Award Categories

1. Excellence in Advertising

This category recognises the best advertising campaign or individual spot which engages the target audience through strong creative thinking and media use to achieve a specific marketing outcome or result.

2. Excellence in Branded Content

This category recognises the conceptualisation of high quality, innovative or unexpected content commissioned by a brand. This can include text, infographics, film, video games, music, online, competitions, and TV, running across all forms of marketing channels. Judges will be looking at the originality of the content and how the content stimulate interest to the targeted audience and drive customer engagement.

3. Excellence in Content Marketing

This category recognises exceptional strategies which utilise content as the key element of marketing. Judges will be looking for a clear vision about how the content is used to enhance the overall marketing strategy and led to a significant growth in brand awareness.

4. Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility

This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme that has addressed social, economic or environmental issues on behalf of the organisation. Judges will be looking at how the initiative raised awareness and encouraged social change in order to bring positive effects and outcomes for the society and the involved parties while simultaneously raising brand reputation.

5. Excellence in COVID-19 Response

This category recognises the most effective and innovative campaign/initiatives in responding to the challenges consumers were undergoing as a result of COVID-19. Judges will be looking at the overall strategy and the impact of their actions reacted to the crisis. Entries should showcase how the brand communicating with their customers, promoting their brand, retaining brand’s reputation and achieving other positive marketing results.

6. Excellence in Creative Design

This category recognises the most creative design where it forms a critical focus for the branding of a product. Judges will be looking for entries which demonstrate a tangible link between the design (for example, product packaging, premiums, POSM, collaterals, in-store design) and the marketing strategy campaign for the product.

7. Excellence in Customer Engagement

This category recognises the best campaign, initiative or programme that engages new or existing customers to connect with the brand through smart and relevant communications. Judges will be looking for effective engagement strategies that went beyond advertisements to encourage consumers to actively interact with the brand and generate positive business outcomes.

8. Excellence in Customer Experience (*New)

This category recognises the best campaign, initiative or programme that can demonstrate a customer-centric approach, giving consumers a seamless and intuitive experience. Judges will be looking for how they developed the project carefully with the customer in mind and making sure it was easy for their target audience to interact with the brand, or respond to a call to action without a hitch.

9. Excellence in Data-Driven Marketing

This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme that draws unique insights from effective business insights, research, data planning, measurement and analytics tools or database developments to drive the brand’s core business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the campaign helped a brand in understanding its customers and their behaviours, and apply that data to develop future campaign strategies.

10. Excellence in Digital Marketing

This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme that uses digital channels such as web, social media, mobile and email to deliver an engaging consumer experience whilst successfully driving core business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the campaign stood out in the competitive digital space to achieve a specific marketing outcome, be it branding, and a prompted consumer engagement.

11. Excellence in Event Marketing

This category recognises the organisation that best uses events or a specific to achieve a specified marketing outcome. Events can be live, virtual and/or hybrid events. Judges will consider events of all sizes and scope and will be looking at how the event performed, how it engaged its audience and strength of the idea.

12. Excellence in Exclusive Event

This category recognises the organisation that best uses events or a specific event dedicated to an exclusive group of audience in order to achieve a specified marketing outcome. Judges will be looking for events that created a positive brand experience for the targeted audience and left a lingering impact on the audience.

13. Excellence in Experiential Marketing

This category recognises an organisation that best uses a hands-on brand experience to take the target audience inside a brand or product through an innovative or creative idea. Entries could be anything from a mass-market launch to a smaller more exclusive experience for customers. Judges will be looking at how the campaign was create and implemented to allow consumers to get involved in, feel, enjoy or respond to a specific experience.

14. Excellence in Financial & Insurance Marketing (*New)

This category recognises the best financial & insurance marketing campaign or individual spot which engages the target audience through strong creative thinking and media use to achieve a specific marketing outcome.

15. Excellence in Gamification (*New)

This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or event that utilises gamification or gaming to entertain consumers and to enhance the brand experience while driving core business objectives. The campaign can be carried out both online or a live gaming event.

16. Excellence in Health & Beauty Marketing

This category recognises the best marketing campaign or individual spot in the health and beauty marketing sector which engages the target audience through strong creative thinking and media use to achieve a specific marketing outcome.

17. Excellence in Innovation

This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme that that has pushed the boundaries and utilises a new, unique or an especially creative manner in advertising and marketing. Judges will be looking at how the outside-the-box ideas were implemented in the campaign to engage the customers, strengthen the brand’s value and at the same time, deliver positive marketing outcomes.

18. Excellence in Integrated Marketing

This category recognises an organisation that most effectively engage their consumer markets through an integrated marketing strategy, which employs a suite of marketing tools and media channels (at least five channels) to drive core business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the unified and seamless integrated experience innovatively and effectively promotes a brand, product or service while achieving a positive marketing outcome.

