The IPA Effectiveness Awards are recognised by agencies and clients as Adland’s most rigorous award scheme.
Entries have to prove beyond reasonable doubt to two panels of senior industry and client professionals that a return on marketing communications investment has been delivered. Entrants are encouraged to read our Guide to Calculating Payback and to read many of the successful cases entered into the awards and available through the IPA Databank. The Databank consists of over 1,100 case histories and are considered invaluable to anyone interested in, or working in, marketing and marketing communications because they prove the payback on marcomms spend and provide a comprehensive explanation for winning business strategies.
Entrants are encouraged to also read the criteria that the judges are scoring against and to attend workshops and or look through past workshop presentations. There is also lots of help for gaining client approval and top tips for writing available in the How to enter section.
Some specifics:
The 2012 Awards are open worldwide to agencies, media owners and clients. The closing date for entries will be Friday 20th April 2012.
Papers entered from a single entrant must be no more than 4,000 words (excluding appendices/titles/footnotes/and any wording in figures or graphs provided). Papers that are jointly entered (creative agency and media agency for example) may have an additional 500 words to make specific reference to the broader marketing strategy deployed. A word count will be asked for on the entry form. Entries are not required to have econometrics to win (in fact in 2009 only 4 of the 16 shortlisted entries employed econometrics. If you do use econometrics you are encouraged to read the IPA Guide to Econometrics and to closely adhere to the terms and conditions for the level of evidence that must be provided in support of your model. The deadline for entry into the 2012 awards will be the 20th April 2012.
The 2011 Awards were limited to campaigns with a budget of up to £2.5 million.
The competition that runs in the ‘odd year’ (2011 onwards) is limited to campaigns with a total annual marketing communications budget of up to £2.5 million. This competition is open to agencies, media owners and clients worldwide. 3,000 word cases histories were to be submitted by Friday 15th April 2011. The shortlist will be announced in September and the Awards Ceremony to be held in London in November 2011.