Ad industry awards group Effie Worldwide is postponing the launch of the Global Best of the Best Effie Awards competition until 2021.
The group said the decision was taken after lengthy discussions with partners and the global marketing community.
Effie COVID impact
“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, our industry’s priorities are rightly shifting to essential business; which impacts the timing of this new global initiative”, Effie said.
The Global Best of the Best Effie program will pause until 2021. Entries already submitted this year will roll over to next year’s program.
The awards group said it will continue to celebrate the most effective marketing from around the globe; and share important learnings through new content initiatives.
“Our top priority right now is to protect the health and wellbeing of our teams, families and communities”, Traci Alford, Global President & CEO of Effie Worldwide, said.
“The Global Best of the Best Effies will go ahead when the time is right and we emerge on the other side of this crisis.”
“Effectiveness matters now more than ever. As an educational non-profit, we are accelerating our online learning initiatives and working with our Effie Awards partners around the world to adapt our 2020 programming to continue to be a resource for marketeers during these challenging times.”
Global programmes
Effie’s network of national and regional programmes around the world operate on independent timelines. They are currently in different phases of their 2020 Effie Awards programmes.
Each market will be moving forward on an individual basis and addressing the needs of the industry based on their unique circumstances; however, all judging events and award ceremonies will be either held virtually or postponed for a minimum of five months.
Companies are invited to visit Effie’s partner site to be directed to their local Effie program.
All scheduling is being updated here, as announcements are made.
The revenue generated from Effie’s programmes is invested back into the industry through education and funding innovation around effectiveness.