WFA President’s Awards honour marketing leadership initiatives in seven countries

Tokyo, 18^th May: WFA President and RBS CMO, David Wheldon has recognised the achievements of seven key initiatives led by Advertiser Associations around the world as part of an awards ceremony at WFA Global Marketer Week in Tokyo.

The President’s Awards recognise initiatives that deliver an outstanding contribution to the marketing industry. They are awarded annually to projects run by national advertiser associations that have helped advance the marketer’s agenda and made a real business difference. Initiatives were judged on being able to compellingly demonstrate since January 2017 that they had made a measurable impact.

This year seven initiatives were picked from over thirty submissions from 15 national advertiser associations from the WFA’s sixty strong membership of national advertiser associations on six continents.

This year’s winners are:

ANA (US) on media transparency. The ANA’s investigation of media rebates in the US has created significant change globally and helped ensure advertisers have a better understanding of the media market. Many brands have since taken action to improve their in-house media skills and have reviewed contracts and relationships in order to improve transparency.

ANFO (Norway): From 0 to 621 in six years. ANFO has been recognising the country’s most effective advertising since 2012 and has built a database of marketing and advertising effectiveness case studies for use by brands around the world. Since launching the database, 2018 saw a total of 621 entries have been submitted.

CAA (Argentina): Advertising self-regulation – Revisiting legal disclaimers. Argentina’s CAA has worked hard to review legal disclaimers that currently run on print TV and radio, eliminating or replacing long legal disclaimers with a simple reference to a web page. Such disclaimers were taking up to 20% of print ads and 40% of radio ads and their removal has created a much more uncluttered message environment for consumers in Argentina.

GAM (Morocco): African Digital Summit. Morocco’s GAM has created the largest gathering of digital expertise in Africa. A two-day event attracting both local and international speakers, the latest event attracted more than 1750 attendees from more than 30 countries.

ISBA (UK): Contract Terms for Advertisers Working with Social Talent. UK’s ISBA has worked to create the first standard terms for contracts involving social influencers, highlighting best practice in this relatively new area of marketing practice. The contract has been widely used by marketers, agencies, lawyers and the social influencers themselves.

JAA (Japan): “A New Way of Working”. In a country known for its traditions and its workplaces defined for their stoic hard work, Japan’s JAA has launched a bold challenge to the established ways of working in the advertising business. The Working Group provides a platform for different stakeholders to advocate a healthier work-life balance and ultimately improve the quality of advertising output. The initiative has been widely copied by other industry organisations in Japan.

SA (Sweden): Advertising – not just interruption. With so much advertising on so many platforms, Sweden’s SA has sought to highlight the value of advertising and the benefits that come with it. Running on press, outdoor, radio, TV and online, the campaign sought suggestions on how advertising could be improved, which was used to feed back to members on how to create better advertising.

“There is some fantastic work being done around the world to enhance the marketing discipline both for the benefit of marketers and consumers. These seven award winners have all delivered real, measurable value for their members and benefited the wider business and community. Congratulations to all,” said David Wheldon, President of the WFA and CMO at RBS.