ADFX accepts entries under four category headings. Click on the heading that interest you to go directly to it.

NEW: SPECIAL JURY PRIZES

Products or services which are new to market or have no significant history of advertising.

It has been traditionally recognised that the effects of advertising can be at their most powerful and dramatic when a new product or service is launched. It is in these cases that advertising can make people aware of a new product or brand, acting as the catalyst making them want to try it.

However, a successful new product launch is not necessarily proof that its advertising was effective. A competent new product or concept, with efficient distribution, will achieve certain levels of success without any advertising.

The judges will be interested in cases where advertising not only gained initial interest and trial, but also laid the foundations for longer-term brand success by creating a distinctive positioning and/or an emotional bond with the customer. The launch campaign must have commenced during the period January 1st 2004 to June 30th 2006.

New campaign for a previously advertised brand, which resulted in significant short-term effects on sales or behaviour over a period of less than two years.

As in the case of new products, the onus is on the author to show that the increase in sales (or awareness) was caused at least in part by the advertising and not by some other factor such as price cutting, improved distribution or the main competitor being on strike.

Cases will be greatly strengthened by corroborative evidence of how the advertising worked, using intermediate measures such as advertising recall, brand image studies, and, not least, qualitative research. All of this is important in building a coherent and plausible story. The campaign must have started between January 1st 2004 and June 30th 2006.

A longer term advertising campaign which benefited a business by maintaining or strengthening a brand over a period of two years or more.

Although everyone is usually delighted when a campaign shows dramatic short-term results, the more common justification for advertising is the long term protection and consolidation of a brand's profitability.

A successful brand will exhibit customer loyalty; lower price elasticity; ability to launch new products; standing with the retailer; more productive promotions; resistance to competitive pressure; in general, greater sales strength.

These questions can be answered by reviewing other possible contributory factors and building up a picture from research of how the advertising could have achieved such a result. It is difficult to put a precise value on the contribution of advertising in this category. But the ultimate benefit to the client should be demonstrated in terms of the long-term profitability.

Long term campaigns should have been running for over two years. Campaigns that were entered in the 1998 or 2000 AD-FX Awards can be re-entered, provided significant new material was produced during the period January 1st 2004 to June 30th 2006.

Advertising campaigns for products or services created for two or more distinct national territories

The international category, new for 2004, is designed to recognise the increasing importance of Irish originated advertising that contributed to international and global advertising strategies. As in the previous categories, the onus is on the author to show the successful marketing campaign effects were primarily the result of the Irish generated advertising activity and not a product of market conditions.

The campaign has to have run in at least two international territories, one of which may be Ireland/Northern Ireland. Cases will be greatly strengthened by corroborative evidence of how the advertising worked, using intermediate measures such as advertising recall, brand image studies and qualitative or quantitative research. All of this is important in building a coherent and plausible story. The campaign must have started between January 1st 2004 and June 30th 2006.