NEW YORK, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The governing board of The Caples Awards has announced the call for entries for the John Caples 30th International Awards. For 30 years, this prestigious competition has honored the most creative and effective direct marketing campaigns in the world.
Submissions are due September 30th. Early bird discounts are available for submissions made before September 15th. Complete rules and submission information can be found at http://www.caples.org/.
"John himself would be impressed with the creativity and quality we have seen from award winners over the past few years and proud the industry is rising to the challenge to find new ways to reach consumers," said Deborah Radcliffe, Team Leader for Relationship Marketing at Pfizer Inc. and general chair of the John Caples International Awards.
An innovative 1-to-1 digital print and direct mail Call For Entries campaign for the 30th Caples Awards has been developed, pro bono by the creative team at Rodgers Townsend, St. Louis. Each recipient will see a different cover that represents his or her country. Each version reflects the strong brand that the John Caples Awards have become in the direct marketing industry with 51 different graphic representations of John Caples, one for each country participating. Email blasts will also showcase last year's winning work -- also using country specific artwork.
"Creatives across the world are relentless in using new media and technology to be more relevant," said Erik Mathre, Creative Director at Rodgers Townsend. "But the best work seems to have so much more sweat equity put into it. Our campaign salutes that fact by using cover treatments and messages that vary by region and recipient."
Many others have made the Call For Entries possible through their generous support. Freedom Graphic Systems, Milton Wisc, donated digital color printing, fulfillment, and paper for the 40,000 piece direct mail run. In addition, Direct, DM News, Fundraising Success, and Target magazines cooperated with free ad space and subscriber files. Patrick Fultz, President and CCD of DM Creative Group, LLC, President/COO of the John Caples Board of Directors, Jane Walsh, VP Creative of the John Caples Board of Directors and Ruth Sheldon, President, Ruth K. Sheldon & Associates, and Chairperson, Community Relations, managed the entire Caples Call For Entries effort on a volunteer basis.
About The Caples
Now in its 30th year, the John Caples International Awards competition was founded in 1978 by Andi Emerson, president of The Emerson Marketing Agency, to honor "innovative creative solutions to direct marketing problems."
The Caples Awards competition is recognized by The Won Report (http://www.wonreport.com/) as one of the three 'top-tier international awards show' for direct and interactive marketing, alongside only the DMA ECHO Awards and the Cannes Lions Awards.
Named after John Caples, the AAF Advertising Hall of Fame creative direct response pioneer and internationally acclaimed author, the Caples Awards competition is the only creatively-driven, international direct and interactive marketing awards show that judges creative marketing efforts across all digital and analog media.
Judged solely by direct and interactive marketing creative professionals (no exceptions made for agency heads or other high-ranking 'suits'), the John Caples Awards recognize the individual creative achievements of their peers. This unique aspect of the Caples Awards helps attract a veritable Who's Who of creative professionals from around the world to fly into New York for a week of hands-on judging across three stages. Led for the third year by Gary Scheiner, TBWA/ Chiat Day NY Executive Creative Director at TBWA/WORLDHEALTH, this large, volunteer band of international creatives set the highest standard of judging [a complete list of Caples 30th judges will follow in a separate release].
While the Caples competition is U.S. based, it consistently attracts entries from -- and bestows awards to -- a legion of creative marketing professionals from around the world. Driving this intense process of global inclusion is Sid Liebenson, EVP, Director of Marketing for Draftfcb and John Caples Board International SVP, who leads a group of 50 Caples Country Chairs to encourage participation in the Caples Awards competition [separate release to follow].
The purity of the Caples competition criteria -- "innovative creative solutions to direct marketing problems" -- belies a wealth of 58 categories to compete within. And while its entry form is comparatively simple to complete (no composite campaign boards or PowerPoint presentations), all entries must provide a rationale as to how it creatively solved a marketing problem.
The non-profit Caples organization is the only major international direct marketing awards competition not owned by an association or media company. In addition, the Caples is funded and sponsored by individuals, agencies and other companies in the direct and interactive marketing industry and run entirely by volunteers.
Media Contact:
Dana Mellecker
646-435-4456
John Caples International Awards