19. Excellence in KOL Partnership

This category recognises the most outstand and refreshing partnership between KOLs (key opinion leaders) and brands in a campaign. The campaign should show evidence of effectively using KOLs within a marketing campaign to enhance awareness and successfully achieve business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the partnership helped the brand to engage and delight the target audience, resulting in an increase of brand’s awareness and generate benefits for both parties.

20. Excellence in Launch/Rebranding

This category recognises an exceptional marketing strategy to support the launch/rebranding of a new product or brand. Judges will be looking at the impact of this launch/rebranding strategy created on the product, brand or organisation’s success.

21. Excellence in Lifestyle & Entertainment Marketing

This category recognises the best marketing campaign or individual spot in the lifestyle and entertainment service field which engages the target audience through strong creative thinking and media use to achieve a specific marketing outcome.

22. Excellence in Loyalty Marketing

This category recognises the best campaign, initiative or programme that demonstrated a cohesive customer loyalty strategy and effective CRM programme to grow and retain existing customers through incentives while enhancing the customer proposition. It should also have encouraged greater spend, resulting in positive business outcomes.

23. Excellence in Mass Event

This category recognises the organisation that best uses events or a specific event targeted to the mass public to reach a specified marketing outcome. The campaign can be carried out offline, online or hybrid. Judges will be looking for events that created a positive brand experience for the mass public and left a lingering impact on the audience.

24. Excellence in Media Strategy

This category recognises the organisation that best utilises media channels as their key strategic tool to execute a powerful marketing campaign, while driving core business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the effective use of media channels engage the targeted customers and ultimately boosting business performance.

25. Excellence in Mobile Marketing

This category recognises the most effective and innovative use of a mobile platform to achieve a specific marketing outcome, be it branding, a prompted consumer behaviour or simply increased consumption. The campaign can be delivered via mobile channels, including apps and websites, either in isolation or as part of an integrated strategy. Judges will be looking at the effectiveness of the campaign in reaching broader audiences, connecting the brand with its loyal customers and achieving a positive marketing outcome.

26. Excellence in Out-Of-Home Marketing (*New)

This category recognises advertising campaigns that utilised out-of-home (OOH) medium in a way that’s  innovative, creative and successful in raising brand awareness. OOH can include media such as billboards, digital billboards, digital screens, transit media, mobile platforms designed for an OOH audience, or any other media that targets audiences outside the home environment. Judges will be looking at how the use of OOH strategy was planned and executed.

27. Excellence in Partnership

This category recognises the organisation that best develops and activates a brand-relevant partnership in the form of a crossover, sponsorship and product placement. Judges will be looking at how the partnership reached a mutual benefit for the involved parties, and thus delivering strong business returns.

28. Excellence in Performance Marketing

This category recognises the best marketing campaign, initiative or programme that maximised performance and attained the desired business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the campaign optimise the performance, which include but not limited to increase customer engagement, raise brand’s awareness, generate a better ROI.v

29. Excellence in Programmatic Marketing (*New)

This category recognises the organisation that best used programmatic strategies and solutions to optimise a campaign and greater enhance the targeting to a specific audience.  Judges will be looking at how the programmatic strategy specifically improved the campaign’s success and helped achieve business objectives.

30. Excellence in Public Relations

This category recognises the organisation that has best enhanced its corporate branding, image or identity with consumers, other businesses or internal stakeholders, through an effective implementation of strategic communication to deliver core business objectives. Judges will be looking at how the campaign manage the brand’s reputation, promote brand’s values and strengthen the communications with targeted audiences.

31. Excellence in Retail Marketing

This category recognises the best strategy by a brand designed to attract customers and drive transactions via the following channels such as traditional or digital media, sampling, couponing, POSM displays, use of new technology or retail spaces.

32. Excellence in Social Media

This category recognises the best campaign, initiative or programme that optimised social media channels to build strong relationships with customers, recruit new customers or engage existing customers, while driving core business objectives. This can be a one-off campaign or a longer term strategy. Judges will be looking at how the campaign innovatively and effectively communicate with their audience, drive customer engagement and obtain business objective.

33. Excellence in Targeted Event

This category recognises the organisation that best uses events or a specific event dedicated to a targeted audience (for example, age, gender, demographic) to achieve a specified marketing outcome. Judges will be looking for events that created a positive brand experience for the targeted audience and left a lingering impact on the audience.

34. Excellence in Use of Technology

This category recognises the use of any innovative technology to activate or enhance a marketing strategy, long or short-term campaign or a one-off execution. Judges are seeking the strategic use of technology as opposed to gimmickry.

35. Excellence in Video

This category recognises the most effective and innovative use of online video to achieve a specific marketing outcome, be it branding or a call-to-action. Judges will be looking at the creativity behind how the video helped to raise brand awareness, drive customer engagement and reach the brand’s marketing objective.