Wins Global Agency Network of the Year, Campaign of The Year and Millennial of the Year

MediaCom has been named Global Agency Network of the Year at the 2018 M&M Global Awards, the fourth time in a row it has won the competition’s top prize and an eighth win in the last decade. 

In addition, the agency has retained the Campaign of the Year title that it won last year, with P&G Gillette’s I Don’t Roll on Shabbos campaign from Israel picking up this year’s prize. The innovative work, which successfully targeted the country’s brand and premium-resistant Orthodox community, has already won two Cannes Lions and Gold and Silver trophies at the Festival of Media Global Awards this year.

Finally, Dannielle Beechey, currently Global Tech Partnerships Planner at the London office, has been named as Millennial of the Year, thanks to her work on the Mars Launchpad project where, among other innovations, she launched the first-ever chatbot for pet advice. She also co-runs GeekGirl Meetup, a group that works to empower women in tech by running conferences and social events as well as working on MediaCom’s pro bono project for UN Women. 

The trio of top awards were picked up at a ceremony in London last night where the agency’s work for P&G Gillette and Fairy in Israel, Cerveza Victoria in Mexico, plus Whisper, Big Bazaar, and P&G Gillette in India was also recognised as world class. In addition, the agency picked up 10 Highly Commended Awards. 

This year’s success at the M&M Global Awards follows a strong performance at shortlist stage, where MediaCom was recognised as the best-performing media agency network with 33 shortlisted entries. 

The win also maintains MediaCom’s impressive performance at global media awards competitions. It was named Media Agency Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions, The Festival of Media Global and in the Gunn Media 100. 

This news tops off a great week in which MediaCom has been named as the leading Global Agency Network in the latest Comvergence New Business report, and the world’s best-performing agency network for Vitality in the latest Diagnostics report from RECMA.  

Stephen Allan, MediaCom Worldwide Chairman and CEO, said, “Our ongoing success at the M&M Global Awards is remarkable. It is testament to our teams‘ desire, in every market globally, to create best-in-class campaigns for each and every MediaCom client. By harnessing the power of our systems thinking approach, we’re able to make a real difference to our clients’ businesses.”

MediaCom’s winning campaigns were as follows:

Best Campaign led by Ambient/Traditional Media: I Don’t Roll on Shabbos, P&G Gillette, MediaCom Israel

Best Campaign led by Content: Introducing the absolutely amazing PreWash 2!, Fairy, MediaCom Israel

Best Campaign led by Events, Experiential or Sponsorship Activation: P&G Gillette Bachelors of Shaving, P&G Gillette, MediaCom India

Best Campaign led by Media: Lo Chingon Esta Aqui, Cerveza Victoria, MBA Mexico

Best Communication Strategy: Whisper#WingsToFly, Whisper, MediaCom India

Best Integrated Campaign: I Don’t Roll on Shabbos, P&G Gillette, MediaCom Israel

Fashion, Beauty and Retail: Smart Search, Big Bazaar, MediaCom India

FMCG: I Don’t Roll on Shabbos, P&G Gillette, MediaCom Israel

MediaCom’s highly commended campaigns were as follows:

Automotive: Fill Up with Britain’s No.1 Performance Fuel, Shell, MediaCom UK

Best Campaign led by Digital: Anonymous, Cerveza Victoria, MBA Mexico

Best Campaign led by Mobile: Safety On The Road, Shell Helix, MediaCom Malaysia

Best Campaign led by Creative Ideas: Beautiful Lengths, Pantene, MediaCom Israel

Best Integrated Campaign: I Don’t Roll on Shabbos, P&G Gillette, MediaCom Israel

Best International Campaign: Gravity Light, Shell, MediaCom UK

Best Local Execution of a Global Brand: I Don’t Roll on Shabbos, P&G Gillette, MediaCom Israel

Best Partnership Award: Whisper#WingsToFly, Whisper, MediaCom India

FMCG: Beautiful Lengths, Pantene, MediaCom Israel

The Effectiveness Award: Anmum YOU&B, Anmum, MediaCom Hong Kong

The partnership allows advertisers to make use of zeotap’s high-quality segments through the different Adobe solutions.

