Effie Awards launched

The launch of the Effie Awards 2012 took place on Thursday, September 20. Organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing in association with the 4As for the 5th consecutive year, the Effie Awards is the only global accolade in Sri Lanka that recognizes achievement in meeting and exceeding marketing communications objectives. In simple terms, an Effie is about effective communication.

Effie awards, Ideas that work - Effie identifies and rewards the most significant achievements in marketing communications. It consistently focuses on the results or the effectiveness of a campaign to meet the originally stated objectives. However the criteria to win an Effie is not merely limited to results, but rather focuses on the analysis of the environment, stating the aligned objectives, development of a winning strategy and finally its implementation which lead to results in the market place.

Therefore, creativity or the execution of a campaign is not the crux of this industry, but rather an evaluation of the entire communications process, which ultimately leads to delivering superior results in the market place.

The President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, Tilan Wijayesekera stated, “SLIM took the initiative to introduce this prestigious award to Sri Lanka in 2008 as part of its mandate to encourage greater competitiveness and promote inspiring communication campaigns that focus on results. He also reinforced SLIM's commitment to further enhance the standards of Sri Lankan marketing communications.”

Effie 2012 will recognize any form of marketing communication or consumer engagement, as long as the results are proven - whether mainstream or alternative; digital or print; design or advertising; paid or unpaid. The key to winning an Effie includes the understanding of the business context, developing aligned objectives, insightful strategy, outstanding creativity and the market results to prove it.

Project Chairman, Ahamed Aroos said, “Entries for the Effie 2012 will be open to advertising agencies or any campaign that has proven to be effective with justifiable results. We encourage such participants to submit their entries this year.” He further stated, “Sri Lanka is yet to win gold at the Effie Awards, which is why this year we plan to provide the resources, guidance and insights on how to win an Effie.”

The Project Chairman also stated that the Effie Awards 2012 will be enlivened with many activities during the Effie Week commencing November 16, 2012 leading up to the gala night on November 22. Imal Fonseka - Managing Director of CBL Foods International who heads the panel of judges stated, “Marketing communication has the power to change markets and improve profit margins. The great power of advertising is not always leveraged in practice, hence, Effie Sri Lanka is an attempt to inspire brand custodians and those who manage brand communication to harness its full power.”

As in the past years, there will be 28 categories that will be open for awarding. Campaigns that ran between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012 are eligible to apply. The assessment process established for the awards is matched to global standards as part of the learning from the Effie worldwide.

The Platinum Sponsor is Coca-Cola, the Corporate Sponsor is DSI, the Main Sponsor is Singer (Sri Lanka), the Official Telecom Partner for the event is Etisalat, The Main Event Sponsor is Google, and the Strategic Partner is CIC. Media Partners include Art TV, Daily News, Sunday Observer, SUN FM, Gold FM, Hiru FM and Sooriyan FM. The official Web and Social Media Partner is Xiteb.

The following have also tied up with this year's event; Digital Print Partner Sign Tech, Creative Partner TBWA, Official Media Agency OMD, PR Partner Splendor Media, Photography Partner Nine Hearts, Production Partner Sky Entertainers, Print Partner Royal Printing and the official SMS Partner Zee Messenger.