Founded in 1968 by the American Marketing Association Effie Awards was initially a purely American affair set up to recognise distinguished marketing  communication performance. That was the Mad Men era. Since then it has spread over to five continents and some 30 countries, including the Netherlands where it was celebrated yesterday in Amsterdam.

It seems like the hard economic times did not have an impact on the thriving brand advertising market in the Netherlands. Advertising agencies have been posting good results, particularly in the field of  TV marketing.

Awards night =celebration night. Where did the gold go?

The commercial with a most prosaic product. Fabric softener. Robijn Black Velvet. Made by UbachsWisbrun/JWTagency.

It stars Jules Deelder, a Dutch dandy poet with a very specific look and a very recongnisable Rotterdam accent.

“What black is has to stay black.” says he

Jules Deelder filmed in his universe filled with black certainly infuses a very boring product like fabric softener with his dose of cool.

Am I convinced? No.

Am I going to use Robijn Black Velvet? No

Frankly I do not even bother to use fabric softener. Why add extra chemicals?

But there are many out there who think otherwise. According to market research Robijn now is the most desirable fabric softener firmly holding number two market position.

I shall not be contributing to the product’s market share increase, but through this commercial I discovered Jules Deelder, the poet and a Character.

And that’s a worthwhile discovery