Judging is More Than Just a Pretty Picture
Mark Perlotto previews the 2007 IN-AWE Awards
The largest collection of innovative strategic and creative healthcare marketing ideas was amassed at the 2007 International Awards of Excellence (IN-AWE) Awards competition judging event, which took place April 4th at the Union League Club of Philadelphia. More than 30 esteemed marketers from both the industry and agency side of the healthcare marketing world came from across the United States and Canada to evaluate the year’s best medical marketing work. The IN-AWE Awards, which are sponsored by the Medical Marketing Association (MMA), a nonprofit organization comprised of marketing professionals from the pharmaceutical, device, and diagnostic industries, recognize the convergence of great creative, great strategy, and great marketing results. Expanding The Creative Focus The theme for this year’s IN-AWE competition and awards show is “Expand Your Mind.” To be eligible for this year’s competition, the work had to have been produced between February 2006 and February 2007, all entries had to relate to medical or healthcare marketing, and target the professional, trade or consumer audiences. The IN-AWE competition covers all aspects of medical marketing and this year, 65 categories spanned print media, sales collateral, broadcast media, interactive, and Web marketing. Other categories included medical education (CME and non-CME), trade shows/conventions, sales meetings, and sales-training materials. The judges could award one Gold, Silver, or Bronze winner for each of the categories. At the end of the day, judges were then challenged to select an overall “Best in Show” winner as the single entry that transcended all others from across all categories. Global Coverage More than 800 entries were submitted from upward of 160 competing companies for this year’s competition. Support personnel from the MMA set up the entries, which filled the Union Club’s Lincoln Hall. The judges then had a full day of work cut out for them in viewing and evaluating the best medical marketing efforts from across the biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics industries. Teams included a mix of three to five agency and industry representatives. Assignments were made based on the expertise of the individual judges. IN-AWE Judge Bill Abernethy, senior director of global marketing for Genzyme Corp., commented that studying the background information provided and trying to understand what was created to address the particular marketing challenge at hand was very interesting, particularly in the “integrated campaign” category, because it included all of the various components and media that it takes to make up a great campaign. Jo Seidler, MMA’s IN-AWE VP board member, who led the team leaders in their selection of the ‘Best in Show” winner, was inspired by the high caliber of strategy, creativity, and ingenuity on display in the great hall at the Union Club for this year’s judging event. Continuing the Tradition The IN-AWE competition, which was started in 1985, emphasizes strategy and results. Entries are judged on their visual creative appeal as well as on their approach to strategy and just as important, the measurable results that the work delivered in achieving the desired objectives. The winners will be recognized at the 22nd annual IN-AWE Awards Ceremony on June 7th at the Fairmont San Francisco. The IN-AWE ceremony takes place concurrently with the 2007 MMA/HMC’s joint National Conference June 6-8. Mark Perlotto, who is Executive VP, Chief Marketing Officer, at Adair-Greene Healthcare Communications, Atlanta, serves as VP, IN-AWE Elect, MMA Board of Directors. Mr. Perlotto can be reached at [email protected]. Editor’s Note: For more information about the IN-AWE awards or the MMA/HMC national conference, please visit mmanet.org. PharmaVOICE welcomes comments about this article. E-mail us at [email protected]. Entries Galore Entries for this year’s IN-AWE Awards judging filled the Lincoln Hall exhibit space at the Union League Club in Philadelphia. Judging in action Mark Sapp of Gerbig, Snell/Weisheimer, Bill Abernethy of Genzyme Corp., and Mark Perlotto of Adair-Greene Healthcare Communications discuss the merits of some of this year’s IN-AWE entries.
