King James Cape Town Earn Grand Midas for Santam Insurance

New York, NY – December 20, 2012: The Midas Awards®, for the World’s Best Financial Advertising™, announced the award winners for the 2012 competition. This year’s Midas Grand Jury awarded one Grand Midas, 26 Gold Ingots, 46 Silver Ingots, and 63 Finalists. The 2012 Midas Awards competition received entries from 28 countries and is the only international competition that recognizes excellence in financial services communications on a global scale.

King James Cape Town earned the coveted Grand Midas Trophy in Investment Advisors for “Back at Ya” for their client Santam Insurance. In 2012, Santam launched an ad featuring Sir Ben Kingsley. Nando´s Fast Food Chicken produced a parody of the ad, which immediately became a massive viral hit. Santam responded within days of Nando’s parody with their own award-winning spoof, challenging the fast-food chain to deliver a party sized dinner order to the Johannesburg Children’s Home with a 4pm Thursday deadline. Exposure for the Santam brand resulted in “Back at Ya” becoming the most viewed South Africa video on YouTube in the 2 days after going viral. It also topped the most mentions on Twitter on the day of launch, trended after the first hour, and remained there until Nandos delivered on the challenge. Satam’s page takeover on News24 – resulted in 940,696 impressions and 11,440 clicks generating a CTR (Click-Through-Rate) of 1.2% - the CTR benchmark in SA is 0.25%.

“I'm on record for often saying that our goal as an agency is to create the best work in the category for our clients. I obviously had our own market in mind, so winning this award is spectacular overkill. We are thrilled. I know our client will also be. Kudos must go to Santam for this. Our response to Nando's was one of those spontaneous bolts of creative lightening that are so easily passed over because they don't fit a media schedule or a broader strategic purpose. This client put a good idea ahead of all other factors and that is rare these days.” Alistair King - Creative Partner, King James Cape Town.

King James Cape Town was honored with 2 additional Gold Ingots for Santam Insurance; “Back at Ya” received the Gold Ingot in Television Commercial, and “Sir Sneaky” for Financial Planning. The agency also garnered a Silver Ingot in the Investment Advisors category for “Time Flies” for client Allan Gray Limited.

U.S. agencies took the lead this year by earning 7 Gold Ingots. Publicis New York was honored with 2 Gold Ingots, the first in the Credit Card category for “Citi JFK/AA” for Citi Executive AAdvantage card, and the second in Customer Service for “Clear Checks” for Citibank. RG/A New York received 3 Gold Ingots for Client MasterCard, 1 Gold Ingot in Place-Based Media for “Check In to the Ballgame,” and “Rugby World Cup” earned 2 Gold Ingots in Sponsorship. The Martin Agency Richmond was awarded a Gold Ingot in the Website category for Morgan Stanley “Follow the Money,” and XO Group Inc. New York was recognized with a Gold Ingot in Credit Card “Get What U Want Out of Life” for client Chase Blueprint.

Belgium’s Mortierbrigad Brussels was awarded 3 Gold Ingots. The agency received 2 in Banking, and an additional Gold Ingot in Recruiting for “What if...” for client Deutsche Bank.

The following German agencies were honored with Gold Ingots: Agenta Werbeagentur GmbH Münster received a Gold Ingot in Sponsorship for “Throw! But Don’t Throw Your Smartphone!” for ING-DiBa; Heimat Werbeagentru GmbH Berlin was honored with a Gold Ingot in Banking for “We Clear The Way” for Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken; and Strichpunkt GmbH Stuttgart took home a Gold Ingot in the Annual Report category for “Together We Win - Annual Report 2011” for client Adidas AG.

Australian creative work was recognized with 2 Gold Ingots: Bengar Films Prahran was awarded a Gold Ingot in Sponsorship for “NAB Schools First” for client NAB; and Lavender Communications Group Sydney received a Gold Ingot in Online Advertising for “Car Loans” for Westpac.

Brazil’s Artplan Rio De Janerio garnered two Gold Ingots, the first in Event Promotion/Marketing, and the second in Point-of-Purchase for “The Social Home Tour’ for Carvalho Hosken.

India earned 2 Gold Ingots in this year’s Midas Awards: M&C Saatchi Direct & Digital Communications Mumbai received a Gold Ingot in Direct Mail for “Saptapadi” for Birla Sun Life Insurance; and Radio Mirchi - India was honored with a Gold Ingot in Annual Report for “Reimagining Radio” for Radio Mirchi.

The following agencies were recognized with Gold Ingots for their outstanding work: Rahofer Werbeagentur Salzburg, Austria earned a Gold Ingot in Annual Report for “The Most Flexible Annual Report Ever” for client Palfinger AG; TBWA\Digital Arts Network Auckland, New Zealand earned a Gold Ingot in Public Service for “ANZ Poppyday” for ANZ Bank; Pristop Ljubljana, Slovenia was awarded a Gold Ingot in Banking for “Rhyme with Zlatko” for client Sveta vladar (The ruler of the world); 41? 29! Istanbul, Turkey garnered a Gold Ingot in Electronic Banking for “DenizBank Facebook Banking” for client DenizBank; and Havas Worldwide London, UK received a Gold Ingot in Sponsorship for “Metamorphosis” for Credit Suisse.

The Midas Grand Jury is comprised of client and agency leaders from the creative and marketing disciplines, as well as internationally recognized experts in financial policy and communications. Midas Jury Panels award Gold and Silver Midas Ingots to the highest scoring entries in each category. The Grand Midas Award is recognized as the “Best of Show” by the Board of Judges and Advisors.