Zeotap’s data has been shown to exceed up to 6x market benchmarks on measured demographic On-Target Percentage (OTP) levels.

Berlin, Madrid, Milan, London, Paris, New York, Mumbai, 17th September, zeotap, an independent mobile data platform that unites the world’s most valuable data to fuel growth, today announced that it has completed its integration with Adobe’s – (Nasdaq:ADBE) Audience Manager DMP (Data Management Platform) and Audience Data Marketplace.

In a time where both brands and agencies alike have worked tirelessly to bring their various pools of consumer data together in the past years, DMPs (Data Management Platforms) and Data Marketplaces are on the rise. The partnership between zeotap and Adobe is a reflection of this trend, wherein agencies and brands rely strongly on 3rd party data to complement their own data assets and empower them across the various digital channels. Naturally, advertisers find it relatively easier to collect a set of data on their current customers, whilst being reliant on 3rd parties to complete the picture in other areas and continuously identify promising prospects.

zeotap’s integration with Adobe is in line with an increasing need to base customer research and outreach on the same datasets and the general desire in the market to centralise intelligence. In the past, advertisers’ customer data was largely scattered across various siloes and the partnership is also another major step for zeotap on its way to make its data safely accessible within all relevant environments for its clients. The company is already directly integrated with all major DSPs (demand-side platforms), several global SSPs (supply-side platforms) and numerous major global and local publishers in the market.

As of now, zeotap’s segments can now be pushed as 1st party data to advertisers’ Adobe DMP seats and within the Adobe Audience Marketplace. The partnership applies to all of zeotap’s deterministic and comprehensive socio-demographic, interest and purchase intent data, which are made available in a fully privacy-compliant manner and can be leveraged across insights, modelling and activation use cases within zeotap’s core geographies, Europe, North America and India.

“High-quality 3rd party data providers are scarce in today’s market, but are much needed since a 1st party data only approach is always limited when it comes to prospecting new customers in the short and medium term.” said Daniel Heer, Founder & CEO at zeotap. “The integration between zeotap and Adobe closes that gap by offering accurate and verified data at scale for brands to achieve their performance objectives.”

zeotap data has proven to exceed market benchmarks by up to 6 times on measured demographic On-Target Percentage (OTP) and other key performance indicators. The company has also introduced automated rigid data quality audits on top of its 3-step GDPR compliance audit across all of its data partners to crucially simplify advertisers search for good data and offer guarantees. So far, only 10% of roughly 200 potential data partners have moved through all tests successfully and were allowed to join the platform.

Nevertheless, with a mix of large global and local partners zeotap has by now united over 1 billion comprehensive high-quality data profiles to ensure that campaigns do not only meet or overachieve clients’ qualitative goals but also at the volumes needed to deliver large branded campaigns.

Roles of Chairman and CEO being split to support firm’s ambitious growth strategy  

KPMG Lower Gulf has announced the appointment of Nader Haffar as CEO of the firm in the UAE and Oman with effect from October 1 2018.

Vijay Malhotra who has led the growth of the firm across the UAE and Oman over many decades, will continue in the role of Chairman. Malhotra who has served as both Chairman and CEO of the firm in the past, personally played an active role in the selection of the CEO, following the firm’s decision to create two distinct roles back in 2017, to accelerate the firm’s ambitious growth strategy.

Both Malhotra and Haffar will work towards strengthening the firm’s three-fold approach that focuses on developing people, solutions and technology to meet the needs of KPMG’s expanding client base across the UAE and Oman.  Malhotra commented “our business has recorded strong double digit growth in recent years and we expect this pace of growth to continue over the next 3-5 years. To support this future growth, we now consider it prudent to expand our senior leadership team and Nader’s appointment as CEO is an important element of our strategy.”

