CHICAGO – Buenos Aires-based Stopromotion received the Best Promotion in the World award at promo Magazine’s eighth annual World PRO Awards of Excellence reception held October 6 at Chicago’s Navy Pier.
The agency’s Have a More Active Role promotion for Ledesma notebook paper was the best of the best of the best last year: It won a Gold PRO for being the best in the non-food product category in Latin America, a World PRO for being the best non-food product entry of all five geographic regions, and the Best in the World honors for being selected the most creative and effective of all 370 entries submitted from around the world. Entries were judged on concept, originality, execution, and results.
The World PRO Awards program is co-produced by promo Magazine and the Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide (APMA). Sixteen media partners in as many countries helped promote the program in their countries, with editors or publishers serving on the various judging panels and serving as hosts for the judging events. Media partners also provided publicity, advertising, editorial coverage, and administrative support.
NCH NuWorld Marketing, a leading coupon processing and promotion information management company served as worldwide sponsor for the judging events.
More than 500 people from 20 countries gathered to honor the winners at Navy Pier’s spectacular Grand Ballroom. In addition to the Best Promotion in the World, 16 World winners and 58 Gold winners in 5 world regions took home crystal trophies. To participate, agencies sent their work to the nearest judging site – Santiago, London, Sydney, Toronto, or Chicago – to be reviewed by local judging panels representing client companies, agencies, and the media.
Winners from each of the five regions then went to Chicago for the World judging last month, where they were reviewed by a panel of 12 judges from nine countries. Judges with winning work in the program were not permitted to vote on any campaigns in those categories.
The 1998 program yielded a record-breaking number of World winners from the U.S., with six agencies taking home seven awards. U.S. winners included Minneapolis-based WatersMolitor for ChexQuest CD ROM; Alcone Marketing Group, Irvine, CA, for Burger King Free FryDay; Einson-Freeman, Paramus, NJ, for Dove Share a Secret; Phoneworks, St. Petersburg, FL, for I Found Your Wallet; New York City-based b. little & co. for Packard Bell Home Delivery; and Minneapolis-based OptionOne for the Target Stores’ School Fundraising Made Simple and School Connection programs.
From outside the U.S., Meyer Action Marketing and Stopromotion each took a World award for Argentina for their work for Bazooka Gum and Ledesma Paper, respec tively; Think for Sale, Below Marketing, and Ros & Asociados each took one for Spain for Coke, Renault, and Caja de Burgos, respectively; The Marketing Store took one for England for Worthington’s Lager; Promarket took one for Israel for Levi’s; GeneratorIdeaworks took one for Canada for BCTel; and K2 took one for Germany for an in-house program for K2 in-line skates.
“This year’s entries showed high levels of relevance and creativity, and agencies provided proof of their marketplace success. The entries were stronger than in previous years, especially in the area of creative,” said promo editor-at-large and World PRO Awards managing director Kerry E. Smith. Added Keith McCracken, outgoing president of APMA: “We saw some wonderful work that shows the tremendous amount of talent, creativity, and energy that exists around the world.”
The 1998 world judges were: Paul Banas, Visa International, USA; Bob Carlier, Frankel & Company, USA; Ernesto Dorfman, Stopromotion, Argentina; Carmit Hoomash, Promarket, Israel; Stacey Mowbray, Pepsi, Canada; Irma Munkelt, Absatzwirtschaft, Germany; Flavio Pestana, Empresa Folha da Manha, Brazil; Jim Rennie, Incentive Direct, New Zealand; Jorge Sardella, Tiempos de Promocion, Argentina; Gerrit Six, Media Marketing, Belgium; and Betsy Spethmann and Al Urbanski, both of promo Magazine, U.S.
The 1998 Media Partners were: Argentina: Target Magazine; Australia: Professional Marketing; Belgium: Media Marketing; Brazil: Meio & Mensagem; Canada: Marketing; Chile: Mercado & Publicidad; England: In-Store Marketing Magazine; France: CB News; Germany: Absatzwirtschaft; Holland: AdfoDirect; Hong Kong: Asian Advertising & Marketing; Israel: Ha-Tikshoret; Ireland: Go Direct; Italy: Media Key; and Mexico: Adcebra; and Spain: Estrategias.
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