For those striving for excellence, a little extra time can make all the difference. That’s why The IPM Awards is extending its late entry deadline, giving entrants more time to refine their submissions and vie for the prestigious recognition.

Now, you have even more time to perfect your entries and showcase your achievements to the world.

Don’t miss out on this final opportunity to submit your entries. The late entry deadline is now Monday, 20th May, 4 pm.

Be sure to check out all the categories; by entering into multiple categories, you increase your chances of winning and amplify your recognition across various sectors and disciplines.

Ready to seize the spotlight? Click Here to view all the category information and kickstart your entry process.

If you have any questions or need assistance, our dedicated team is here to help. Reach out to us at awards@theipm.org.uk.

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With just over 1 week remaining until the entry deadline for the prestigious IPM Awards 2024, the time to shine is now. This is your opportunity to showcase your outstanding work, celebrate your achievements, and stand a chance to claim one of the highly sought-after IPM trophies.

After the resounding success of last year’s event, which saw a sell-out crowd, it’s evident that the promotional marketing industry is brimming with remarkable campaigns. These campaigns play a pivotal role in driving brand success, fostering customer loyalty and engagement, and, of course, boosting sales.

Whether your expertise lies in promotional incentive campaigns, competitions, immersive experiential initiatives, or collaborative brand partnerships, the IPM Awards categories cater to a diverse range of accomplishments.

Its time to get moving; the deadline is Wednesday, May 8th, at 4:00 PM.

Don’t miss out on the chance to be recognised for your excellence in promotional marketing.

Enter the IPM Awards 2024 today and take your place among industry trailblazers.

For all category information visit https://theipm.org.uk/awards-2024/

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The IPM Awards 2023 is one of the most eagerly anticipated awards in the promotional marketing industry. The annual awards recognise excellence in promotional marketing campaigns across a range of categories and sectors, showcasing the best creative and strategic thinking in the field.

The IPM Awards 2023 is now accepting entries, and the late entry deadline has been extended to Wednesday 17^th May, 5pm. This is great news for those who may have missed the initial deadline and still want to enter their campaigns. The extended deadline gives entrants more time to fine-tune their submissions and ensure that they have the best chance of impressing the judges.

The IPM Awards features a range of categories that reflect the diverse nature of promotional marketing campaigns, from experiential and shopper marketing to loyalty and brand partnership. There are also awards for industry sectors, including automotive, retail, and Health and well-being, among others.

The judging process is rigorous, with entries being evaluated by a panel of industry experts who are looking for campaigns that are both creative and effective. Judges will consider factors such as strategy, execution, and results when evaluating entries, so entrants should be prepared to provide evidence of their campaigns’ impact.

Winning an IPM Award is a significant achievement in the promotional marketing industry and can help elevate an agency or brand’s reputation. The awards are also an opportunity to gain recognition from peers and showcase the work that has been done throughout the year.

The extended deadline for late entries allows more people to showcase their campaigns and compete for one of the industry’s most prestigious awards. So, whether you’re an agency or a brand, start fine-tuning your submissions and get ready to celebrate the best in promotional marketing.

For more information about the awards and categories, click here

To begin your entry submission, click here

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The IPM are delighted to launch the 2023 IPM Awards, celebrating the success, innovation and creativity that is carried out right across the promotional marketing industry.

This is your chance to recognise the outstanding campaigns and showcase the achievements delivered by you and your team. Find out more.

This year the IPM celebrates its 90th year, and we look forward to getting together with you all to celebrate all the incredible campaigns that have been delivered.

This year, our categories reflect our long-standing IPM awards with the reintroduction of sectors and our member community groups across the promotional marketing spectrum.

Don’t delay, you have until 31st March for the Early Bird Deadline. For more information on this year’s awards including pricing and eligibility criteria, please visit our website or click here to register on our awards platform and start your entry.

We wish you all much success in this year’s IPM Awards.

The post The IPM Awards 2023 Entries Are Now Open appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Richard Pink, Head of The IPM Awards, shares some useful tips on how to write a standout entry to impress the Awards judges.

