NEWS INSIGHT: Finalists named for 2001 awards

Sony, Levi's, Shell, Lever Faberge, Cahoot and Golden Wonder are

among the leading businesses to have made it to the shortlist for The

Marketing Society Awards 2001.

The 32 finalists, which have survived an exacting judging process that

began with 130 brands, will go forward to the awards ceremony on Tuesday

June 12, when they will be announced as winners and highly commended

entries in 12 categories. Of the winners, one will be named as the

overall winner, for Outstanding Marketing Achievement.

The Marketing Society Awards, held in association with Marketing, are

the benchmark for marketing excellence in the UK. The eventual winners

will have triumphed in a rigorous two-stage judging process by a

senior-level judging panel comprising some of the top names in the

industry and chaired by John Sunderland, chief executive of Cadbury

Schweppes.

They include: Sir Michael Perry, chairman of Centrica; Keith Weed,

chairman of Lever Faberge; Alan McWalter, marketing director of Marks &

Spencer; David Bell, chairman of Pearson; Hugh Davidson of the Cranfield

School of Management; Chris Powell, chairman of BMP DDB; Angus Porter,

managing director of the consumer division at BT Retail; Jane Frost,

acting marketing director of BBC Technology; David Campbell, chairman of

The Marketing Society and Chris Thomas, chief executive of Lowe

Lintas.

Thomas, who is also chairman of The Marketing Society Awards, pointed to

the number of blue-chip businesses and brands to have entered this year

as evidence that the uncompromising judging criteria meant the awards

had become highly sought after.

'The judges took at least two full days out from their demanding

schedules to carefully assess all the entries. All those that have made

it to the finalist stage deserve credit for beating some high-calibre

competition. Those that go on to win in their categories will know they

have achieved a level of excellence that will benefit their own

businesses - and ultimately the marketing industry as a whole.'

Even at shortlist stage, the awards, which are designed to reward

marketing effectiveness rather than pure advertising creativity, have

highlighted some of the most innovative strategies of the past year.

'The 12 categories are designed to reflect the depth and breadth of

marketing and how it should permeate an organisation and its thinking -

I think this year's finalists more than demonstrate that,' said

Thomas.

This year's finalists include some of the most exciting brand

developments of the past year. Levi's, which managed to halt a decline

in the denim market by introducing its Engineered Jeans, sits on the

shortlist alongside Quality Street, which repositioned and repackaged,

and Metro Newspaper, which launched to critical acclaim.

Internet brands Cahoot, Asserta Home and Self Trade are also represented

across the categories. Internationally, Guinness Ireland, Shell and

UDV's Johnnie Walker whisky make an appearance.

The categories have been further refined this year, and for the first

time include awards for business-to-business and for corporate

citizenship.

The winners will be announced at the awards dinner on Tuesday June 12 at

Le Meridien Grosvenor House in London. For details contact Nici Brooks

on 020 8267 4161 or nici.brooks@haynet.com.

AWARDS CATEGORIES

Headline sponsor Yahoo!

Category Sponsor

New brand of the year ITV

Brand development of the year

Brand revitalisation of the year AAR Group

International brand development

Marketing communications FMCG

Business-to-business

Innovations

Best use of a new channel to market Accenture

Internal communications

Customer insight Accenture

Corporate communications

Corporate citizenship

FINALISTS

Asserta Home

Birds Eye Wall's - Carte D'Or

Booths Supermarkets

British Gas

BUPA

Cadbury Trebor Bassett - Flake

Cahoot

Charnos - Bioform

First Active Financial

Ginsters

Golden Wonder - Wotsits

Guinness Ireland Group

UDV - Johnnie Walker

Lever Faberge - Lynx

Levi Strauss & Co

Metro Newspaper

Muller Dairy UK - Muller Light

Nestle UK - Quality Street; Kit Kat

Royal Holloway University of London

Sainsbury's Supermarkets

Sci-Fi Channel

Scottish Provident

Self Trade

Shell International

Silentnight Beds

Skoda

Sony United Kingdom

Tesco

The Fabulous Bakin' Boys

The Met Office

Universal Salvage

Walkers Snacks/News International

This article was first published on Marketing