Effie Awards Europe’s Post

Ready to win the gold? Excited to nominate your achievement? Get ready and visit the link below to access more info on entry deadlines, entry kit & award categories - https://lnkd.in/gXghAQw6 The MENA Effie Awards is back yet again to celebrate the success of marketing effectiveness! This year, on 22 November, we will bring together over 1000 professionals from the industry of Marketing & Communications in MENA to recognize any and all forms of marketing that contribute to a brand's success. Interested in partnership opportunities? Drop a comment below! #MarketingEffectiveness #Marketers #Creatives #Awards #MENAEffie #AwardingIdeasThatWork

Very excited to be a judge for The Effie's this year. Here are my 4 big takeaways after letting my experience sink in: Strategists don't network enough. It's easy to become isolated in our worlds. Get out and pick more brains! You never know where a new approach to attacking a problem could be hiding. It's a good prescription for imposter syndrome too 😉 A good idea is only as strong as the environment it lives in. A smart comms strategy is paramount to making any idea sing in our extremely fragmented digital lives. Selling a client on a crazy idea takes masterful (and simple!) storytelling. How can a simple insight drive massive results? What connective tissue is needed to get your partners to see an opportunity the same way you do? Strong client relationships matter here too. Building trust and excitement with smaller projects can go a long way in the end game. Never copy & paste your case studies. Take the time to hone, simplify, and romance for the category you're entering work in. The story of how a campaign came to be is just as important as the idea itself. Big results mean nothing without context. Simplicity is also key here. Remind yourself judges are going through piles of submissions. Best of luck to all of the entrants this year. I'm not envious of the tough decisions the final judges have to make!

I'm excited to share that I recently participated as a juror for the Effie Awards UK, which is known globally for recognizing outstanding marketing achievements. Reviewing five impressive cases, each demanding around 45 minutes, across a wide range of industries and communication problems, was both challenging and enlightening. A big thank you to the Effie UK team: Rachel Emms, Alexandra Capes and Beccy Roberts, for the opportunity. I also want to thank my ex-coworker and brilliant strategic mind, Tania Barr, for connecting me with this fantastic experience. For those looking to improve their submissions (or submit their first one), here are some tips, in no specific order of importance: (1) Consistency - Make sure there's a clear connection between the four key pillars structuring the case. There has to be a red thread. (2) Rigorous evidence - Provide strong and clear evidence of effectiveness within your category. Jurors aren't necessarily experts in your category, so any performance benchmarks are welcome to help assess effectiveness. (3) Straightforwardness - Be precise about the problem you're addressing. Likewise, make it crystal clear how your work benefited the brand and the business (not just the societal problem alone). This experience has been a great learning journey, and I'm looking forward to seeing more top-notch work from our marketing community.

📣 Did you know the 2023 Effie US Trends report is out? Published in partnership with Ipsos North America, this report unpacks what drives award-winning, effective work, and provides guidance and best practices that can be applied to your own marketing programs. 💡 While it may not reveal how to win an Effie outright, it will undoubtedly serve as a support to prepare and polish up your entry in the run-up to the Effie Awards Europe, so check it out https://rb.gy/6bqxo #EffieEruope Effie Worldwide

📚 In view of the second deadline, get inspired by thousands of marketing effectiveness examples with the Effie Case Library. Subscribe to the European Market pack and access award-winning cases, executive summaries, creative reels & more! #MarketingEffectiveness 📨 Are you interested? Get in touch to know more! https://lnkd.in/eq7bM7y2 ⏰ Submit your entry by 31 August and get a discounted rate! #EffieEurope

