New name, new awards, new categories: ADMA launches new Awards program for the industry
The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) has launched an all-new awards program called the Australian Creativity and Effectiveness Awards (AC&E Awards) to replace the 36-year-old ADMA Awards.
The new-name Awards program features a new mandate, slogan and new awards categories.
Says Jodie Sangster, ADMA CEO: “The AC&E Awards will be truly representative of the rapidly evolving marketing, media and advertising landscape. We intend to award the best of the best which so few awards shows do these days.
“The most significant change is that campaigns entered into the AC&E Awards must demonstrate both creativity and effectiveness in equal proportion, not one or the other as in past years. The rationale is simple: campaigns from now on must be both effective and creative to be deserving.”
The AC&E Awards will feature the tagline: ‘Rewarding the optimum balance of creativity and effectiveness.’
Regarding creativity, judges will look at the creativity of a campaign in the widest sense of the word. The remit will still cover great creative work, but judges will also be looking for a creative approach to marketing and advertising to engage customers using technology, a great strategy or previously untested methods.
On the effectiveness side, campaigns must reflect ROI, meet objectives and exceed customer expectations.
ADMA consulted with some of the industry’s best creatives and marketers on the way forward for the new awards program.
Says Patrick Collister, Google head of design, UK and Northern Europe: “It’s wonderful to see an association like ADMA looking at all the components that now make up marketing and advertising – data, technology, creativity, content and customer experience – and rewarding those campaigns that are both creative and effective. That’s how it should be.”
Says David Bell, executive creative director, MercerBell: “I was delighted to lead the people working with ADMA on the AC&E Awards to ensure that in future all campaigns awarded will demonstrate the best creative thinking possible and tangible business success.”
Says Sandra De Castro, chief marketing officer, National Australia Bank: “The marketing leaders of the future are going to be people with both quantitative and creative skills. They won’t be just brilliant creative minds or brilliant measurability experts. They will be the perfect blend of both and the results will be seen in the campaigns. That’s why the new AC&E Awards are the way forward.”
New categories created
This year there are 30 categories to enter, plus Pinnacle and Excellence trophies which judges award to outstanding individuals and agencies. There are 14 new categories including social media campaign, data-driven mail, ambient/experiential marketing, data visualisation and customer experience, to better reflect the new world of marketing, media and advertising. Some categories that don’t reflect the new ADMA remit have been retired.
Says Sangster: “At a time when our industry is changing so rapidly, the AC&E Awards program is capturing the zeitgeist by leading the change in creating exciting modern awards categories that truly reflect where marketing and advertising is going and what should be rewarded now. ADMA is not afraid to be controversial in its choices or to drop categories that we feel no longer suit our data-driven remit.”
ADMA has also created an online submission system for the awards to improve and speed up the entry experience for agencies and brands.
The 2014 AC&E Awards will take place on Thursday, 30 October at Sydney’s The Star, Pyrmont. To enter your best campaigns and find out more, visit www.acandeawards.com.
Deadline is 1 August 2014.
2 Comments
ACE Awards, a bit like the ACES Awards then.
Combining channel categories surely misses the point of having any channel categories. If they think a mail pack is the same as a print ad then surely they’re both the same as a poster which is the same as outdoor which clearly means anything outside and includes experiential which also entails any stunt that has a video component which means it’s the same as online film which is identical to broadcast film and, let’s face it, radio is just film without the pictures. So why not have just one big category for everything? That’d be ACE!