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Changes to 2014 ACE Award Submission Protocol
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It’s that time again! The annual ACE Awards are on the horizon and that means it’s time for you to start thinking about where you shone the brightest this year. The 2014 ACE Awards will feature a few important rule changes that you need to know about.

 

1) The submission process

This year the ACE Award submissions will not require the preliminary entry of an executive summary. Executive summaries will be submitted together with the full campaign binder. This is for two reasons. First, it will allow judges to spend more time on one set of submissions and offer better feedback to entrants looking to improve their work. Second, the application process will be streamlined for those submitting their work for judging.

2) Return of documents

Binders will not be returned after the ACE Awards Gala. Experience has shown us that many applicants produce an extra copy of the “big binder” submission for their records, and do not need the originals returned to them. Instead of returning the full binder, entrants will receive their completed marking rubrics via email in the week following the ACE Awards Gala.

3) Best in Show/Best Creative Entries
For Best in Show and Best Creative nominations, the judges will nominate 2-3 submissions for both categories. The entrants will be asked to present their work to the judging panel to be considered for the Best in Show and Best Creative awards. Portions of these presentations may be videotaped for future use at the ACE Awards Gala.

 

These changes have been made to help strengthen the ACE Awards program and ensure that the submission experience is as rewarding as possible for our members. Streamlining the submission process creates a simpler experience for applicants, guarantees continued quality feedback on their work and allows CPRS Toronto to stay current with other award programs.

 

If you have any questions about the changes to the submission process, or about anything else related to judging and entries at the 2014 ACE Awards, please contact Leigh LePage or Charzie Abendanio, Judging & Entries co-chairs, at cprs.ace.awards@gmail.com.

www.cprstoronto.com

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Archived tour of @RyersonDMZ: Viafoura (12:32)
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Part five of our March 12 Ryerson DMZ tour (and our final!) features Jalil Asaria, senior account executive at Viafoura – a tool used by CNN, CBC and the Discovery Channel.

Viafoura is an audience engagement platform for media properties.

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Archived tour of @RyersonDMZ: Phosphorus (6:32)
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Part four of our March 12 Ryerson DMZ tour features Jonathan Ingham, president at Phosphorus Media.

Phosphorus creates interactive media panel experiences.Clients have included L’Oreal, Adidas and Harley Davidson, among others.

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Archived tour of @RyersonDMZ: Authintic (5:54)
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Part three of our March 12 Ryerson DMZ tour features Christopher Berry, co-founder and chief science officer at Authintic.

Authintic’s platform is an analytics technology for permission marketing.

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CASE STUDY: High Road Communications’ Brighter Life for Sun Life Financial
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By: Miranda Germani

Today’s the big day: the ACE Awards gala takes place this evening! The ACE committee is busy at Arcadian Court rolling out the (metaphorical) red carpet at this very moment. Just like the Oscars’ broadcast rehashes past years’ movies and fashion before the big show, this is the perfect moment for us to take a look into our past with an ACE Awards standout.

The Sun Life Financial and High Road Communications teams took home an award last year with the BrighterLife.ca initiative, awarded in the Digital Communications Campaign category.

I was pleased to talk to Adrienne Connell, Vice President, High Road Communications before the 2013 ACE Awards officially arrive, about the success of this digital campaign.

Can you tell me about your winning campaign? 

BrighterLife.ca is Sun Life Financial’s innovative digital content marketing platform. It is aimed at helping Canadians answer their money, health, family and career questions in an informal, engaging and no-pressure way. The goal is to add real value to Canadians through the power of relevant, credible, useful content. It’s a revolutionary approach that puts the needs of consumers at the forefront and it’s helped Sun Life to connect with a whole new target audience.

What was the objective and why was it so successful?

Sun Life Financial wanted to engage consumers earlier in the sales cycle, before they had considered Sun Life or were even aware that they had a need that might be met by a financial product. They already had digital marketing platforms to engage both prospective and current customers but needed a way to reach consumers who were just at the beginning of their buying journey. Typically, customers have a trigger event, such as starting a family, changing careers or thinking about retirement.  Enter BrighterLife.ca to engage a wide span of Canadians from young professionals, to young families through to mature families and pre-retirees. It’s been a success because there is an incredible team of individuals behind it that ensure we’re creating magnetic content that is portable, and by that I mean letting audiences consume the content in the channels of their choice, be that on the website, e-newsletters, Facebook, Twitter or RSS. They also make a phenomenal commitment to activating that content across channels leveraging a combination of paid, earned, owned and shared channels.

How did winning an award contribute to the agency’s brand? 

At both High Road and Sun Life we’re very proud to work on this award-winning initiative. It’s an amazing honour to be recognized by our peers in the industry for creating innovative ideas that hopefully inspire other brands and it has helped to solidify our voice as thought leaders in the Canadian content marketing space.

What inspired you to submit?

We are always committed to celebrating our client’s successes, and awards such as this play a key role in recognizing their great work and our continued partnership together.

What were the challenges associated with submitting an award?

While we are always looking at metrics to evaluate a program’s success, distilling those down to the highlights and capturing the essence of what makes a particular effort such as BrighterLife.ca unique isn’t always quick to pull together. It took support from Sun Life’s team and High Road’s to ensure our submission told the story of BrighterLife.ca.

What was a “must-include”in your binder submission?

Creative samples of the writing on BrighterLife.ca and the user experience design of the site. We also made sure we included materials that spoke to the overall strategy and goals. Finally we included materials that illustrated the impact we’ve had with BrighterLife.ca and the vibrant community we have built around the brand.

How did it feel to receive your award at the gala?

Really good! We enjoyed a chance to bring our two teams together for a night of celebration and fun.

What advice would you give to other entrants?

Submit! Be creative in your submission while giving a clear indication of what you set out to do, how you did it and what you ultimately achieved.

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Archived tour of @RyersonDMZ: Soapbox (4:48)
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Last week, Justin Trudeau was described as cultivating a digital-era image in a Maclean’s piece that also talked abut his use of an online platform for sharing ideas called Soapbox.

Part two of CPRS Toronto’s March 12 tour of Ryerson’s DMZ features Warren Tanner, co-founder and CMO at Hitsend Inc., creators of Soapbox.

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Archived tour of @RyersonDMZ: Intro (8:21)
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Did you miss our March 12 tour of Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone? Over the next few weeks we’ll be profiling the companies that we toured. You’ll be able to hear about

But this week we begin with an intro from Valerie Fox, Executive Director of the DMZ.

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Archived presentation: CEO Award to Sheldon Levy @RyersonU (23:50)
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Click the arrows in the bottom right corner to watch in full screen.
Also be sure to checkout some pictures from the event and this video showcasing Ryerson University’s growth.

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Archived presentation: Ups and Downs of PR with novelist @TerryFallis (27:27)
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Click the arrows in the bottom right corner to watch in full screen.

Award-winning Canadian novelist Terry Fallis presents his latest novel Up and Down.

Terry Fallis is the author of The Best Laid Plans and The High Road. In 1995, Terry co-founded Thornley Fallis with Joe Thornley, a full service communications consulting agency with offices in Ottawa and Toronto. Terry also used to co-host of the popular business podcast, Inside PR.

For more than 20 years, Terry has counseled corporate and government clients on various fronts including crisis communications, media relations, issues management, marketing communications, public opinion polling, public affairs and stakeholder relations. He has also written speeches for CEOs, cabinet ministers, and other community leaders.

Terry’s recent novel Up and Down was released in September 2012 and has since received notable media recognition across Canada and the United States.


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