Stage set for Effies 2012; entries close 5 November

The Advertising Club has announced that it is now open to receiving entries for the 2012 edition of the Effie Awards, its annual property for recognising effectiveness of marketing communication.

Ajay Kakar, chairperson – Effie committee, and vice president, The Advertising Club, said, “For over a decade, the Effies has become the gold standard in measuring marketing and communication effectiveness in India. This is reflected both in the quality and the number of entries which the awards have been attracting every year - a startling increase from 53 in 2001 to 300 in 2011. In fact Effies is the only award that is bestowed on both the client and agency, to jointly celebrate the in-market effectiveness of their campaigns.”

For this year's awards, two categories have been introduced - Direct and Best Ongoing Campaign. Effie 2012 will have round one and two judging in both Mumbai and Delhi, a shift from earlier years when judging was done solely in Mumbai.

The awards will also see a sharpened definition of categories like Integrated and David vs. Goliath. The Advertising Club has brought in specialist jury members for specialist categories like Direct, Digital and Rural. Paper-less judging and Lenovo's Tech-Doers award has also been introduced.

The Effie is open to all clients and agencies, be they creative, media, digital, DM or PR, to enter work to demonstrate effectiveness of their campaigns.

Kakar added, “I am also happy to share with you a strengthened team at our end, committed to taking Effies 2012 to even greater highs. Sameer Sathpathy from Marico has come on board as the co-chairman and N Rajaram from Airtel as our anchor, from Delhi. And as always, we enjoy the active guidance of our president Shashi Sinha, and the active support of the secretariat, led by Bipin Pandit.”

The last day for entries to be submitted is Monday, 5 November. The Effie 2012 awards ceremony is scheduled to be held in Mumbai, on Wednesday, 4 December 2012.