I’ve been Head of IPM awards judging for a number of years now, and I still get surprised by the entries that let down good campaigns. An agency will put their heart and soul into getting a campaign right for their client, but when it comes to writing up the achievements that might allow them to get credit for their work, a number of things take over and the campaign and work behind it gets let down through a sloppy entry.

So, here are a few golden rules I’ve got for making sure your entry gets the best showing it can when it comes to judging time – they sound so, so simple, but you’d be amazed how many entrants get it wrong –

Treat an entry submission as you would your most important pitch 
For it to have credibility there has to be input from the team that was involved and people senior enough to ensure the right information is included.

Spell check it like mad
Make sure someone who wasn’t involved, reads it before you submit it to make sure they understand it.

Don’t be a slave to the word count
If it says 200 words, and you can say it in less – say it in less – use bullet points rather than sentences – the judges will love you for it.

Avoid jargon and abbreviations
The judges may not work in your particular field and you need to explain it to them – if in doubt – write it so your Mum would understand it

Use context
Don’t just say it was great, you must say why it was great so the judges fully understand the reasons – remember that they are looking at a lot of entries.

Add collateral to bring it to life
However not too much – in my experience, the ideal supporting visuals are:

• A one-page visual collage or summary
• A video – but not longer than one minute as the judges won’t watch for that long

Make your objectives clear ( ideally with numbers)
Say clearly how the campaign performed against the objectives – the judges will know when you’re fudging – don’t do it! If you can’t give numbers, go back to the context and give an indication of how the campaign out-performed the ‘norm’.

Remember this – the judging is a two-stage process – the first stage is a judge, sitting alone on a wet Sunday in their PJ’s on the last day before they have to submit their marks, bitterly regretting that they volunteered to do it.  Cheer them up – make them see that you are proud of what you’ve done, that you care how they see it – and by all means throw in a couple of gags!

Download the Call for Entries and enter here: https://www.theipm.org.uk/page/Awards_2020

To find out more about the IPM Awards, get in touch with Richard Pink at Richardp@theipm.org.uk or the Awards Team at awards@theipm.org.uk 

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The IPM has announced that there is just five working days to submit your 2018 promotional marketing and brand activation campaigns to the IPM Awards 2019, one of the industry’s foremost and most respected annual Awards. The closing date is on 15th March at 6pm.

The IPM Awards is focused on the celebration of companies, clients and work, culminating in a fantastic night at the gala presentation event at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

Paul Cope, Managing Director, IPM, commented: “The IPM Awards are not only a way to give your business a boost, but a fantastic chance to pit your campaigns against the best work of the past year. After all, there’s nothing quite like the immense satisfaction of knowing that, if you do win, you were part of creating something special (as you’d told everyone all along).”

Richard Pink, Head of Awards, IPM, added: “With only five days to go until the closing date for the IPM Awards, make sure you get you entries submitted in good time so we can help you get them created to perfection. This will give you the best chance of walking off with Gold.”

To find out more about how to enter, click here.

For any help with your entries, call the IPM Awards team today on 020 3848 0444 and ask for Paul Cope, Richard Pink or Serife Gul. 

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After an extensive, industry-wide application process, the IPM is pleased to announce that their judges for the 2019 IPM Awards have now been selected. Judges are chosen for their expertise and specialised knowledge related to the categories.

Click here to see the full list of judges.

Richard Pink, IPM Head of Awards, commented: “We’re delighted to release the full list of judges for this year’s Awards. Those selected will soon undergo the most important aspect of the Awards – choosing the winners! Our selected judges bring with them a wealth of industry knowledge and a keen eye for spotting great campaigns. I look forward to meeting with everyone this year and finding out their thoughts on our entries.”

IPM Managing Director, Paul Cope, added: “The Awards is our biggest event of the year, so we are thrilled that so many talented people applied to be a judge. Thank you everyone! The standard of entries has been fantastic so far, but there’s still time to submit your campaigns – the closing date is 6pm on 15th March.”

The judging process will involve two main parts, online and in face-to-face groups. The online judging will see all judges score the entries against the supplied criteria and will take place throughout April. At the end of the month, the judging groups, each led by a pre-selected Chair and overseen by our head of awards, Richard Pink, will meet in a single location either in Manchester or in London to determine the final allocation of trophies.

The shortlisted campaigns will be announced on 9th May and the trophies handed out by a very special guest at the gala event on Thursday 4th July.

