What truly makes great advertising?

This week, every year, the world’s advertising creatives spend a fortune on themselves, feting the global best in creativity in Cannes, France. We let them eat cake, frosted and buttery.  They toast themselves – and some clever creative output gets rewarded with hardware. There’s lots of parties, and astronomical prices on hotels, festival fees and additional food and grog.  And I have to say, there’s a lot of cool and courageous ideas there, wonderfully presented.

Amazing. But I won’t be there.

Meanwhile, in the real world, there’s another advertising competition that takes place which celebrates something else — advertising that works — the International ECHO Awards.

Effectiveness, to me, differentiates great advertising from the rest.

‘Brilliant Results, Achieved Brilliantly’

Like the Marketing Club of New York, this gem of advertising contests will turn 100 years young this decade. And both have a near similar reason for their longevity:  a laser like focus on business results, or, as industry colleague Joost Van Nispen states so succinctly, “brilliant results, achieved brilliantly.”

Well said.

The ECHOs were launched in 1929 – and have their roots in direct-response advertising: the type of advertising that is both measurable and accountable, long before digital advertising emerged as “direct marketing on steroids.” This type of advertising tirelessly works to generate leads, stimulate foot traffic, and convert to sales – the data-inspired storytelling that directly translates to achievement of business goals.

No global competition quite matches this secret sauce of informed strategy, creative execution and whopping results that come together in more or less equal measure to earn an ECHO Award trophy.

In the United States, the ECHOs have been historically associated with the Data & Marketing Association and, since 2018, its subsequent owner the Association of National Advertisers. Outside the United States, several data and direct marketing association partners have “fed” the global competition with their own regional competitions, such as in India and Latin America, among other nations and regions.

As more chief marketing officers build data dashboards in service to measurable consumer-brand engagement, the ECHOs have earned new relevance in the c-suite.  Each ECHO-award winning campaign shows the world how to use accountable communication to create relevancy, brand loyalty and business success (and donations for non-profits) that go straight to the bottom line.

That’s why the Marketing Club of New York would like you to toast the ECHOs – not with champagne, but by getting your agency, clients and consultants involved. Nothing demonstrates so powerful a business acumen in advertising as walking home with an ECHO.

2024 Call for Entries | How to Enter

The call for entries for this year’s competition is now open, with 34 categories that span five areas: vertical sector, media channel, craft, use of data and “special” categories highlighting function, purpose and budget.  Each category has potential to award a Gold, Silver and Bronze award trophy – with the Gold winners eligible for the Diamond ECHO as the best of the best.

Both consumer and business-to-business campaigns (and hybrids) are heralded, as well as non-profit and commercial sector executions.

The regular award deadline is July 5, 2024 and “final” deadline of July 19. Register here to initiate any number of entries.

2024 Call for Judges | The Best Marketing Idea Store in the World

Over the years, I’ve had the direct benefit of being able to judge ECHOs, recusing myself from categories where clients have submitted their work. Hundreds – perhaps thousands – of advertising and marketing professionals have done the same, lending their industry expertise to review the entries – and help decide which deserves an ECHO.

If you’ve judged before, then you already know the benefit of serving as a judge. You are privy to the best marketing idea store in the world, as executed by marketing organizations today.  Even among entries that don’t win, there are insights and aspects to a campaign that are truly noteworthy. The contest organizers this year are amid a fresh recruiting effort, matching individuals to categories, based on experience and expertise. If you’ve judged before, it’s time to reapply. If you’ve never had the opportunity, I wholeheartedly encourage you to consider an application. Take a couple of moments to do so here.

Judging will take place in two rounds during the late summer and fall. Up to 500 judges will be hand-picked from more than 20 nations – drawing from creative, strategy, data, agency and client. The top entries per category will advance to a second round – where judges evaluate individually and then come together to debate the gold, silver and bronze honorees. The discussions that happen – and the networking involved, too – are engaging, compelling, and often provocative.

Kudos and Take-Aways

I extend my kudos to Mary Teahan, Qendar; Michael Cruz, Summer Friday; and Matt Sullivan, British Interactive Media Association, for their efforts coordinating with Association of National Advertisers state-side, among global partners, to organize this year’s open effort.  MCNY Board member Ken Kraetzer recently interviewed Mary Teahan about this year’s competition.

What’s in it for the Marketing Club of New York? While we have the Silver Apples Awards to toast the career achievement and social contributions of marketing professionals in New York (and beyond), we have always yielded to the ECHOs to celebrate much of the actual campaign work marketers do. So I encourage club members to rally New York representation among this year’s batch of entries and judges.

As an ECHO winner, you may or may not go to Cannes, but you’ll always be welcome among those where business result most matters.  ECHO-winning campaigns truly are “brilliant results, brilliantly achieved.”