The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has announced that the 2016 APEX awards season is officially open. ACA is the official, representative body for the communications and advertising profession in South Africa and hosts the annual APEX awards.
“The purpose of the APEX awards is to encourage agencies and their clients to develop new, higher, best practice standards for measurement of advertising and communications campaigns and it promotes a better understanding of the business and why spending money on advertising and communications is a business investment – not an expense,’ explained Odette van der Haar, ACA CEO.
The awards programme was launched in South Africa in 1995, following the success of awards programmes globally. Countries such as England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland established similar programmes as far back as 1980.
Agencies and their clients are invited to enter their best work, i.e. communications campaigns which generated a measured and proven return on investment, into the 2016 APEX awards. Entrants are required to submit case studies detailing their campaigns and how all possible factors other than the campaigns have been considered as causes for brand success and in so doing, systematically prove a case for the campaigns themselves as being the cause for the brand’s success.
There are three APEX categories into which campaigns may be entered:
Launch – for brands or services which are less than 12 months old with no significant history of advertising.
Change – for new campaigns from previously advertised brands which resulted in significant short-term effects on sales and/or behaviour. Short-term being within a period of no more than 18 months.
Sustain – for campaigns which benefited a business by maintaining or strengthening a brand over a long period, i.e. 36 months.
“An APEX award represents both strategic and creative effectiveness which positions winners as being leaders of a profession that is constantly evolving and redefining creativity and effectiveness,’ explains Andy Rice, chairman of the 2016 APEX jury.
Compulsory briefing sessions for all entrants will be held at the AAA campuses in Johannesburg and Cape Town, as follows:
Johannesburg: 28 January 2016, 14h00 to 16h00
Cape Town: 2 February 2016, 14h00 to 16h00
At these sessions, entrants will receive information on how to enter, compile and win an APEX. While attendance is free of charge, seats are limited and booking of seats is essential. To book a seat at one or both of the briefing sessions, send an email to apex@acasa.co.za.
The annual APEX awards are hosted by the ACA with key partner, SABC and sponsors Millward Brown and Unilever.
For more information about the APEX awards, details on how to enter, key dates to diarise, entry fees and more visit the ACA website or email apex@acasa.co.za
