Eligibility

Entry is open to all advertising, design and communications agencies, marketing companies and/or marketers based in Canada. All entries must have been conceived and created by people working in the Canadian advertising/communications industries. In the case of inter-office collaboration, work is eligible if the lead creative came from Canada, and the majority of the creative credits are Canadian team members (spanning roles including CCO, CD, art & copy).

Entries must have run in full, or the majority of work must have first launched, between January 30th, 2024 and January 31st, 2025. Entrants are not permitted to submit the same project from any previous year, unless there has been significantly new creative and strategy implemented during the eligibility period, which must be identified in the case study.

Full credits must be listed for each entry. (Note: Credits will be used, as entered, for the awards book and trophies/certificates. Be sure to confirm before submitting.)

Entries that are deemed ineligible in any category, and entries that are incomplete and/or removed at the request of the entrant after payment has been made, will not be refunded.

Please declare if - and how - AI was used in the process of developing, creating, or executing your entry. If AI was employed, please add a brief overview of how it was used. Please also flag if AI was used to help craft/produce your case study or write your submission, and if so, please confirm that no third-party copyrights have been breached. Entries must meet Canadian advertising regulations & standards. Entries assessed as offensive to viewers will be disqualified.

If entries do not comply with the entry guidelines, they will be disqualified at the discretion of the judging committee. The Marketing Awards are not responsible for any entrant submission error. All decisions by the judges regarding eligibility and awards are final.

 

The Judging Process

The Marketing Awards are Canada’s definitive showcase of creativity. Therefore, the lens applied to every entry is essentially a ranking of the ingenuity and expertise within each category.

For Advertising, Design, Digital, Multicultural, and Public Service Advertising, there are certain categories (such as Direct, Integrated Campaign, or PR), where evaluating creativity will encompass more than an assessment of craft, and extend to aspects such as inventive targeting, tech mastery and cunning deployment.

The following criteria weighting will guide the jury during judging rounds. Each entry is evaluated on:

CONCEPT (50%): How strong, breakthrough, unique and relevant is the concept of the creative? Is it strategically sound for the brand and the target audience? In the case of integrated programs, is there cohesion and continuity across the campaign?

In relevant cases (i.e. those within PR, Direct, Digital categories, etc.) the jury will also consider impact when evaluating the concept, i.e. did the entry deliver on the intended objective (metrics and proof of results)?

CREATIVITY (25%): How engaging is the entry? How captivating, affecting and impactful is it relative to this category and/or target audience?

EXECUTION (25%): How well are all the elements of the program executed? Depending on the category, the jury may focus more closely on impeccable craft, while in other cases seamless flow and faultless deployment will be crucial.

The same lens that guides the jury through all of the Marketing Awards categories will apply to Craft; essentially a ranking of the ingenuity and expertise within each craft. The judges will award entries that showcase a unique vision/voice, flawless execution and an original approach that enhances the core idea.

The following criteria weighting will guide the jury during judging rounds for the Craft entries. Each Craft entry is evaluated on:

CREATIVITY (50%): How engaging is the entry? How captivating and impactful is it?

EXECUTION (50%): How well are all the elements executed?

 

Award Limits

There is a 3-Gold maximum per campaign within any of the six primary categories (Advertising, Craft, Design, Digital, Multicultural, and Public Service). For example, a campaign could win 3 Golds within the Design categories, and that same campaign could win another 3 Golds within the Advertising categories, but it could not win 5 Golds within one of those primary categories.

 

Important Dates and Deadlines

Call for Entries: Opens on Monday, November 18th, 2024

Early Bird Deadline: Monday, December 16th, 2024, 5:00pm Eastern Time

Regular Rate Entry Deadline: Friday, January 17th, 2025, 5:00pm Eastern Time

Late Entry Deadline: Friday, January 31st, 2025 11:59pm Eastern Time  (late fees apply)

 

Industry Recognition

Winners are celebrated at an awards show in June, and the news is covered by strategy magazine.

Winning cases are profiled in the Marketing Awards Annual, which is distributed across Canada, and the winning work is also archived online in the Marketing Awards gallery on the strategy site.

The Marketing Awards are included in the strategy Creative Report Card.