Nader has most recently served as Head of the firm’s Management Consultancy practice and has overseen considerable growth in that part of the firm’s business. His focus now will be to work closely with Chairman Vijay Malhotra and the firm’s 110-strong team of Partners and Directors to deliver innovative technology-based solutions to clients, while building and diversifying the firm’s expertise in the Lower Gulf. 

Bringing more than 25 years of experience in management consulting, Nader has worked across a variety of industries in both the private and public sector, with a strong focus on government transformation programs and energy and natural resources. He has also worked across various geographies, having spent many years in the US and Saudi Arabia.

Nader, who has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, also holds postgraduate management qualifications from Colombia University and Harvard Business School. He has held leadership positions on many important global accounts, led the development of cutting-edge solutions and also managed sector and service businesses in both the private and the public sector. He has had a long and distinguished career with KPMG and considerable experience across the Middle East, having also worked with the firm in Saudi Arabia.  

Speaking about Nader’s appointment, Vijay Malhotra, Chairman Lower Gulf, added: “KPMG is focused on developing an ever stronger team of knowledge leaders who are committed to growing the business in the region and providing clients with insightful and timely solutions to meet evolving market needs. Corporate governance, risk management and digital transformation are fundamental to this plan – and I am delighted to welcome Nader in his new leadership role, to help us accelerate our growth strategy. Nader brings immense experience in strategy development and implementation to the table in both the public and private sector, and will be a critical addition to KPMG’s leadership team.”

The firm continues to expand by hiring exceptional talent and KPMG now employs over 1,200 across the UAE and Oman. This strategy has helped the firm achieve strong growth, which it says is a direct reflection of the growth of the economy here. 

Nader Haffar, incoming CEO KPMG Lower Gulf, said: “KPMG has established decades of expertise and trust in the region with a dynamic team of people across its audit, advisory and tax functions who are focused on delivering the best-in-class service to our clients. As a firm, we are constantly transforming ourselves and looking for new ways to adapt to evolving market needs.

We continue to invest in the best technology and also in hiring and training the best talent to support our clients’ needs. The market here is strong and the opportunities for growth are immense. We see tremendous opportunity both in the UAE and Oman to expand our business, bringing leading-edge-solutions to the public sector, Sovereign Wealth Funds and family business – and I look forward to working closely with Vijay and our exceptional team, to drive our growth.”

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the future of jobs is usually discussed in theoretical terms. Reports and opinion pieces cover the full spectrum of opinion—from the dystopian landscape that leaves millions unemployed, to new opportunities for social and economic mobility that could transform society for the better.

But the impact of AI on jobs is not just theoretical any more—it’s very much part of our present. The World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs 2018 takes a look at how today’s jobs are being transformed by the introduction of new technologies. Data on the skills that millions of members report on LinkedIn can give us additional insight into how AI is impacting different industries and job functions globally.

Our research into emerging skills around the world shed light on a few growing trends:

• AI skills are among the fastest-growing skills on LinkedIn and saw a 190% increase from 2015 to 2017.

• Industries with more AI skills present among their workforce are also the fastest-changing industries.

• The countries with the highest penetration of AI skills are the United States, China, India, Israel, and Germany.

Our findings suggest that while changes driven by AI technologies may still be in their infancy, we are already seeing their impact across the global labor market.

Building momentum across industries 

In 2017, the number of LinkedIn members adding AI skills to their profiles increased 190% from 2015. When we talk about “AI skills,” we’re referring to the skills needed to create artificial intelligence technologies, which include expertise in areas like neural networks, deep learning, and machine learning, as well as actual “tools” such as Weka and Scikit-Learn. LinkedIn data shows that all types of technical AI skills are growing at a rapid pace around the world.

