Financial Times

Ad industry pulls out from SLIM Awards
The majority of Sri Lanka’s advertising industry has finally broken away from the Sri Lanka Marketing Institute (SLIM) and its annual SLIM advertising awards and preparing to host its own event this year and in the future.
The new awards scheme will look at 100% creativity as the criteria compared to a mixture of creativity and effectiveness under the SLIM awards.

International Advertising Association (IAA) President Ranil de Silva told journalists at a news conference last week called to explain why IAA and the 4 As had withdrawn from the SLIM awards that the new awards scheme based on international advertising awards events will be launched by June this year. It will be run independently.

Industry officials said that at least 38 agencies have pulled out of the SLIM event in March. The crisis between the industry and SLIM was sparked off by the latter’s refusal to accept some major reforms proposed by ad agencies.
In a joint statement, the 4A’s (Accredited Advertising Agencies Association) and the IAA (International Advertising Association) said they had advised Sri Lanka’s advertising agencies that the two associations would be withdrawing their support of the annual Ad Awards of 2006 organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) due to an apparent lack of enthusiasm, in marked contrast to initial promises made, to reform existing practices, as suggested by the two associations. These reforms had emerged from various discussions that both associations have had with advertising professionals participating at Asian and International events pertaining to the advertising industry.

Industry professionals had repeatedly expressed concerns that Sri Lankan advertising standards need to be raised, if the industry is to achieve international acclaim, the statement said. With this objective in mind, the boards of the 4A’s and the IAA had met at several sessions to discuss the reforms required for Sri Lanka’s offering to be truly global. These deliberations were documented in a proposal with the intention of presenting it to SLIM.
The proposal suggests a fundamental shift in strategy, which would allow for frequent evaluation of the global landscape and an understanding of how best to compete in such an environment.

As the focus should always be on the creative content as highlighted abundantly at international festivals, the proposal suggested separating the single entry and the campaign entry in each medium. Such award shows should also give prominence to new media such as Ambient Marketing and Interactive Marketing.

There is also a need to further foster creativity so entries should be made available as a print out or on a CD with the newspaper clipping as support to better showcase the creative product.

The make up of the jury would also be required to change as juries should attempt to integrate both international and local professionals. The Awards show would be required to include at least five foreign judges, with these judges serving on more than one panel. In addition, all foreign judges would be required to serve on the selection of the best of show and campaign entries.
It was identified that there should also be an opportunity to conduct a de-briefing of the judging panel, which would include a question and answer session. Meanwhile, invited foreign jurors could also be persuaded to deliver addresses and workshops to help enhance learning for Sri Lanka’s advertising community.

These suggestions were being made with the objective of providing the local Ad Industry with the much needed opportunity to develop their skills and benefit from those professionals who are brought down especially for the awards.

Year on year, though the Agencies fund the whole awards show, the Ad Industry neither benefits professionally nor financially.

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