KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Heart+Mind Strategies won two 2025 ARF David Ogilvy Awards—a Bronze in Financial Services & Insurance and a Silver in Travel.
- The awards were presented at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York City on October 16, 2025.
- Our research and strategic consulting guided the creative direction for both winning campaigns.
- The “It’s Gotta Be a CFP®” campaign for CFP Board helped reposition the brand to better connect with consumers and surpassed its goal of 100,000 certified professionals by 2024.
- The “Not Invited” campaign for Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority redefined business travel marketing, resulting in a 19.3% increase in RFP submissions.
- Both campaigns demonstrate the power of values-based research to drive emotional connection and measurable impact.
- Our philosophy—Persuade by Reason, Motivate Through Emotion—was central to the success of both projects.
A Historic Night at the ARF David Ogilvy Awards
October 16, 2025 was a historic night for Heart+Mind Strategies at the ARF David Ogilvy Awards, where we took home two prestigious honors in one evening!
The award ceremony, held this year at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York City, celebrates excellence in research-driven marketing and the powerful connection between insights, creativity, and business impact. Named after advertising legend David Ogilvy, the awards recognize campaigns that demonstrate how data and insights inspire brilliant creative and deliver measurable results.
Winning an Ogilvy Award is no small feat—it requires clear evidence of how research and strategy led to breakthrough creative and that the campaign achieved the needed KPis.
Silver Win: Strategic Insights Behind “Not Invited” – Travel Category
Heart+Mind Strategies earned a Silver Ogilvy Award in the Travel category for our research and strategic consulting work with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). The award recognizes the insights that shaped the creative direction of the “Not Invited” campaign, developed by LVCVA’s agency partner, R&R Partners.
Led by Darren Bishop, SVP of Travel + Tourism, our team was tasked with helping Las Vegas bridge its leisure and business brand identities—two narratives that had long been managed separately. The challenge was to uncover how the energy and excitement of Las Vegas’s leisure brand could positively reinforce its business brand, especially as the city looked to recover convention attendance post-pandemic.
To do this, we conducted multi-phase research among meeting planners and executives to understand their perceptions of Las Vegas, what differentiated the destination for business events, and how they made decisions about where to book conventions and meetings. Our research revealed that the vibrancy of Las Vegas’s leisure brand could be a strategic asset in attracting B2B audiences—connecting emotional excitement with business benefits.
These insights informed a creative brief that led to the development of the “Not Invited” campaign, which cleverly positioned Las Vegas as a destination where average or ordinary meetings simply don’t belong. The campaign emphasized that hosting a business event in Las Vegas means bringing your A-game—an experience that’s elevated, energetic, and unforgettable.
The results were powerful: the campaign drove a 19.3% increase in RFP submissions, and meeting planners reported significant perceptual shifts that helped overcome previous barriers. Las Vegas is now recovering convention attendance faster than other destinations, thanks in part to the strategic insights that shaped this bold campaign
RELATED: Messaging Strategy That Connects: 3 Campaigns that Nailed It
Bronze Win: Research That Powered “It’s Gotta Be a CFP®” – Financial Services & Insurance
Heart+Mind Strategies was honored with a Bronze Ogilvy Award in the Financial Services & Insurance category for our strategic research partnership with the CFP Board. The award recognizes the strength of the insights that guided the creative development of the “It’s Gotta Be a CFP®” campaign—executed by the CFP Board’s agency partner, Buntin.
Led by CEO Mike Dabadie, our team was brought in to address a critical challenge: a lack of emotional connection between the CFP® brand and consumers. CFP Board also had ambitious goals to grow the number of certified professionals to 100,000 by 2025 and 150,000 by 2030.
Using our proprietary VISTA (Values In Strategy Assessment) methodology, we uncovered that consumers were seeking a trusted partner to help them navigate financial decisions in life and planning for retirement. This insight unlocked a powerful emotional-values promise: confidence today and a more secure tomorrow. Our research shifted the brand’s positioning from an inward focus on certification to an outward, human-centered strategy that put the consumer at the heart of the message.
These insights directly informed the creative direction of the campaign, which launched with the expressions “Only With a CFP” and “It’s Gotta Be a CFP®.” The campaign not only boosted awareness and preference ratings, but also helped CFP Board modernize its segmentation, revamp its website, and adjust the campaign’s media buying.
CFP Board reached its goal of 100,000 CFP® professionals ahead of schedule and the campaign has reached its targeted KPIs—achievements that underscore the power of research-driven strategy to drive real-world impact.
RELATED: Why Communications Campaigns that Connect are Built on Human Values
Applied Behavioral Science: Persuade by Reason, Motivate Through Emotion
At Heart+Mind Strategies, we know through behavioral science that human choices are made at the intersection of feeling (the heart) and logic (the mind). That’s why our guiding philosophy—persuade by reason, motivate through emotion—is more than a tagline. It’s the foundation of our work and our culture and activated through our proprietary solutions.
This belief stems from our heritage and mentorship under Dr. Richard Wirthlin, whose pioneering work in values-based research shaped our approach to understanding human choice. We don’t just study behavior—we uncover the values, emotions, and rational drivers behind it. Our name, Heart+Mind Strategies, is a direct reflection of this duality: we help clients connect with the hearts and minds of the people who matter most to their success.
Whether we’re guiding a brand repositioning, shaping a campaign strategy, or helping organizations navigate complex decisions, our work is rooted in this principle.
We are strategic partners who empower our clients to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose. We challenge assumptions, uncover hidden truths, and deliver insights that inspire bold, human-centered solutions.
This philosophy was at the heart of our work with both the CFP Board and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority—two campaigns that earned Ogilvy Awards because they demonstrated how research can unlock creative that connects, persuades, and performs toward achieving KPIs.
Let’s Talk About What’s Next
If you’re thinking about your next big challenge or opportunity, we’d love to explore how we can support your research or strategic consulting needs. Let’s connect and create something award-worthy together.