You can enter your campaigns here.

If you’d like to sponsor this unique event, please contact Sidiqa Hazara at SidiqaH@theipm.org or call the IPM on 020 3848 0444.

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As part of the evolution of the IPM Awards, the IPM has announced the introduction of three new categories for 2019. The new categories have been carefully designed to make sure all the elements that make a great campaign are recognised.

Paul Cope, Marketing Director at the IPM, explained the choice to include new categories: “Here at the IPM, we’re constantly looking to make sure that we are awarding all aspects of the industry – from the people behind the campaign to the execution itself. After all, we know how many different things go into creating campaigns that really work. We’re delighted to introduce these three new categories to give our entrants the chance to get recognised and rewarded for even more reasons.”

The new IPM Awards categories are:

Category C5 – Special European Industry Award (judged by EACA)

This category has been introduced as part of a move to further establish commitment to the IPM’s membership of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), the industry body dedicated to promoting pan-European brand activation and organisers of the IMC awards. Read the 2018 IMC winners feature here.

This new category (in group C, Objectives), will recognise and celebrate campaigns created by UK agencies that ran in three or more European markets. The winning campaign will be able to demonstrate a clear adaptation of the core idea to overcome cultural – and other – differences where necessary, as well as delivering excellent results.

Entries in this category will be judged against the standard criteria by a specially selected panel made up of senior EACA employees.

Category D1 – Insight, Strategy

Anyone who appreciates brilliant and effective marketing communication, knows that greatness starts with a gloriously simple human truth, an insight that informs the rest of the campaign – from the big idea to the execution to the media selection.

Planners and Strategists spend hours poring over data, attending research groups, applying methodology and drawing on years of experience to develop the fuel that powers great campaigns.

This new category (in group D, Skills) has been introduced to recognise and celebrate the best insights of the year in the promotional marketing and brand activation space.

Category D6 – Team of the Year

The IPM Awards recognises the best promotional marketing and brand activation campaigns, agencies and brands of the year, and quite right too. Behind the work are the teams of people that make it all happen.

This new category (in group D, Skills) has been introduced to identify and celebrate these teams and is open to any group of individuals who have worked together to deliver consistent and/or remarkable success in their field in 2018.

What are the entry criteria?

• A team must be at least two people but can’t be a whole company
• It can be an agency account management team, a planning department, a creative team, a sales team, a procurement team, a brand team, a production team, a new business department and so on.
• You can nominate your own team or someone else’s, but you must be able to demonstrate that it has delivered outputs beyond the sum of its parts
• Whether it’s been a year of sensational work and results, regularly overcoming the odds to punch above its weight, extraordinary charity initiatives, delivering a remarkable cultural contribution to a company or industry, or a combination of all of the above, the judges will want to see why what the team did was exceptional.

A full list of IPM Awards categories can be accessed here.

The IPM Awards final entry deadline is on Friday 15th March, 6pm.

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The IPM has today announced the official launch of their annual awards for 2019.

The IPM Awards 2019 will celebrate and reward more brilliantly effective, insightful and creative campaigns in the promotional marketing and brand activation industry than ever before. Eligible campaigns are those which:

1. Aimed to drive a specific, demonstrable human behaviour i.e. get someone to do something – buy, try, share, play, collect, visit, download, create, recommend, trade, donate…
2. Used an experience, incentive or interaction used to influence that desired behaviour
3. Had measurable results that were (or can be) used to establish its effectiveness

The call for entries opens on MONDAY 7th JANUARY next year and will close on Friday 15th March. The carefully selected winning entries will be announced at the Awards gala dinner on Thursday 4th July. Who can forget 2018 compere and IPM Diploma holder, Russell Kane’s fantastic performance back in June?!

There are 31 categories, covering a comprehensive range of industry sectors, techniques, objectives and skills, including some brand new categories. This year, again, sees the inclusion of three special awards: Agency of the year, Brand of the year and the coveted Grand Prix.

Paul Cope, IPM Managing Director, said: “Everyone at the IPM is very excited to announce the launch of our re-booted Awards for 2019! Now more than ever, recognising and rewarding brilliantly effective, insightful and creative campaigns is vital to the future success of our industry and everyone involved in it. ‘Great work that really works’ is what the IPM stands for and we intend to use our Awards to make a real fuss of anyone who lives this ambition!”

