Effie sheds light on effectiveness

• Effie Effectiveness 2009 talks to educate the difference between creative and effectiveness
• Serves as a reminder and guideline before call for entries scheduled for June
• Three speakers are Daniel Comar, Lee Smith and Khairudin Rahim

Malaysia - The failure to distinguish the difference between creativity and effectiveness in campaigns is the main drive behind the organisation of the Effie Effectiveness talks, organised by the Effie Awards Committee.

The feedback after the inaugural event last year highlighted a necessity to educate the public about effectiveness and the factors surrounding it.

Committee member Margaret Au-Yong, who is also director of operations and management for Tune Ventures said: "We need to impart that effectiveness encompasses more than just creative and that it's about marketing, media and the results."

She said the Effie Effectiveness 2009 talk was basically a run up and served as a guideline to the call for entries which will take place in June.

"Our invites go to everyone in the industry from marketers to agencies and all those interested in effectiveness," Au-Yong said, adding that this was also in line with the new Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) council's aim of putting more emphasis on the Effie.

Re-elected president Datuk Vincent Lee told A+M recently that the council is looking towards making the Effie and the Malaysia Most Valuable Brands as industry benchmarks.

However, the stumbling block for entries into the Effie have been identified as having to do "more work" compared to creative awards like the Kancils.

"But it is necessary and we want the creative agencies to support and work on submissions for the Effie," Lee said.

The second series of the talk will be on Thursday, 2 April at the Menara Star's Cybertorium where participants will hear from three top executives in the field of advertising and marketing communications from 2.30pm.

Daniel Comar, executive creative director of Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia; Lee Smith, CEO of digital at Omnicom Media Group, Asia Pacific and Khairudin Rahim, managing director of Lowe Malaysia will share insights into how award winning and truly effective campaigns are crafted.

Comar will speak on "Effectiveness is the New Creative" while Smith will talk about "Planning for Effectiveness - Tagging, Flagging and Nagging for Controlled Results" and Khairudin will speak on "The Power of High Value Ideas" based on the Brands' Essence of Chicken campaign which won the Silver Award at the Effie last year.

The final talk in the series will be held on 6 May. For details, contact Shu Ling (shuling@macomm.com.my) at 603 7660 8545 or Effie Effectiveness 2009 organiser Leong Ming Chee at mingileong@yahoo.com or visit malaysiaeffie.com