SLIM Effie Awards, bigger and better

The only advertising awards show in Sri Lanka, the Effie Awards, will be held for the fifth consecutive year on November 22, 2012, organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.

A global program, the Effie Awards commenced in 1968 and is headquartered in New York. Affiliated to the American Marketing Association (AMA), it has grown globally since its humble beginnings and there are now global, regional and country-centric Effies held across the world. In fact, over 40 countries have now recognised the Effie Awards as the national awards program for advertising. The regional Effies include Effie Europe, Effie Asia-Pacific and Effie Middle East.

1. Mr. Ahamed Aroos – Project Chairman Effie Awards Sri Lanka

"The best thing for SLIM is that we are working with a global programme and therefore follow its standards and benchmarks when evaluating advertising agencies in Sri Lanka. It also ties in with our objective of uplifting the local advertising standards to an international level," asserted Effie Awards Sri Lanka 2012 Organising Committee Chairman and Reckitt Benckiser (Lanka) Limited Senior Brand Manager Ahamed M. Aroos.

He explained that the criteria used in Sri Lanka are equivalent to what is being used across the world. This means that if an advertising campaign, ad agency or organisation can win an Effie here, it means that their standards are high enough to win an Effie anywhere else in the world.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing has always held the rights to the Effie Awards which commenced in Sri Lanka in 2008.

The Effie Week

"While the Effie Awards are known as the only awards show that recognises and rewards advertising campaigns in the country, it is far more than just that. We have lots of other events and sessions that we organise around the show," Aroos noted.

This year, for instance, the process commenced with a press conference announcing the launch of the Effie Awards 2012 which was then followed by a participants' brief. For the first time ever, SLIM brought down McCann Worldgroup Chairman, Singapore and Chairman of the Singapore Effies 2012 to address over 200 participants from the advertising and marketing fraternity at a half-day workshop, held on 5 October at the Galadari, Colombo.

"He shared a lot of his insights and knowledge which benefitted all the participants. Another thing that we are doing for the first time this year is the launch of the 'Effie Week,' leading up to the awards night. This will commence on November 17, with an outdoor activity called 'The Amazing Race: The Effie Edition.'"

On November 20, yet another workshop will be held featuring foreign and local speakers to share their expertise with the participants. Finally, the Effie Awards 2012 will be held on November 22, at the Hilton Colombo.

Remarkable progress

Aroos added that every year, since commencing the Effie Awards, SLIM has seen remarkable progress in terms of growth. In the last year alone, SLIM received 71 entries and this year too, expects to obtain between 80 to 100 entries.

In the face of this interest, SLIM extended the initial deadline set at October 27, 2012 to November 2. The judging process will be carried out on 10 and 11 November.

The judging process

The evaluation process is done in four stages as the marketing communication process itself has four steps: firstly to set objectives, then to strategise as to how to achieve said objectives, thirdly implementing these strategies and finally, evaluating the results.

"The Effie Awards Sri Lanka, like most advertising award shows across the world, targets mostly creativity.

However, we lay emphasis on the effectiveness of the whole process as well.

We look for not only creative communication but also effective communication, clearly differentiating the two," Aroos explained.

Therefore, instead of looking for merely the most creative or sought-after campaign, the judging panel will instead evaluate how effective the campaign is overall and appraise the final results.

The judging panel this year will be headed by CBL Foods International Managing Director Imal Fonseka, who has diverse experience from both an advertising and marketing perspective, having worked with multinationals and leading conglomerates in Sri Lanka.

The rest of the panel will consist of four judges from the advertising industry, yet another four renowned marketing figures from top companies, one judge representing the academia, one from the market research sector and finally, one from the media.

"The judging panel comprises of a diverse group of individuals with exposure to different industries which will bring in a very balanced perspective to the entire evaluation process," the Organising Committee Chairman observed. The Effies are awarded within 28 categories which are also divided into industry sectors. There is not set number of awards. A scoring system indicates what organisations/campaigns will be awarded the gold, silver and bronze medals.

"One of the objectives of this year's program is to ensure that we have two or three gold winners because so far, Effie Sri Lanka has not had a gold award winner," Aroos added.

Noteworthy sponsors

Another remarkable achievement is the fact that the world's number one brand Coco-Cola and the number two brand, Google have joined the Effie Awards 2012 in Sri Lanka as the main sponsors , which is another first for SLIM. Google has just commenced their operations in the country and this is one of the first events that the company is getting involved with. "This really shows the recognition that Effie Sri Lanka has gained over the past five years. We definitely want to set the standard higher every year and we expect Effie 2012 to be the best yet," said Aroos.

The winners also have the opportunity to take part in the regional Effies and even the global event and a Sri Lankan campaign went on to win a gold at one of the global Effie Awards a couple of years back.