As culture and tastes change and new technologies are created, industries and jobs evolve accordingly. One of the ways to measure these evolutions is by how the skills needed for different jobs are changing. These changes propagate through occupations and industries in different ways.  In some cases changes are driven by the nature of jobs or tasks changing, such as, say, an accountant focusing more on human-centric customer service tasks and less on routine tasks which have been automated—or a marketing specialist focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) to make their company’s blog content easier to discover via a Google search.  In other cases, specific skills become more important to a job as they bring productivity gains—such as a data specialist using new programming and machine learning skills to more effectively target clients and ultimately generate revenue. When we compare all the different skills held by an industry’s workforce in 2015 vs. 2017, it’s clear which industries have changed the most by how much their overall skills makeup has changed.

As it turns out, the industries with the most AI skills present in their workforce are also the industries that are changing the fastest. If we consider “change”to be a proxy for innovation, then this indicates that the presence of AI skills correlate strongly with innovation within an industry. It also means there’s an opportunity for many industries to invest more heavily in their AI capabilities.

When we zoomed in from the industry level to the skill level, we found that many of the changes were due to a rise in (1) data and programming skills that are complementary to AI, (2) skills to use products or services that are powered by data, such as search engine optimization for marketers, and (3) interpersonal skills. It’s a compelling illustration of how technology affects an industry. Directly getting incorporated into products is part of the impact, but the bigger impact is through complementary products and services.

Still Niche...or Universal?

Researchers predict that AI will have applications across nearly every sector—from construction to financial services and beyond. To understand the extent to which AI skills have spread beyond the software industry, we took a look at year-over-year growth of these skills across industries. While the software industry does continue to stand out as the top field for professionals with AI skills, growth is also strong in sectors like education and academia, hardware and networking, finance, and manufacturing.

When it comes to volumes in particular, the education sector stands out as the industry where the second-highest numbers of core AI skills were added by members in 2017—suggesting that the growth of AI is correlated with more research in the field.

Human and machine, everywhere

Artificial intelligence technologies are more ubiquitous than many people realize—and that’s true on a global level. The United States, China, India, Israel, and Germany rank as the countries with the highest penetration of AI skills among their workforce.

This growing ubiquity raises philosophical questions on the nature of how we relate to our work on a human level. As AI skills become increasingly relevant, we wanted to better understand whether typically “human” skills—e.g., those related to personal characteristics, interpersonal communication and cognitive skills—are on the rise as well. Our findings may not come as a surprise: at least for now, interpersonal skills aren’t going anywhere.

In the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs 2018, we found that a number of human-centric occupations fall into the top ten most emerging occupations—i.e., occupations which have seen the most growth in hiring over the past 5 years. Globally across all industries, top emerging occupations include Marketing Specialists and Managers, Human Resources Specialists and Consultants, and User Experience Designers. These roles require an understanding of human behaviors and preferences—a skill set which fundamentally can’t be automated.

In addition, a number of highly automatable jobs fall into the top ten most declining occupations—i.e., occupations which have seen the largest decreases in hiring over the past 5 years. These occupations include Administrative Assistants, Customer Service Representatives, Accountants, and Electrical/Mechanical Technicians. As the OECD notes, the risk of automation increases if educational attainment and skill levels for a role are generally low, and roles such as food preparation assistants, cleaners and helpers, and labourers in mining, construction, manufacturing, and transport are at highest risk of automation.

As the world continues to invest in AI technologies, we’ll continue to assess their externalities and impact on the workforce, especially as it relates to opportunities for more effective reskilling and education initiatives. As new skills emerge, governments, educational institutions, and employers should consider how they are creating learning programs to equip people with the new and changing skills that are needed to keep up with the modern economy.

Publicis Media Agencies Named a Leader and a Strong Performer by Independent Research Firm 

Zenith and Starcom recognized in independent evaluation of the media agency landscape

Publicis Media agencies Zenith and Starcom were named a Leader and a Strong Performer, respectively, in The Forrester Wave™: Global Media Agencies, Q3 2018. Both agencies were among the select companies that Forrester invited to participate in this evaluation of the media agency landscape. 

