ANA To Honor Excellence In Multicultural Advertising.

The Association of National Advertisers will honor outstanding achievements in multicultural advertising by ANA member companies with its second annual Multicultural Excellence Awards. Sponsored by the ANA Multicultural Marketing Committee, this year’s awards will be presented in four categories: African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and General Market.

“The winners of last year’s awards read like a “Who’s Who” of corporate America and represent companies who have long recognized that multicultural marketing is not a politically correct thing to do but a way to drive real growth and market share,” notes James D. Speros, Chief Marketing Officer, U.S., Ernst & Young and Chair of ANA’s Multicultural Marketing Committee.

“With more than 100 campaigns submitted, last year’s inaugural awards program was a huge success, ” said John J. Sarsen, Jr., ANA president and CEO. “These companies are breaking new ground in recognizing and reaching out to America’s increasingly diverse communities.”

Submissions Criteria:

To be considered for a Multicultural Excellence Award, companies must submit three advertisements per campaign entered to demonstrate the scope of their work. Campaigns can include work from any media (i.e., television, radio, magazines, newspapers, out-of-home, Internet). Entries must be received by the ANA no later than August 16, 2002. There is a $500 fee for each campaign submitted for consideration. Eligibility is limited to campaigns created for ANA member companies that ran in the United States between June 2001 and May 2002. (ANA member companies’ advertising agencies may submit campaigns on their behalf.)

Entries will be judged on their creative excellence and relevance to the category for which they are submitted by a panel comprised of members of ANA’s Multicultural Marketing Committee and a select number of distinguished guests with expertise in multicultural marketing.

Entry forms can be accessed at http://www.ana.net/committees/

Funding for Scholarships:

A portion of the proceeds collected from the awards submission fees will be used to help fund scholarships for high-potential students from multicultural backgrounds who wish to pursue careers in advertising and/or marketing. Funds will go to each of the companies honored with an ANA Multicultural Excellence Award. The honorees will then select the scholarship recipient.

Award Recipient Recognition:

Award recipients will be revealed at a special dinner at the ANA Multicultural Marketing Conference, November 3-5, 2002, at the Four Seasons Hotel, in San Francisco, CA. Now in its fourth year, this popular conference will present best practices and practical insights from hands-on practitioners and industry experts. Among the topics to be covered through in-depth case studies and presentations are:

· Selling-In Multicultural Marketing Internally
· Future Trends In Multicultural Marketing
· Mistakes and Lessons Learned In Multicultural Marketing Measurement / ROI

The Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA) is the industry’s premier trade association dedicated exclusively to marketing and brand building. Representing more than 300 companies with 8,000 brands that collectively spend over $100 billion in marketing communications and advertising, the Association’s members market products and services to consumers and businesses. ANA serves the needs of its members by providing marketing and advertising industry leadership in traditional and e-marketing, legislative leadership, information resources, professional development and industry-wide networking.