Do Yourself a Favour – NEXUS Awards Review
By Graham Sergent, Acxiom (New Zealand) and Chief NEXUS Judge 2007
As published in DLB #71 April/May 2008 Issue
During 2007 a series of review meetings were held in order to look at the NEXUS Awards from ease of completing the entry form right the way through to judges’ scoring criteria. This initiative was backed up with publicity through the Data Advisory Network (DAN) and through the Marketing Association’s own DLB magazine.
We were delighted to receive 62 entries using the new entry forms and sincerely hope that the entry process was a lot less painful than previous years. Please let us know if you feel otherwise! (email Amy Bullen – amy@marketing.org.nz).
Eleven independent judges from all over the country (and any judge associated even remotely with any entry was not allowed to mark it) agreed that the quality of the entries was generally outstanding. Scoring assessment followed the RSVP “model” which also helped this year’s judging process. Maintaining the philosophy of impartiality, the final selection of the supreme award winner was made by those with absolutely no association with the Gold award-winning entries up for consideration.
Entries ranged from highly sophisticated pre- and post-campaign management solutions through to execution of simple but “brilliant” ideas. It was fantastic to see that the “Innovation” category was so well represented which highlights that we are an industry on the move with very clever and resourceful practitioners driving us forward.
The judges were particularly pleased to note the range of new ideas and a number of new entrants, particularly from the non-agency sector. However, they felt that some entrants could considerably enhance their chance to be up on the stage celebrating a winning entry next year by observing a few tips when completing their entry forms.
9 Tips to Help You Create a Winning Entry
- Make sure your entry “fits” the category you are entering it into
- Keep your language simple but make sure you convey the complexity of what you did
- Don’t risk putting the judges to sleep with lengthy complicated explanations - your message will get lost
- Don’t use jargon – you know what it means but others may not
- Relate the results reported in the Measurability/ROI section back to the objectives
- If an important point can be reiterated in more than one section, then repeat it, e.g. if something was really difficult and you did something innovative to overcome it, refer to it in both sections
- If you are entering more than one category, make sure your entry form contains information amended to suit, not just identical information multiple times
- If you’re claiming a “point of difference”, carry out some research to make sure it really is different.
- Because you’ve never done it before doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done!
- If you can include something pictorial, do so….. as the saying goes, “A picture paints a thousand words”
Onecard Wine Programme
NEXUS Supreme Award
Gold : Strategic Vision
Gold : Products & Services
Silver : Customer and Market Insight
Silver : Media and/or Channel Utilisation
Silver : CRM and Data Management
Bronze : Production and Fulfilment
Judges’ Comments :
Fantastic use of data
Measurability was incredible
Huge degree of difficulty
Incredible end to end – data, business strategy
Good ROI
Changes the NZ market
Augmented Reality - Close Encounters at the Wellington Zoo
Gold : Innovation
Judges’ comments :
Sexy but still relevant
Targeted
Innovative and different
Good results
A new twist to an old ‘product’
TVNZ OnDemand
Gold : Innovation
Gold : Strategic Vision
Judges’ comments :
Very innovative, smart, clever, intelligent
Met objectives
Measurable ROI
Sexy
Degree of difficulty
SUBCARD™
Gold : Innovation
Silver : Strategic Vision
Silver : CRM and Data Management
Judges’ comments :
Innovative in its industry
Complexity of franchises
Captured point of sales for CRM in real time
Measurable ROI
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