The 26th Annual Max Awards were presented at the Luna Park Grand Ballroom in Sydney on June 10th. The annual event acknowledges the outstanding efforts of marketing, advertising and distribution teams within financial services, recognising 22 winners in 2021.
Winning the Integrated Campaign of the Year award this year was Aware Super for its rebrand campaign, after the merger of First State Super and VicSuper in 2020. According to the latest Rainmaker Information’s Superannuation Benchmarking report, this merger has made it one of Australia’s largest industry funds, managing over $116 billion in assets.
In the sales category, BT’s head of distribution Chris Mathers took home the prestigious Executive of the Year – Distribution award. Mather has held various positions with BT since 2008 including regional manager, BT platforms: Asgard & BT Wrap, key account manager – Wrap, Wrap distribution: national transitions & training manager.
Vanguard Investments won the Video Campaign of the Year award for its direct-to-consumer campaigns.
Budget Direct won two awards, being Marketing Campaign of the Year – Consumer and Marketing team of the Year, for their Insurance Solved campaign.
Meanwhile, Link Group was awarded Digital Platform of the Year. The award recognises financial services companies going above and beyond in generating a platform which its audience is heavily reliant on, with Link Group receiving the honour for its Virtual Meeting platform.
Christopher Page, managing director of Rainmaker Group, publisher of Financial Standard, said the Max Awards are becoming more and more competitive, with a record 17,000 votes across all 22 categories this year.
“It is exciting to celebrate the successes of financial services’ leading marketers, advertisers and sales professionals, especially in a time where a lot more time, effort and creativity needs to be put through to not just thrive but excel,” Page said.
Financial Standard’s executive director – media, Michelle Baltazar said: “The past 12 months has been exceptionally challenging for sales and marketing teams, as they needed to re-evaluate their strategies and find new ways to best meet the needs of their clients. We believe our award winners and finalists rose to the challenge and are deserving of the recognition at our Max awards this year.”
Financial services sales and marketing professionals have an important role to play as the industry continues its growth trajectory, estimated to hit the $11 trillion mark by 2038. According to the latest Rainmaker Roundup report, the Australian investment market stood at $2.9 trillion as at December 2020.
2021 Max Award winners:
Agency Campaign of the Year Clearbridge Investments & Fundamental Media
Agency Executive of the Year – Financial Services Karlee Samuels – Fundamental Media
Agency of the Year In Marketing We Trust
Community Initiative of the Year Zurich – Goals for Good
Creative Agency of the Year OMG Creative
Digital Campaign of the Year Praemium – The platform of everything
Digital Platform of the Year Link Group – Virtual Meeting
Distribution Team of the Year Bennelong Funds Management
Executive of the Year – Distribution Chris Mather – BT
Executive of the Year – Marketing Adele Welsh – Praemium
Financial Education Campaign of the Year Allianz Retire+ – Investing in retirement is different
Integrated Campaign of the Year Aware Super – Rebrand
Marketing Campaign of the Year – Consumer Budget Direct – Insurance Solved
Marketing Campaign of the Year – Industry Robeco – Climate change campaign
Marketing Team of the Year Budget Direct
Print Campaign of the Year – Consumer BetaShares
Print Campaign of the Year – Trade Fidelity International
Product Launch of the Year QSuper – QSuper Lifetime Pension
Public Relations Agency of the Year Mountain Media
Social Media campaign of the Year Australian Ethical
Video Campaign of the Year Vanguard Investments
Website of the Year Mason Stevens – www.masonstevens.com.au