Effie Awards want to focus more on education and training By Alexandra Lages The city’s casino and entertainment industry can still learn more about marketing, Owen Jia, President of Effie China, told Macau Business. Mr. Jia was in Macau last month to host the 2015 Effie Greater China Awards – Macau event launch Ceremony. The annual Effie Awards honour the most effective marketing communication ideas. “Macau has a special position in this region because of its entertainment and exhibition industries, and even casinos. They can still learn about effective marketing technique,” he said. Local company Conde Group Ltd. has been associated with the Effie China Awards since 2011, when they were extended to Hong Kong and Macau. The group hosts an annual exhibition of the award-winning works as well as seminars in Macau. Mr. Jia added that Macau’s advertising industry can learn a lot from Effie award cases. In particular, how to build a brand, how to use marketing effectively and how to employ new media including mobile media and new technologies. Rebecca Choi, a director of Conde Group, is the Macau representative for this year’s Effie China Award. She says there were only two entries from Macau in the past – House of Dancing Water from City of Dreams and China Telecom (Macau). “We’d like to see more Macau entries as there are potential marketing cases that Macau brand owners and industry players can enter for the Effie Awards. The big challenge is whether there is the market and officially led incentives to allocate resources for participation to showcase Macau brands and their value in the region,” she says. Ms. Choi believes that there are a lot of opportunities to be developed for the marketing and advertising industry in Macau as it is still underdeveloped in the context of strategic marketing concepts, diversified marketing channels and mix. Talent is still a challenge for adverting here, she says. “The challenges are how to develop the local market and professionals that can further enrich the marketing and advertising industry. A matter of chicken or egg; first, we need to attract young talent to the advertising industry for them to see the contribution and difference a healthy marketing industry can positively influence society and the economy. “At the same time, major brand owners and market players can work with local talent and industry players and participate in regional marketing awards and be recognised for their value and capability,” she says. Students at work For this reason, Effie Awards will focus more on education and training in the future, Mr. Jia said. “This is one of our association’s missions. We try to share our successful experiences about effective marketing to students and teachers, and even clients, like advertisers,” he said. Ms. Choi continued to say that there is a strong need to draw on professional and experienced resources locally and abroad to develop the local market. “New generations need to feel hopeful that the Macau Government and leaders are doing what they can to raise the standards and competitiveness of industry professionals, benefiting the growth of the Macau economy and society for the sustainability of a better future. There’s still a lot of good work to be co-ordinated and done,” she said. Jointly organised by the China Advertising Association, Effie China and Macau Polytechnic Institute, the 2015 Effie Greater China Awards – Macau ‘Awarding Ideas that Work’ were held last month. Event highlights included showcase awarded entries of 2014, a seminar themed ‘Creativity. Brand Essence’, an Effie Awards press conference, and the launch of the Effie Collegiate Award in Macau. By launching the Effie Collegiate in Macau, local students were challenged with ‘live’ cases in Macau to provide creative marketing strategies for local entities, which included Small and Medium Enterprises, the Cultural and Creative Industry and Social Enterprises. For Small and Medium Enterprises, participants were asked to create a series of marketing strategies for renowned local restaurant Pou Chi Lam; for the Cultural and Creative Industry, students were challenged to promote the concept of Macau; for the Social Enterprise, with Fuhong Society the client, students were challenged to conjure up creative and effective ideas to promote the enterprise’s products and services and enhance their brand value. Effie experts mentored each team on their case studies with the final winning team representing Macau to attend the Effie Greater China Collegiate Awards in China.
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