Two days of reading and debate by the jury of 28 advertisers, senior media executives and broader communications experts, including Laura Klauberg from Unilever, Jack Klues from VivaKi and Sam Balsara from Madison has drawn up a shortlist from the 650 entries submitted for consideration.
Starcom MediaVest tops the contenders list in the campaign categories with 18 nominations followed by Mindshare on 13, MediaCom on 11 and Havas on seven.
The campaign shortlist includes entries from 29 countries with regional campaigns from EMEA and the Americas also nominated. The top market is the United States with 33 nominations followed by the UK, Canada, Germany, China and India.
The media owners shortlists include both global giants such as Clear Channel Outdoor and smart single market operations such as TV2 in Hungary and Finland's MTV Oy as well specialist offering such as ski resort media operator MediaMountain.
“Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted. The competition was tough and everyone who has got this far has already been recognised as producing world-class work. The media industry moves fast and jury members commented that what was innovative two years ago is now simply mainstream. Campaigns that passed this test demonstrated both an ability to innovate as well as demonstrating real results for their clients,” said awards director Alastair Ray.
Shortlisted campaigns will now be asked to produce a reel for the jury to consider in Valencia ahead of the Festival of Media alongside their written strategies.
The jury will also award the four top awards: The Creativity Award, the Effectiveness Award, The Partnership Award and the Media Owner of the Year.
Agency of the Year and Media Agency Network of the Year will be calculated from results in all categories and the Jury awards.
Shortlisted campaigns will also be entered into the People's Award, a unique prize that allows marketers, planners, strategists and anyone else with an interest in great communications to have their say online via www.Creamglobal.com/peoplesaward.htm with the delegates at the Festival of Media voting for the final winner from the top public campaigns. Voting in the People's Award starts on 10 April.
The full shortlist for all categories can be found at www.festivalofmediaawards.com/shortlist.