Zenith received the second-highest score in the Strategy and Current Offering categories, and was recognized for its ability to converge commerce and media to drive client growth. The report noted that the agency's heritage as one of the first independent media networks “sets the stage for its vision to master the newly converging media and commerce landscape,” and cites its investments in eCommerce, personalization, marketing consulting, automation, AI and data visualization skills and tools. The report also states that “Zenith shows strength in its own strategic vision, analytics, performance marketing and data sciences.” 

Starcom was named a strong performer, and was noted for its ability to blend operational excellence with digital prowess. According to the report, Starcom’s “reputation as a strong media operations partner has allowed it to catch up its data practice and integrated approach to planning and activation.” The report also cites that “Starcom shows strength in operationalizing its HX process into media strategy, communications planning, buying and activation.”

Zenith and Starcom, were evaluated on 23 different criteria that assessed their current offering, strategy and market presence. Both were recognized for their collaboration with partner agencies and their approach to brand safety.

This report builds on a successful year for Publicis Media agencies scoring across Forrester Wave™ reports – with Performics being named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Search Marketing Agencies, Q4 2017 and Digitas named a Strong Performer in the The Forrester Wave™: Digital Experience Service Providers, Q4 2017.

Hyperconnectivity and busy lifestyles are influencing buying decisions of global consumers.

Global consumers want convenience at every stage of shopping and brand engagement with products and services. However, convenience means different things to different consumers, and it’s increasingly important to understand the regional and global trends centered around the need for convenience.

There are six key factors driving consumers toward convenience and by understanding them, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies can adapt and enhance their solutions as consumer needs rapidly evolve.

The evolving demand for convenience has given rise to a slew of life-simplifying products such as ready prepared and on-the-go meal solutions, home or office grocery delivery offerings, and tech-driven “on-demand” services. One quarter (25%) of consumers in the Middle East and Africa regions use restaurant or meal delivery services. Grab-and-go meals from quick-service, fast food and street vendors are also on the rise — 32% of consumers in these regions are opting to eat outside on a weekly basis.

Circumstances, culture, location, market maturity and technology are key influences that are driving the need for FMCG companies toward convenience solutions tailored to cater to different segments of society and geographical areas.

Since consumers don’t articulate convenience directly, FMCG companies can get insights from consumer activities during their start-to-finish experience with products and solutions. FMCG companies need to adapt ‘convenience’ at the centre of their offering so that they can address consumers with better products and solutions and remain ahead of the curve.

Evaluated across 23 different criteria that assessed agencies’ current offerings, strategy and market presence, Zenith was recognized for its “vision to master the newly converging media and commerce landscape” and for its investment in eCommerce, personalization, marketing consulting, automation, AI and data visualization skills and tools.

Two years ago we set our vision as a transformative, growth partner for clients. We believe that being named as a Leader by Forrester in its Global Media Agencies WAVE report is a testament to our new ROI+ approach”

The report cites that “Zenith shows strength in its own strategic vision, analytics, performance marketing and data sciences”. Forrester concluded that: “Zenith is a good fit for companies with complex data, analytics and marketing tasks. We like its moves to expand capabilities in consulting, strategy, data and technology…”

In the submission and presentation to Forrester, Zenith set out its strategy for driving business growth focusing on digital transformation, and investing in machine learning and automation.

Vittorio Bonori, Global Brand President, Zenith, said: “Two years ago we set our vision as a transformative, growth partner for clients. We believe that being named as a Leader by Forrester in its Global Media Agencies WAVE report is a testament to our new ROI+ approach that focuses on Business, Growth, Experience Planning and 1-2-1 Optimisation.”

noon, the Middle East’s homegrown online marketplace, is on the lookout for the most talented university graduates to join its ranks as the digital platform launches its intern and graduate program. The rapidly growing e-commerce company has just welcomed its first intake of interns to a new tailor-made eight-week program, while in early 2019 it will launch a six-month intensive graduate scheme.

