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Out with the old, in with the New Zealand Direct Marketing Awards

The RSVP & Nexus Awards have been rewarding insight-driven marketing for 26 years, but after an industry-wide review headed up by Ben Goodale, managing director of justONE and chairman of the Marketing Association’s Agencies’ Council, there have been some big changes this year, with a whole new structure and a new name: the New Zealand Direct Marketing Awards

 “During this
review it became apparent that as the awards celebrate everything to do with
direct marketing, we needed a name that reflects this, as well as fighting to
give New Zealand a truly international-quality local awards show that I hope
everyone will be proud to support,” says Goodale. “… 
It’s
all about direct, it’s about reaching people through databases and
understanding their behavior and measuring outcomes, regardless of channel.
So welcome back to direct marketing, an often
unfashionable name. Still, it hasn’t hurt in the US, UK or Australia.”

As well as the new moniker, there have also been some major changes to the categories. 

“Gone are all the old categories for sales generation, retention etc, and in are industry categories and specialist channels, to encourage more from different industries to enter, and to celebrate everything from the best viral campaign, best email, eCRM, through to direct mail or loyalty programme,” he says. “This revamp in particular puts a stronger focus on digital and this includes splitting craft into digital and print to again recognise that the craft involved can be quite different. Nexus meanwhile remains unchanged, as the review said it was working just fine.”

Campaigns can also be entered
into multiple channel categories, which reflects the current multi-channel market. 

Two new awards have been introduced: the first is
the Direct Marketer of the Year award, recognising an individual who has
celebrated, advocated or otherwise advanced the use of direct marketing within
their organisation and/or wider industry. And the Keith Norris Award for the Direct
Marketing Organisation of the Year will celebrate the achievement of success through
using direct marketing techniques to drive ROI for the business, and honours
the long-time chief executive of the former NZDMA.

Judging gets a revamp too. 

“We’re
introducing consultative judging for round two. And with Patrick Laughran, who has been such a huge support for many
years away this year, we’ll also be announcing a new RSVP chief judge who will
bring heaps of experience and expertise to proceedings,” says Goodale. 

The entry and registration process has also
changed, with the introduction of a new online registration portal and simpler
entry forms.

 “The one
thing that hasn’t changed with the awards is an unashamed focus on measurable
results,” says Goodale. “Entries only need to prove that the campaign
directly drove results, and they’ll do well.”

With all-new categories to suit every type of direct
marketing campaign, this year presents more opportunities than ever for entrants
to have their work recognised and what’s more all Gold Winners of the Industry
and Channel Awards are eligible to go straight through to Round 2 of the
international ECHO Awards, bypassing the elimination stage. 

  • Call for Entries is open now. 
  • Deadline for entries to be submitted is 5pm 26 October. 
  • Online registration and categories can be found at www.nzdmawards.co.nz

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