creative is so brave and so breakthrough and so ballsy. And I like, like, if there's a message, I just want to encourage clients to be brave and, and not be afraid of ideas because if you swing big, like you have big opportunity. And all of these cases had that. And then we had this similar conversation in my head, sitting by myself, talking to myself, that Uber Eats had a very similar. While I. While it isn't brave in the same sort of wacky, weird type of work, it's brave. And sometimes people are afraid of saying yes to an idea that's too hard and that idea is hard to execute. And so then I was. Then I kind of flipped back. I'm like, all right, that is like, it's brave in that they took, they took on something massive and all of the partners and, and I was impressed with the fact that their brand and it took me convert part of the conversation to go, oh my God, it was Uber Eats with the NFL with all of their partners. And Uber Eats never got lost in the in mix. And that's really, really, really hard to do because often when you're trying to do something contextual, the NFL will shine or the other brand will shine or you have trouble falling because it looks like something else. And that was purely them the whole time. And I just thought that was that and the elegance of doing an offer. They. They made an offer elegant. Yeah, they did it just flawlessly.
- [17:12]
Craig Allen
I think it's the. When you see the media shrinking, you have to be more importance of getting into the cultural conversation. So everything that we saw today is trying to do that in some way. And I think that what UberEats did very successfully is my. I always said this is my personal test. It's like when my regular friends from high school say, man, that's pretty good. Like they tell or they're making football food jokes. I'm like, that's where it really kind of bubbled up. And to me, it was so smart on the back end and everything. But the idea that it's got into the cultural conversation and people were like making jokes about food and when things were happening through the season, new memes were popping up about like maybe it is about Food. I think that's where it kind of excelled over the other work in the cultural conversation space and the fact that
- [17:58]
Thomas Harris
it went all season long. They committed to it, and you could tell it wasn't a Super bowl ad that they backed up. Yeah, they had an idea for the season.
- [18:08]
Craig Allen
Yes.
- [18:08]
Thomas Harris
And it culminated in the Super Bowl. And that's really hard to do.
- [18:12]
Craig Allen
A true integrated campaign, you know, where it's like, I think each part was equally strong.
- [18:18]
Tim Smith
UberEats was the official delivery sponsor of the NFL, but it wasn't driving orders until they saw cravings in a whole new way.
- [18:26]
Craig Allen
Pancake pancakes.
- [18:27]
Nick Chidiak
Pancake sauce.
- [18:28]
Narrator
Rice scrambled sandwich.
- [18:30]
Thomas Harris
Turnover.
- [18:31]
Tim Smith
American football is full of player names, formations, fandoms and terminology that are all food. So this year, NFL partner Uber Eats saw the opportunity to rewrite the playbook on sponsorship marketing. To go from advertiser around the game to making the game itself into an ad for Uber Eats, turning the entire NFL season into one giant ad to sell food. How? By claiming that football is one big conspiracy.
- [18:56]
Thomas Harris
Conspiracy.
- [18:57]
Host/Interviewer
Conspiracy to sell food.
- [18:59]
Tim Smith
It started with this.
- [19:01]
Craig Allen
Why am I so hungry?
- [19:02]
Nick Hammett
Because you're watching football. The whole game is basically an elaborate scheme to make you buy more food.
- [19:09]
Host/Interviewer
What are you talking about, dude?
- [19:10]
Nick Hammett
Think about it. Turnovers. Pancake blocks. Oh, I just scored Feed me more. Refrigerator Perry was not his real name.
- [19:18]
Tim Smith
I don't think football's trying to sell you food.
- [19:20]
Nick Hammett
Oh, really? And what are you eating, Jerry?
- [19:23]
Host/Interviewer
Rice.
- [19:26]
Craig Allen
Cherry's eating rice.
- [19:28]
Val Battini
Game day deals only on UberEats.
- [19:30]
Tim Smith
Then every single week, they expose more and more links between football and food.
- [19:34]
Thomas Harris
I think that there's something else going on.
- [19:37]
Craig Allen
What?
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Thomas Harris
Maybe get people to crave cheesy pizza
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Tim Smith
during football games, the quarterback just scrambled koi bacon.
- [19:44]
Host/Interviewer
CJ Ham.
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Tim Smith
Fans got involved.
- [19:46]
Narrator
How come no one is talking about this?
- [19:48]
Craig Allen
The exact same size as a Little Caesar's pizza box.
- [19:52]
Tim Smith
Soon no one could look at football without seeing food. Football food. Football food.
- [19:57]
Narrator
Football food.
- [19:59]
Tim Smith
Nobody's using goalposts to make you hungry for french fries. Every time football and new foods were connected, Uber Eats teamed up with brands to make them the deal of the week.
- [20:08]
Nick Chidiak
Crunch Wrap. Crunch Wrap.
- [20:10]
Tim Smith
I mean, who would design a whole defensive scheme just to sell Crunch Wrap supreme? Turning every game day into a purchase moment. These deals even hijacked the live broadcast.
- [20:19]
Craig Allen
Sorry, partner, hold up.
- [20:21]
Narrator
It looks like you just drew a
- [20:22]
Nick Chidiak
slice of pizza and has nothing to do with Little Caesar's pizza.
- [20:25]
Julie Skelzow
By when getting promotion on Uber Eats this week.
- [20:27]
Tim Smith
Then on football's biggest day, they showed America just how deep the conspiracy really went.
- [20:33]
Nick Hammett
And we'll call this a pigskin. Make people crave bacon. And everybody loves bacon. I love bacon.
- [20:38]
Val Battini
Bacon, bacon.
- [20:39]
Tim Smith
They even turned the super bowl stadium into a giant Caesar salad and then sold those on the app. And everyone ate it up, breaking all the records.
- [20:49]
Host/Interviewer
It's a ridiculously clever ad.
- [20:51]
Nick Hammett
Really funny.
- [20:51]
Nick Chidiak
Uber Eats is my favorite.
- [20:53]
Tim Smith
So funny I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. As their season long ad proved, you don't just have to sponsor the game, you can change it.