To kick-start the initiative, noon will be visiting local and international universities to talk to students and discuss programs that could propel the talent of the future into a range of top jobs in digital and e-commerce fields. A 2018 joint YouGov/Bayt survey highlighted that nearly a fifth (18%) of all fresh graduates indicated that e-commerce was the most appealing industry for a career.

Hiring local GCC talent to drive the economy contributes to the UAE Vision 2021 as the ‘United In Knowledge’ goals aim to diversify the country’s job market to a knowledge-based economy. noon is also contributing to Saudi Vision 2030 by providing jobs and training in online retail as KSA aims to reach its objective of growing modern trade and e-commerce to 80% of the retail sector by 2020 (from 20% in 2016).

Muhra Khalid Mohamed, one of the first interns to be taken on by noon, is a 23-year-old Communication Media Science student at Zayed University in Dubai. She is excited to learn about noon as a local brand, e-commerce and digital development in the Middle East.

“Beyond just a memorable logo, successful local businesses are an inspiration to other small businesses. As a truly local e-commerce brand, noon is an exciting prospect for a student looking to learn more about the industry and digital future of the region.”

Each individual will be assigned a noon buddy and mentor, learning on-the-job skills through assignments and projects. They will also face real-life business issues that require elements of independent thinking and cross-functional teamwork to come up with viable solutions. In groups, they will present to noon’s senior management who will assess the teams before providing feedback and valuable advice, helping individuals to learn and develop.

“An internship at noon is an opportunity for both young talent in the region and ourselves to learn,” says Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. “We are a hungry, fast-paced startup with ambitions. Our interns will have the opportunity to not only learn from highly experienced and passionate mentors but to also contribute ideas and skills whilst running independent projects, giving them a unique chance to help shape the future of e-commerce in the region.”

In theory the application of zero-based budgeting to marketing ought to be a good thing: no more budgets based on historical spending and funds allocated between options based on current performance. What is not to like? How about the fact that there is often a huge divide between theory and practice?

Let’s be clear, just as zero-based marketing ought to be a good thing in theory, my concerns about its application are also theoretical. However, knowing how marketing is regarded by many in the C-suite – a cost not an investment – and having seen similar trends sweep through business in the past, I think I have some basis for my concern.

This article makes the pitch for the sensible application of zero-based budgeting to marketing. The authors are very clear that the objective of zero-based budgeting is reallocation of funds to programs that are delivering better returns. After noting that the application of zero-based budgeting principles to marketing can save between 10 to 25 per cent of spending in certain categories they state,

“…with the rare exception of industries that are in a global state of decline, a well-executed reinvestment in high-ROI opportunities will deliver a greater return than “banking the savings” will.”

Whether or not any savings are reinvested is, of course, going to depend in large part on the mindset of the people who implemented the budgeting program in the first place. I suspect the desire to pocket savings is far more pervasive than the McKinsey team might think. Unless a brand is growing profitably the allure of an improved quarter’s results might prove stronger than the need to continue building the brand.

All too often, brand-building is regarded as a discretionary cost, not a necessary investment. The assumption seems to be that a strong brand will remain strong with reduced support. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Beyond the negative impact of competitive activity, in the absence of ongoing marketing support brands simply lose salience: people become less likely to think of them in relation to purchase occasions and the associations that make them worth paying for also fade with time.

Opportunities to save costs are always alluring in business because they are easily quantified, as a result practices get accepted at face value and only later are the full implications realized. Take the example of open-plan offices. Judged solely on the basis of cost-saving, open-plan offices seem like a great idea, which is why so many companies have adopted them. Judged on a wider basis, including productivity, quality of communication and employee self-esteem, a different conclusion might be reached. A recent article in The Economist reports research that switching to open-plan offices reduced face-to-face communication, increased email traffic (and we all need more of that) and, in one case, reduced productivity.

Given that the basic premise of zero-based marketing is sound, it seems to me that the real challenge is to make sure it is implemented correctly and that requires understanding how brands really grow and prosper, not just looking at short-term performance and costs. I will return to this topic in a later post but meanwhile what do you think?

