Prove how hard your advertising is working

The 2011 Awards are now open! Companies that pre-register by 31st January will save 25% off the final cost of their entry. Final entries must be submitted by 15th April 2011.

Throughout their 30 year history, the IPA Effectiveness Awards have been recognised by agencies and clients as our industry's most rigorous Awards scheme. This year the Awards are open to agencies, media owners and clients worldwide, with a total annual marketing communications budget of up to £2.5 million. Entrants can be single, joint or fully collaborative and must submit case histories that demonstrate the commercial power and marketing payback of their ideas. The word count for single entries is 3,000 and joint entries are allowed an extra 500 words in which to discuss the media strategy.

Says Charlie Snow, Director of Strategy at DLKWLowe and 2011 Convenor of Judges: “As 2011 is the ‘alternate’ year, restricted to marketing communications with smaller budgets, we’re hoping to uncover some of the more unusual creative solutions that have clearly had a commercial or social impact, be that new ways of using traditional media, digital, mobile, PR, promotion, direct, NPD, design... Whatever it was, so long as the payback can be proven, we want to hear about it.”

Special Prizes for 2011 will include:

• Grand Prix
• Effectiveness Company of the Year
• The Broadbent Prize for Best Dedication to Effectiveness
• The Channon Prize for Best New Learning
• Best International
• Best Newcomer*
• Best Channel Planning* (this will replace the prizes of Best Media and Best Multi-Channel)
• Best Social Value* - Idea that proved to have greatest social value as well as financial value

* New for 2011. N.B. There will no longer be a prize for Best Small Budget

Full details of how to enter, top tips for writing a paper, and guides to econometrics and calculating payback can be found at www.ipaeffectivenessawards.co.uk. For any questions about the Awards please email bryony@ipa.co.uk.

Further help with your entry is available through a series of free 'How to Win' workshops for potential authors, where key speakers cover topics including calculating and demonstrating your return on marketing communications expenditure, top tips on how to get started and how to win. The first one will be held towards the end of January (date tbc), please email bryony@ipa.co.uk if you are interested in attending.