Experiential branding awards for Africa

The Brand Ex awards are an industry-led initiative by experiential branding and marketing companies that feel existing awards, including The Loeries, do not cater for their work or highlight return-on-investment (ROI) for marketers as a criteria, which they feel should be a factor in awards.

At the well-attended launch in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday, Monday 30 October 2006, VWV chairman, Mark Steinhobel, who is also co-chair of the Brand Ex Awards, explained the essence: "This is not just an alternative to existing awards programmes... where there is a vacuum of context. Brand Ex is about a new marketing initiative not getting lost amongst advertising. We want to create a forum where our work can be judged properly to the right criteria... it is criminally irresponsible to put no ROI on advertising."

This was an obvious dig at the annual advertising showcase The Loerie Awards, which lists Creativity as its main judging criteria, not the impact of the advertising message - and which VWV did not enter this year.

The aim of Brand Ex is to educate the market on: strategy; creativity; execution; connecting with consumers, measurability and long-term impact of campaigns that use experiential branding.

Organisation

Organisation of the awards will be led by Sylvia Newby, as MD of the new Pty company which will run Brand Ex. Many in the industry will know Newby from her years running Loeries, the Protea, Raptor and Busca awards in the industry at various times for the old-Association of Marketers (Assom) which was submerged into the now-bankrupt and dissolved Marketing Federation of SA.

The Brand Ex Awards is the brainchild of Newby, Mark Steinhobel and David Boon of Exp Branding. They recognised a gap in the South African advertising awards calendar, viz a vis experiential/sponsorship marketing. They decided to fill that gap to acknowledge experiential campaigns from across the African continent, with the aim of driving greater understanding of experiential marketing as part of strategic brand planning.

The marketing landscape the world over is changing, and the importance of personally engaging with target audiences is increasing. Meaningful perceptions are important building blocks for a brand, and research shows that these are predominantly built via experiences we have with or of the brand. Experiential Marketing is about connecting people to a product, brand, or idea, through an experience (often face-to-face) that engages them, and asks them to participate, or at least respond.

The press release quotes from David A Akers, Professor Emeritus, Hass School of Business, UC Berkeley, who said: "Learning is more likely to be remembered and to influence future behaviour; active involvement is more likely to create a bond between the brand and the consumer."

The organisers go on to point out that many awards programmes have been established in individual countries across Africa. But since Africa is uniting more and more on various levels of sporting events, politics and economic development, the way in which global brands are being marketed across the continent, becomes equally important. Hence the establishment of the Brand Ex Awards, to acknowledge experiential campaigns from across the African continent, with the aim of driving greater understanding of experiential marketing as part strategic brand planning.

The aim, say the organisers, is not only to recognise outstanding work in the field of experiential marketing, but also to educate the marketing industry about the category, allowing all marketers across Africa to take experiential marketing to another level, thereby offering clients a better return on their investment.

"The core foundations of Experiential Marketing are not to put itself at the top of the Marketing Mix, but rather at the centre. It understands that the entire marketing mix has a key function and role in achieving brand awareness. But Experiential Marketing aims to motivate a target audience to take action, make consumers more receptive to the product's advertising, enhance the consumer's brand perception, and build deeper and more meaningful relationships between the brand and the consumer," says Steinhobel, joint-chairman of the Brand Ex Awards committee.

It was emphasised that these awards do not aim to alienate ad agencies, who are seen as part of the process as well.

The vision

The vision and pillars of the BRAND EX AWARDS are:

• Not rewarding creativity alone, but also strategy and effectiveness.
  
• Not a one country, but a Pan-African award.
  
• Not an advertising award, but a recognition of effective branding and marketing.
  
• Not controlled or influenced by any industry body, but an independent commercial venture like Cannes.
  
• Not favouring any category, but rather giving equal weighting to all the disciplines within the alternative marketing mix.

As such, a committee has been established to drive and manage the Brand Ex Awards across Africa. It is important to highlight that 25 patrons, representing market leaders from across the African continent, have been identified and invited to be patrons of the awards.

These patrons will play a crucial role in providing insights into the local market and communicating the messages of experiential marketing to local marketers. The same applies for all other countries in Africa, where local patrons have been invited to be the ambassadors of the awards, ensuring the programme is locally relevant and has the support and the buy in of the local marketing industry experts.

Likewise, representatives of 25 African countries will form the judging panel who will judge the award entries.

Awards categories

The BRAND EX AWARDS will acknowledge Experiential work in the following broad Divisions:

1. Event Marketing: This division includes any event which physically engages the target market in an experience of the brand. The more immersive the experience, and the more senses it touches, the more experiential the initiative.

2. Sponsorship Marketing: This includes all areas of traditional sponsorship, but will consider only those initiatives that genuinely constitute an experience of the brand by the target market. The categories are self-explanatory, with the exception of cause-related sponsorship: a 'cause' would traditionally be regarded as a charity, but might include any initiative in which a corporation plays a supportive role in the community or society which it serves. As African businesses recognise their role as corporate citizens, they will discover the opportunities to achieve business objectives by making a positive impact on key social issues.

3. Strategic Publicity: As opposed to traditional 'PR', this division includes initiatives in which strategic publicity campaigns set out to pro-actively use editorial to launch or sustain brands or corporate messages.

4. Alternative Channels: This division has been created to house a number of unrelated disciplines, as well as encourage entries employing methodologies and channels that may not have been invented yet.
   

Judging criteria and entry details

These divisions are divided into industry categories, which are further broken down into sections which recognise specific disciplines within industry niches. The submission dates for entries open on 6 November 2006 and closes 31 January 2007.

The four primary judging criteria are Strategy (40%), Creativity (25%), Effectiveness (25%) and Mechanics/Production (10%). In evaluating Strategy, judges may consider relevance and appropriateness, the competitive landscape and activity, and strategic innovation and creativity. They will look for: Impact on Brand Opportunity; Impact on target audience. In evaluating Creativity, judges may consider originality, excellence of tactical execution, quality of art direction and production inputs. They will look for: Appeal factor to engage with target audience; Impact on building meaningful Brand experiences. In evaluating Effectiveness, judges will apply logical evaluation against a statement of objectives, as well as considering supporting documentation. They will look for: Return on objectives, including impact on Brand. In evaluating Mechanics/Production, judges will consider appropriateness of the campaign or programme mechanics, quality of production inputs, attention to detail, and creativity applied to the tactical execution.

Entrants are encouraged to submit validations of the strategic rationale and effectiveness of the work. These could take the form of endorsements, questionnaires, research, sales figures, ROI calculations, or any other form of validation. Judges will accept validations at face value, but retain the right to audit any validation and disqualify any entry suspected of false or exaggerated claims.

Actual awards

1. Africa Platinum Award: Best overall experiential campaign
   
2. Gold BRAND EX AWARD
   
3. Silver BRAND EX AWARD
   
4. Bronze BRAND EX AWARD
   

The judging process will take place 1 - 28 February 2007, with the Brand Ex Awards taking place on 14 March 2007.

The awards ceremony will be held in South Africa in the first year, following which, it will be held in a different African country, every consecutive year.

Entries can be submitted online via the BRAND EX AWARDS website, www.brandexawards.com, from 6 November 2006 when it goes live. Support material such as videos and CDs can be dropped off at a submission point in each country, and will be couriered to South Africa, where the first judging and awards ceremony will take place.

All details regarding entries and submissions will be available on the website, but in the meantime, any queries can be directed to Sylvia Newby on .