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Saturday, November 3, 2007

Come to the CASSIES!

Any plans Tuesday evening?

Even though it`s a school night, there`s a dinner slash party you should definitely make an appearance at. I guarantee you’ll eat well and not fall asleep after the dessert course.

Celebrated since 1993, the 2007 CASSIES takes centre stage at the Liberty Grand, where agencies and marketers celebrate made-in-Canada advertising successes from the previous year. The idea started in the UK in 1980, called the IPA Effectiveness Awards. In 1993 our equivalent was born, running every two years until 2001, then annually.

The CASSIES represents one of the rare instances where awarding-winning advertising is calculated this way:

Great creative message + Measurable marketing results = Business success.

But don’t let the straightforward math fool you. Today, marketers face huge challenges reaching, connecting and impacting a rapidly fragmenting target audience. And it’s becoming more difficult to isolate both the effect and effectiveness of advertising in the mix. This night is our opportunity to hear from some of the best creative and marketing minds in the industry showcase new approaches that generated results.

And judging by the number of entries this year – 92, up 77% from last year there’s a lot of innovation happening that’s worth celebrating.

This year’s event brings a number of enhancements including a dinner format that no doubt will mean less rushing and more lingering and chatting over the work. New categories have been added too – Best Use of Media, Canadian contribution to a global or multi-country campaign and renaming the Import/Export award to Canadian Success outside Canada.

Chair of judging this year is Bill Durnan, EVP, Toronto Chief Convergent Creative Officer, Cossette Communication Marketing. He leads a 15-person panel of high profile senior-level representatives from advertisers, account management, creative, media, account planning, research, direct marketing, and academia.

All award-winning case studies from previous years can be viewed in the Case Library section of the CASSIES web site.

Because case studies are submitted jointly by agency and client, it’s also where winning creative and marketing teams share the podium – together. That reason alone should bring the curious out.

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