Loved judging at the Effie UK awards again last week. These are my favourite awards as they are the ones where ROI and business outcomes is the key metric of success not creativity. In fact you are briefed to watch the work after you have read the paper so you aren’t led by it. At Merlin Entertainments marketing has always had a commercial & sales remit to drive the P&L with multiple levers across price, promotions, channel mix, product development and guest experience. Marketing investment has a significant impact on our business & so do other levers and uncontrollable factors like weather, inbound and outbound tourism. It was fascinating to see at the shortlist stage how few papers really understood the place that marketing plays within all the drivers of performance or indeed what an industry leading ROI is. It's tough to get shortlisted so please be extremely proud if you do. Equally if you are an agency strategist or upcoming marketer who wants to go far remember your role is to understand the whole business, customer insight and the place of marketing within that not just the contribution of the advertising

****Danger****. *****Controversial***** *****Highly Opinionated***** This could be misread as the pot calls the kettle black; I will accept that if interpreted this way. Ahead of Cannes, I wanted to raise a question for all in the marketing ecosystem. There's a noticeable trend among highly recognized CMOs prioritizing their personal accolades and public appearances on Linkedin. This award, that ranking, and a constant banter amongst a few very senior, highly talented CMOS. The focus is often on collecting awards and acknowledging speaking spots at expensive boutique events that aren't for the masses (rhymes with Hospital) rather than diving deep into enhancing partnerships that are crucial for mutual success. Have Marketers gone too far in promoting their personal brands? Should they better balance their public roles with their fundamental duties, ensuring their teams and clients truly benefit from their expertise and not just their fame? Do we shift the conversation more openly about... - true collaboration and what it takes - the trend to diminish an agency and reduce it's ability to have a return on investment - the death of long-term relationships - the impact of procurement in managing relationships - creativity; brand vs. performance marketing - emphasis on creativity that builds brands over time vs. driving quarterly/weekly boosts in sales at the exclusion of the long-term - promoting agencies and talent vs. themselves This is meant to be a discussion. I'm open to all opinions. It's an observation not a fact. I may be overly sensitive to what I am seeing. Maybe, maybe not. I'd value your view as I form my own. #Chiefmarketingofficer #CMO Association of National Advertisers Ad Age ADWEEK #soulpurposeinc

How Exciting!!!! I am so honored to be selected as a member of the Jury Panel for the MENA Effie Awards ,The most prestigious awards program to honor the most effective marketing efforts in the region!!! I am super excited to review great campaigns and great work where winners will be announced across multiple categories! The Effie awards were launched in 1968 by the New York American Marketing Association and are now held in 51 countries around the world, with regional and global competitions recognizing all forms of effective marketing! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TAKE PART TODAY! #marketingcampaigns #effectivemarketing #effieawards2023 #effieglobal #effie #effectivemarketing #marketingsuperstars #menaregion #globalcampaigns #jurypanel #awardsceremony #awards2023 #dubaievents #topcampaigns #martech

Another thought-provoking webinar from Mark Ritson: "Creativity isn't enough". Albeit, a slight evolution on what he's just presented in Cannes (and perhaps, a less polite version… to ensure better absorption? 😉) Key takeaways? 1. Cannes' 🦁 creatively awarded entries score slightly better on long-term effectiveness in 2024 than before (2.3⭐ out of 5🌟) as measured by System1 and rated by consumers. Yet, they are worse this year on short-term efficacy ('spike rating') - see the image below. Equivalent to a C-grade school average, overall. Nothing's wrong with that. Just reaffirms Mark's gospel that 'we' (i.e. marketeers/creatives/strategists) are not the customer. 2. Mark pushes marketeers to do more 🎯 "Creativity is not enough" is a rallying cry for the industry to promptly down that rose 🍷 and start getting involved in Product & Pricing improvements ("The way we communicate the price is more important than the price itself"), and Positioning. In short, the other three parts of the proverbial 4Ps - beyond the pure "Promotion" where creativity indeed has a huge role to play. Meaning, creativity is great but it's otherwise a small part of what marketeers should be getting up to. A link to a recent piece in The Drum by System1's Andrew Tindall explaining what consumers ✨ACTUALLY think ✨ about 🦁 Cannes Lions 2024 🦁 winners is in the first comment below. Thank you Marketing Week Mini MBA with Mark Ritson for the session! #Cannes #Creativity #Marketing