Written by Nigel Hollis,Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst, Kantar Millward Brown

Gayle Mandel: Newly Appointed Executive Director Initiates Competition Updates

New York Festivals® 2019 AME Awards®  for the World’s Best Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness™ is now accepting entries.

AME Awards opened its 2019 competition with the recent appointment of Gayle Mandel to the role of Executive Director. With Mandel at the helm, AME’s launches this year with strategic updates including a consolidation and restructuring of current categories, new categories, and enhanced entry process guidelines making the submission process much more user-friendly.

“Gayle’s dedication to detail coupled with her top-notch communication skills already utilized at NYF as Director of Media Relations, in addition to her ability to identify opportunities for growth and her capacity to surpass expectations will provide NYF’s Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness (AME) Awards with a strong leader,” said Ellen Smyth, CEO of New York Festivals.

“I’m thrilled to be in this new role and part of the AME Awards’ long-standing commitment to honoring advertising and marketing effectiveness,” said Mandel.  “AME’s 25-year heritage of celebrating boldly innovative campaigns created by some of the world’s most accomplished advertising/marketing agency talent on behalf of prominent global brands makes being recognized in this esteemed competition an enviable achievement.”

Categories added to AME’s powerhouse roster in Products and Services include: Culture & The Arts, Beauty Products & Services, Digital Goods, Fitness & Wellness, Media & Entertainment, On-Demand Products & Services, Sports & Recreation, and Travel & Tourism.

Additional new categories unveiled include: Ambient, Activation & Engagement, Creative Partnerships, Creative Use of Technology, Gamification, Media & Entertainment, and Social Media/Influencer.

Creativity for Positive Impact, new for 2019, honors creative campaigns whose goal is to encourage social good and inspire beneficial behavior promoting positive change and awareness for causes, society, and the welfare of animals, and the environment. New categories include Emergency Relief and Collaboration/Partnerships.

Each year AME recruits award-winning industry executives, known globally for their innovative and strategic prowess to serve on the Grand Jury. Their mission— to select those global campaigns that successfully demonstrate innovative solutions to challenging marketing problems that achieve measurable results. Multidisciplinary marketers, strategy directors, media planners, creative directors, and social media experts representing 5 regions from around the globe thoughtfully review all entries with global knowledge and perspective from the industry with attention to cultural and economic relevance.

The Grand Jury awards Gold, Silver, and Bronze to the highest scoring entries through two rounds of regional judging. AME’s Green Award—the highest scoring, Gold-winning entry for a company whose emphasis is on resource conservation and protection of the environment is also selected in this round. Gold-winning work from all regions is then judged by the full international Grand Jury to determine a Platinum Award for each region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific) and the Best of Show. Jury selection has now begun for the 2019 Grand Jury.

The results of the jury are parsed in the annual AME Report, a three-tiered ranking report that honors and provides rankings within three separate categories: networks, agencies, and brands.

“The prestige of being included on the AME Report solidifies an agency’s position within the industry and secures their global reputation for delivering the most creative and measurably effective caliber of work,” added Mandel.

Within the AME Report, the AME Brand Report recognizes innovative brands for their game-changing effective campaigns and the forward-thinking advertisers who approved these compelling campaigns.

In 2018 AME Awards Dentsu Jayme Syfu earned the AME Best of Show Award, Regional Platinum Award/Asia Pacific, and the AME Green Award for “Dead Whale” Greenpeace Philippines. Zulu Alpha Kilo Canada earned the AME Regional Platinum Award/North America for “Common Ground” Harley-Davidson Canada. Heimat Werbeagentur GmbH Germany was in the winner’s circle earning the 2018 AME Regional Platinum Award/Europe for “A New Way of Thinking” Free Democrats. To view the 2018 AME Awards winner’s showcase, please visit: HERE. 

The deadline to enter the 2019 AME Awards competition is November 22, 2018. Entry details and additional information can be found on the AME website: HERE.