Ford Motor Co. was the big winner at Nielsen IAG’s 3rd annual Automotive Ad Awards, presented Wednesday, April 8 at the opening breakfast for the 2009 New York International Auto Show.

The automaker took home the prize for Most Effective Auto Ad of the Year for its spot featuring several real-life women test-driving a Ford Focus for the first time. Other winners included Lexus for Most Effective Green Ad of the Year and Volkswagen for Most Effective Sales Event Campaign of the Year.

Winning ads were determined by results from Nielsen IAG’s 2.5+ million viewer panel measuring the recall and likeability of the ads.