DMAi brings ECHO™ to ASIA

DMAi, from 2015, will be the exclusive association to enjoy an expanded affiliation with the DMA International ECHO™ Competition to funnel entries from across Asia. The 2015 DMA ASIA ECHO™ Awards will be the stepping-stone and gateway to international recognition. ECHO™ Awards honors exceptional creative work that has delivered results. The DMA International ECHO competition began in 1929 as the first direct mail awards show and is currently the oldest direct response awards program in the world. The ECHOs are the most prestigious direct response award and have long been considered the direct response version of the Oscars.

Speaking on the occasion of signing of this exclusive arrangement that covers all of ASIA, Thomas Benton, CEO, Direct Marketing Association (DMA), US said "Marketers around the world and the ecosystem that supports them benefit when their trade associations collaborate and put a spotlight on innovation and success.  In that spirit, the Direct Marketing Association is very pleased to be partnering with the DMAi to increase participation in the ECHO™ awards from DMAi’s breadth of creative and innovative members.  We celebrate this partnership and look forward to seeing DMAi and its members at our annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts in October.”

The DMA International ECHO Awards celebrate the best and the brightest data-driven, direct response marketing campaigns from around the world. Those that are honored by receiving an ECHO Award have demonstrated superlative marketing strategy, exceptional insight into audience behavior, a responsible use of data and the ability to conceive and execute inspired creative that delivers an overwhelming return on marketing investment. (dma-echo.org)

DMA India has brought this credible awards program to India since 2012. The DMA India ECHO™ Awards in 2014 had over 383 entrants from over 150 brands and 70 top agencies in fray locally. Globally India has had an unrivaled run for last two years beating all international participating countries and having won the highest tally of metals at the International Edition.

In an added development, both Vatsal Asher, CEO DMAi & Shelly Singh COO, DMAi, have been appointed as an official International ECHO™ Envoy, for all the hard work they have put into the ECHO’s over the past 5 years. As an Envoy, they will join the DMA International Ambassador Committee, which is responsible for unifying all of the local international DMA’s as well as being a liaison to the DMA in New York. Vatsal and Shelly join a dignified group which includes ECHO™ Board of Governors, Mark Allen ( also a member of the DMA Board of Directors), Debbie Roth, Henry Hoke and Tedd Aurelius.

On the appointment as an ECHO™ International Envoy Shelly Singh, Director & COO, DMAi said “Vatsal & I are indeed honored to be inducted as the International ECHO™ Envoy & be part of this very prestigious group. To have the continued opportunity of service in a meaningful way we are equally excited!! We are thankful to Tedd Aurelius Chairman, Emeritus for the ECHO Governors & Ajay Chandwani, Chairman Emeritus for DMAi Awards for their mentorship. We have the reassurance of increased support from our colleagues, at the DMA Asia Board of Governors, on this new assignment and we are confident that this paves the way for more recognition, celebration and most importantly raising the bar on innovation for marketers and agencies this side of the world.”

All entries can now enter simultaneously for both awards, 2015 DMA Asia ECHO™ Awards and The DMA International ECHO™ Awards 2015 at a single subsidized entry fee. All qualifying DMA Asia award-winning campaigns will enter into the prestigious International ECHO™ Awards 2015 bypassing the first round of judging and fast track to the semi-finals of the competition.

Here, the entries are judged on the basis of the regular 15 Business Categories viz, Automotive, Business & Consumer Services, Communications/Utilities, Consumer Products, Education, Financial Products & Services, IT, Insurance, Not-for-Profit and so on. Starting 2014 the expanded DMA ASIA Awards has introduced a new sub-category “Creative Effectiveness” under a new program called “CREATEFFECT” which covers the Direct Response, Craft and Interactive elements of the campaign too. (Please refer https://dmaecho.awards.asia/categories/for complete details on categories). No other awards competition looks at the direct response marketing discipline in such totality. Which is why no other awards competition is so important.

Grand Jury Chairperson for 2015 Ms Rakhshin Patel, Managing Director, Pi Communications added “For an athlete, the Olympics are the ultimate stage. Data driven marketers share the same feeling about the ECHO™ program. There is indeed no bigger stage to showcase ideas and work that have yielded measurable, tangible, real results. There are many reasons why creative and marketing professionals should be excited about this year’s ECHO™ awards. The most compelling of them is: They deserve to! Their hard work and smart thinking has resulted in many memorable experiences for audiences far and wide. It’s now time to send in those entries, and then wait for the applause to echo in their ears ”.

OgilvyOne, Urja Interactive and Worldwide Open have been assigned duties for creative, digital and social respectively for the program promotion across ASIA. The call for entries opened on 15 April 2015. As on date nearly 200 entrants across 25 agencies and close to 60 brands have signed up to participate from India. The early bird deadlines are of May 10 and May 15 and submissions will be accepted till June 12, 2015. The first ASIAN Awards Gala will be held in Mumbai on Aug 6, 2015 and the International Edition is scheduled for Boston USA on October 5, 2015.

The Agency of the Year citation now in its third year running has the 2014 with the  joint winners OgilvyOne & MRM Worldwide as defending champions. This citation is awarded to the agency with the highest tally. Diamond / Grand Prix winners earn 5 points, Gold Winners earn 4 Points, Silver Winners, earn 3 Points, Bronze winners earn 2 Points and finalists earn 1 Point.

In a simultaneous development, The prestigious Ad Club has renewed the partnership for the second year to support and endorse the 2015 DMA ASIA ECHO™ Awards. Under the arrangement members of the Ad Club and past entrants (2014- 15) from EMVIES, EFFIES and ABBYs would enjoy a) subsidized rates b) Extended Deadlines and c) fast track of metals to Round 2 at DMA ASIA ECHO™. Leaders from the Ad Club Mancom and a few members additionally have pledged their personal time and support as well for the ECHO™ program.

While entries would be funneled from all across Asia the DMA ASIA ECHO™ would focus on the 17 markets of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam & UAE.