For additional information, including a full list of categories and criteria, how to apply to be a judge and sponsorship opportunities click here.

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Marc Rigby of MRM looks at the relevance of Promotional Marketing to today’s marketing industry

Part of my misspent youth was dedicated to undertaking a degree in Marketing. How shiny and new it all felt back then in the 1980s, with brand spend all hovering above and below some imaginary line.

I chose below the line. Cash, holidays and cars. Neck labels, fix-a-forms and scratch panels. Free flights, treasure hunts and soft toy Labradors. Activity so impactful in its imagination and creativity that sometimes it didn’t even need a press release to make the national news.

Fast forward 18 years into the new millennium and the chance to assess where the trends of integration, omnichannel and the like have taken the old trouper that is Promotional Marketing. And no better place to do that than at the 2018 IPM awards, particularly as MRM was a sponsor this year.

But first, some context. To paraphrase Lord Black of Brentwood in his excellent introductory speech at the Awards, “I have never known such a time of change and flux.”

An economy showing marginal growth with Brexit concerns and growing inflationary pressures, dictatorial government legislation and public health concerns.

After a decade of dominant price promotion activity there is evidence of the usurping impact that EDLP pricing is having in the shape of the sales strategies of German retailers Aldi and Lidl.

And look at the fact that retailers such as Asda, Ikea, Next et al chose to step away from the bun fight that is Black Friday. It is low prices not short term price offers that is winning the promotional day.

So, can added value promotions still have a role to play in building the all-too-important brand equity?

Promotional Marketing as a marketing multiplier

What this year’s entrants consistently demonstrated is that their campaigns defined promotion as less about a proven collection of techniques to drive sales and more about the role Promotional Marketing can play when it has the chance to contribute to the marketing multiplier effect that boosts a campaign’s impact and how its customers really begin to engage with it.

What do I mean by that last statement? That campaigns truly reach another level when a great idea is founded in a brand truth and delivered to a consumer as a total brand experience.

Take the immense piece of work that is Lucozade Energy and TBK Group’s ‘Unstoppable Bottle’ – a multi award winner at the 2018 IPM Awards (see the picture above). Product packaging uniquely adapted to the activity. Check. Product sampling. Check. Relevance of activity to brand proposition. Check. Amplification of activity with advertising and social media. Check. Tangible motivating reward. Check. Add the fact that the activation was the first of its kind and it was delivered flawlessly achieving outstanding results, and you have a deserved winner. And, in striking a sensory, emotional, relevant and behavioural chord with the audience, it truly delivered a brand experience.

Clearly, promotional success need not be as reliant on retail presence as it once was. Packaging still remains a primary medium to communicate through, even if the power of the retailer’s own brand limits the opportunities to stand out in store. Getting listings and facings is a hard and often expensive challenge for any underperforming brand. Today’s marketer has a number of channels to drive communication of a promotion. Digital activity can undoubtedly help to build your story and promote the activity to a targeted audience. Hell, it even serves as an ideal place to store your terms and conditions. But it can also very quickly undermine your best efforts if your activity doesn’t pass the scrutiny of your consumers.

Not that this was a problem for another award winner. Nestlé KitKat and ZEAL Creative’s personalised KitKat packs proved how the public’s appetite for personalisation can be integrated into an established brand’s packaging.

So I hope I am not alone in concluding from this year’s crop of winners that, within the armoury of marketers, Promotional Marketing remains a trusted and effective weapon. And whilst the idea at the heart of any marketing campaign should be embedded in the brand proposition, creativity can only truly thrive with the support and expertise of practitioners who understand the importance of planning, insight and how best to manipulate the Promotional tools; not to merely drive sales but also deliver brand experiences that challenge and engage the audiences they seek to reach.

At MRM, we like to think we are defined by our services but measured by our results.  That is a statement that should be a maxim for our whole industry.

Marc Rigby is Managing Director of Multi Resource Marketing Ltd (MRM), a marketing services agency celebrating its 25^th anniversary this summer. MRM is a sponsor of the IPM Awards 2018.

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