Effies 2011 in November

For the fourth consecutive year, marketing and communication effectiveness is being tested to the hilt with the launch of the Effie Awards Sri Lanka 2011. Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) which is at the helm of this initiative is proud to launch the only international advertising awards being conducted in Sri Lanka presently, with the support of 4A’s of Sri Lanka. The awards ceremony will be held on November 25.

It was a significant achievement when the Sri Lanka institute of Marketing managed to secure the rights to hold the Effies in Sri Lanka for the first time in 2008.

The President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Thushara Perera stated “The Effie Awards is one of the biggest and most challenging advertising awards in the country. It is focused on rewarding Ideas that work - the great ideas that achieve real results and the strategy that goes into creating them. The Effies have brought the big league of advertising awards to Sri Lankan soil in association with the 4A’s and we are certain that these awards would no doubt assist in the cause to improve the standards of marketing communication in Sri Lanka.”

Effies 2010 will recognize any form of marketing communication or consumer engagement, as long as the results are proven, including Print, TV, Radio, Internet, Guerrilla, Digital, Package Design, Events, Street Teams, mainstream or alternative, paid or unpaid and more.

Project chairman Ruwan Liyanagamage stated that this year’s creative idea for the Effie’s is on ‘Jana Kavi’, which have consistently been an effective form of communication for poets. The effectiveness of these poems have brought both fame and results to the poets and therefore local ‘Jana Kavi’ was deemed an ideal creative platform for this year’s Effie campaign. He also stated that he is confident that this year’s awards will attract a much larger number of participants than previous years.

Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, CEO of Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC Kishu Gomes stated that “Ideas must resonate with relevance, effectiveness and results with effectiveness holding centre stage as the most important criteria for judging great advertising. The clarion call for the industry is to produce communication material that give best value for money and tangible returns, material that send ripples across the consumer landscape and draw then into the communication process. The key phrase today is inter-activeness and increasingly the challenge is for ideas that resonate between the initiator and end purchaser or user.” He said that the winners should use the chance to better themselves as Sri Lanka needs quality markets to surge the economy forward.

This year too there would be 28 categories open for awarding. Campaigns which ran between, July 1st 2010 to June 30th 2011 are eligible to apply. The judging process established for the awards show has been of global standards due to learning’s from Effie’s worldwide.

The Judging panel is comprised of an elite group of individuals representing the Marketing, Advertising, Research, Media and Academic spheres.

The Head of the Judging Panel is Kishu Gomes. Lasantha Abeywickrama is the Advisor Effie Sri Lanka.

The Official Telecom partner for the event is Etisalat, the Corporate Sponsor is KIK and the Main Sponsor is Singer. Print media sponsor is Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Digital Print partners include Sign Tech. The photography partner is Nine Hearts, production partner is TVT, print partner is Ceylinco Computer Forms and web services partner is XITEB.

SS