All 2012 Midas Awards winning entries

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New York, NY – December 12, 2012: New York Festivals® International Advertising Awards, for the World’s Best Advertising®, and the Berlin School of Creative Leadership has announced the winner of the “Helga and Michael Conrad Scholarship for New York Festivals Jury Members”. Martin Strutz, Creative Director of Jung von Matt/Alster Werbeagentur GmbH has been awarded this exclusive scholarship offered for New York Festivals Executive and Grand Jury members. The scholarship provides full tuition support in the amount of €53,000 to participate in the Berlin School of Creative Leadership EMBA Program.

“We are thrilled to be part of this initiative and share this excellent opportunity with our Executive and Grand Jury members,” said Michael O’Rourke, President of International Awards Group and New York Festivals.

The scholarship was made possible through the generous support of the Berlin School President Michael Conrad and his wife Helga Conrad. The Berlin School’s mission is to “turn great creatives into great creative leaders” and this award helps further the Berlin School’s mission to improve leadership standards in the industry and put creative leaders at the head of creative enterprises.

The Berlin School of Creative Leadership has expanded its global EMBA program dramatically since its inception in 2006. The school attracts an ever-increasing diverse group of participants from across a wide spectrum of the creative industries including advertising, design, entertainment marketing and media.

Martin Strutz, Creative Director of Jung von Matt/Alster Werbeagentur GmbH

“It's such an honor to be selected as the winner of the scholarship," said Strutz, who was on the New York Festivals Grand Jury in 2012. "When I got the call from Michael Conrad I was extremely happy and excited. And, I still am. The EMBA program is a great opportunity for
creatives that adds a new perspective to my professional as well as my personal development.”

As Creative Director of Jung von Matt/Alster Werbeagentur GmbH, Strutz is working on the international Mercedes-Benz passenger cars account with fully integrated campaigns, constantly trying to push the old patterns of the brand communication of Mercedes-Benz and the structure of German ad agencies towards the future. After several years of working on digital and integrated campaigns, Strutz is now looking to learn how to build teams, motivate creatives, and change traditional thinking to achieve success in the future of the industry.

Strutz will begin his EMBA program studies in Berlin on March 10th 2013, joining participants from over 45 countries. The EMBA program is designed for busy professionals and can be completed in one to two years with 5 specially designed interdisciplinary two-week modules held in Asia, Europe and North America.

In 2012, Michael Conrad served as New York Festival International Advertising Awards Executive Jury Moderator, with Donald Gunn, Founder of The Gunn Report, for the 55th Annual New York Festivals International Advertising Awards Executive Jury panel.

The 2013 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards is open for entries and will honor the World’s Best Advertising® at the New York Show taking place on May 1st and 2nd. For more information go to: http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/main.php?p=2,10

All press inquiries are welcome and should be directed to Gayle Mandel: gmandel@newyorkfestivals.com. Ph: 1 212 643 4800

About International Awards Group
Founded in 1957, International Awards Group (IAG) organizes advertising and programming competitions for the following brands: AME Awards® for the World's Most Effective Advertising™; Midas Awards® for the World’s Best Work in Financial Marketing & Advertising™; The Global Awards® for the World's Best Healthcare Advertising™; New York Festivals®; World's Best Advertising®; World's Best Radio Programs™ and World's Best Television & Films™. Entries to each of the competitions are judged around the world by panels of peers in their respective industries. For more information, go to www.InternationalAwardsGroup.com.

The Berlin School of Creative Leadership provides advanced leadership education programs for creative industry professionals in advertising, entertainment, design, marketing, media and publishing. At the heart of the Berlin School is its Executive MBA in Creative Leadership program: a flexible, part-time, FIBAA accredited leadership development program with modules in Europe, North America and Asia. Designed with a global perspective and interdisciplinary structure, the EMBA curriculum blends practical academic concepts with relevant industry insights to help executives leverage their existing talents to lead their company more competitively and effectively. Since opening its doors in 2006 the Berlin School of Creative Leadership has enrolled over 160 participants from 50 countries. The Berlin School also offers other non-degree custom and open enrollment programs such as the Cannes Creative Leaders Program in conjunction with the Cannes Lions Festival. The Berlin School is a non-profit institute affiliated with Steinbeis University Berlin and collaborates closely with UCLA Anderson School of Business in Los Angeles and Hitostubashi University in Tokyo. Learn more at: www.berlin-school.com

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The official Call for Entries for the Euro Effies 2013, the Gold Standard in Marketing Communications Effectiveness Awards, was launched today by the EACA.

The EACA Euro Effies 2013 are open to all agencies (whether members of EACA or not) for campaigns which ran in two or more European markets in 2012.

To be considered for a Euro Effie, campaigns must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the choice and use of marketing communications were key to the campaign's success.

The closing date for entries is 3pm (15h00) on Friday 19 April 2013. Winners will be officially announced at the Awards Gala in Brussels on 18 September and on the Euro Effies website www.euro-effie.com on 19 September 2013.

Judging takes place in two Rounds. Round 1 is conducted solely online and takes into consideration the effectiveness based on strategy, target market insights, choice and use of markeing communications and results. In Round 2 the creative element is also taken into consideration and makes up 20% of the final score. The judging will be chaired by Georges-Edouard Dias, Head of Digital at L’Oreal and will take place in Brussels.

The Euro Effies are organised by the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) in partnership with Euronews and with the support of The European Publishers’ Council, Print Power, TIME Fortune, WARC, Adforum.com, Procter & Gamble, Facebook, Nielsen, creativebrief & Viva Xpress Logistics.

The EFFIE award was created in 1968 by the New York AMA and is now celebrated in over 40 countries worldwide.