How to submit a case - guidelines
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED: 13th of NOVEMBER, 23:59 PM!
Note: When preparing and submitting a case please be aware that the analysis of the jury is based on the supplied materials. Be careful and very thorough when filling in the form. Lack, misleading or insufficient information might lead to disqualifying the campaign or to an incomplete analysis from the part of the jury and/or lower points! For more information please read carefully the Rules. Also, Make sure you read thoroughly the description of Categories.
The Written Case Study
The written case study is the most important part of the entry because it frames the business challenge and illustrates the impact of the work and the role of interactive. The best case studies explain the competitive environment, the business and marketing objectives and goals, and any evidence of performance. A large-scale, expensive campaign does not impress judges; effectively demonstrating performance, results and the role of creative does. Case studies should be clear, concise, and free of jargon and exaggeration.
Typical case study lengths are 1,000-1,200 words and no more than 1,500 words.
In addition, case study videos are strongly recommended!
Also, please provide as many visual examples of the banners usage and live act of the banners. Videos should be no longer than 2-3 minutes and should capture the creative and actual interactive experience (also a live act/demo of the banners). Those who come with detailed and explained results have more chances to get the highest number of points, especially for Amplification type of Category or Campaign Effectiveness (e.g: No of signatories for a petition if this was the objective of the campaign).
You will have a “Next” Button after each section and a possibility to go back and edit your campaign until it is finally approved by the IAB Romania staff.
The campaign will enter the evaluation process only after the invoice is paid!
Name & other info (contact information & invoice info are required here as well)
Strategic Approach
Explain the contact and provide some historical context (Benchmarks vs. prior years, competitive landscape), explain the strategic business and marketing challenge, define your target audience and objective of the campaign, your overall approach, include metrics used to evaluate success (e.g., raise brand awareness and preference, increase market share) and the process or plan devised to address and achieve your overall objective(s).
Please keep in mind that the Strategy brief should offer you answers to the following questions:
What was the overall context?
What was the strategic business and marketing challenge?
Who was the target audience?
What were the creative and media strategies?
What were the overall campaign objectives based on the situation outlined? For example: Increase market share? Increase unaided or aided brand awareness? Improve prospect engagement (e.g., time engaged with branded content? Generate $x from the campaign (unit sales, revenue, etc.)? Improve cost of acquisition (cost/response, cost/customer, cost/revenue generated, etc.)? Improve overall perception?
For each objective, what were the metrics used to evaluate success? (e.g., For increased market share, give starting market share and ending market share.)
Historical context? Benchmarks vs. prior years & competitive landscape
Creative concept
Judges will consider such criteria as engagement, unique use of medium, art direction, copyrighting, integration with overall campaign, and use of technology.
In order to achieve maximum score, the candidate should provide as close to an original user experience as possible, including a description of insights, idea and mechanisms used in the creative process - preferably live acts of the banners or creative aspects. Creative samples must be accessible via working web links to the actual creative or landing page. If the links are inactive for any reason during the judging phases, disqualification can result.
Stress out the WOW Effect! Judges expect to see (especially within Virtual & Augmented Reality, Product Innovation or Integrated Advertising works that are outstanding in terms of creativity & integration of new technology for a breathtaking experience)
Creative samples must be accessible via working web links to the actual creative or landing page. Please provide live acts demos of the used banners. If the links are inactive for any reason during the judging phases, disqualification can result. Although it is not required, but it is highly recommended, a case study video no more than 2-3 minutes long that prominently features visuals/the consumer experience of the actual creative work is strongly suggested in addition to the written case study.
Creative sample guidelines
Active URL to landing page or FTP site with links to each creative element of the campaign; or multiple active URLs. If providing links, please make sure sites are live. Broken links are grounds for disqualification.
Login information – if applicable
User name
Password
Additional instructions (for example, “click on the XYZ campaign tab”)
Not required but strongly recommended: A 2-3 minute case study video that captures the creative and actual interactive experience. For a sample video, click here.
Creative Video Guidelines
You cannot upload video directly to the submission form. Video material must be uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo and you need to share the link with us. Other creative materials need to be submitted via a publicly accessible URL or they cannot be viewed or scored by the judges.
Execution
Tell us what you did to accomplish the goals and objective identified above, including interactive tactics, percentage of budget allocated and anything unique, noteworthy or interesting about how you executed the strategy.
This section should address the following:
Overall description of the campaign and how well was the campaign carried out?
How creative or sophisticated was the campaign in its use of media?
What percent of the campaign budget went to interactive media?
How well was technology leveraged?
What did the agency do to accomplish the brand and/or business goals and objectives outlined above?
A thorough supply of key deliverables provided - Image & Video cases
Amplification
In this section you should provide information on mechanisms and channels used in rolling out the campaign: paid media, influencers, digital PR, guerilla, OOH - each of those have specific fields that need to be filled in ( Budget, Approach, Deliverables, Image/Video) - we strongly recommend to fill in the fields but should there be any confidentiality clause, please add a “-” . You have to choose at least 2 sections!
What interactive tactics & channels were used? Why and how were they used - what was the approach?
What percentage of the overall interactive budget was allocated on each channel?
Innovation
Is there anything unique, noteworthy or interesting about the execution of the strategy? Results - In this section should provide an explanation of the success of the campaign and provide answers for the following questions:
Did the campaign achieve its objectives and goals, and is there solid empirical evidence to back it up? What was the overall ROI?
Did the performance of the campaign have a significant impact on the business?
How well did the work do against your brand and/or business goals and objectives?
What metrics show that the program met or exceeded expectations and brand/business objectives? (Source data or research from client, agency or third party.)
What tangible effect did the work have on the client’s brand and business?
How did the creative contribute?
Please explain how you determined what you did was successful.