 

How to Enter

1. Review this Eligibility page, to see if your entry qualifies.

2. Click the "Enter" button at the bottom of this page, and fill out the entry form.

3. Click "Save" and you will be taken to the Entry Dashboard where you may review your entries, add additional entries, and upload/review any supporting files to your individual entries.

4. You must finalize and pay for any/all entries before the final deadline or your entries will NOT be submitted to the Marketing Awards.

5. Once an entry is paid for, it is officially considered entered into the competition. However, you will still be able to sign into your account and review/edit/upload files to your entry until the late entry deadline.

6. After the late entry deadline, your entry will no longer be open for review/editing, and all paid entries will be submitted for judging.

 

Preparing Your Entry

We recommend that you begin preparing your entry well in advance of the deadline. We are accepting entries online and although this system has been developed to be user-friendly, starting your online entry submission early will allow any questions you have to be resolved in advance of the deadline.

Your online entry will include the following components:

1. Entry Submission Form: Containing basic information about your entry and your company.

2. Campaign Title: If you are entering a campaign more than once, be consistent with the campaign title. This will be the information that appears on any awards, media and presentation materials. 

3. Category Selection: It is the entrant's responsibility to select the correct category and to ensure that their entries meet the eligibility requirements. The Marketing Awards reserves the right to move submissions into categories deemed suitable, however entries submitted in incorrect categories or that are ineligible, or any entries that are removed at the request of the entrant after payment has been finalized, will not be refunded.

4. Program Credits: The people/titles you would like to see credited for this campaign and whose names will be shown if the entry is a winner. Please consult with partners regarding shared credit prior to submitting your final entry.

5. Summary Documents and Videos: In some categories, entrants are required to submit a Case Summary Document or a 2-minute summary video. Please read the category description carefully to see if this requirement applies to your entry. The content of your entry MUST NOT show who the submitting agency is (names/logos) in order to prevent any bias either for or against your entry. Entrants may choose to include a case summary document and/or video for any entry, even if it is not a required material. 

6. Artwork: Including images, video, audio or PDF files that you will be able to upload to each entry. Please see Material Requirements for file specifications. Please note that all entries require some visual evidence of the work itself. As well, there are certain categories that require a Case Summary Document and/or a 2-minute case video to be included with your entry.

7. Hi-Res Promotional Image: This image may be used for publication if your entry should win. Please select the image that is most representative of your entry or campaign. We do not contact any winners before the Marketing Awards gala, therefore all entries must provide a Hi-Res Promotional Image. 

 

Submission Materials

Entrants may submit a Case Document and/or Case Video to any category for the Marketing Awards, but there are particular categories in which the submission of Case Documents and/or Case Videos are mandatory.

Categories Requiring a Case Document:

ADVERTISING

Branded Content

Direct - Best In Collateral

Direct - Best In Direct

Film - Other (single or campaign)

Film - Television Campaign - Small Budget

Film - Television Single - Small Budget

Out-of-Home - Point-of-Purchase

Pharma - Pharma Marketing

PR - Community Building

PR - Influencer/Talent Marketing

PR - Real-Time Reaction

Self-Promotion

Sustainability

DESIGN

Brand Environment

Brand Identity

Brochures/Print Collateral

Corporate Reporting

Digital/Virtual Identity

Graphics

Logo

Packaging

Product Design

Promotion

Self-Promotion

Typography

DIGITAL

Apps/Mobile

Online Video subcategories (Campaign and Single, 15s, 30s, and Long-Form)

Self-Promotion

MULTICULTURAL

Adapted Advertising

Best Use of Social Media

Branded Content

Branding

Brochures/Print Collateral

Collaboration

Digital

Direct

Holiday/Seasonal Advertising

Online Film

Out-Of-Home

Packaging

Print

Promotion

Radio

Self-Promotion

Television

PUBLIC SERVICE

Branded Content

Community Building

Direct

Influencer/Talent Marketing

Point-of-Purchase

Categories Requiring a Case Video:

ADVERTISING

Health and Wellness - Consumer Product

Health and Wellness - Education & Advocacy

Integrated Campaign

Out-of-Home - Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

Out-of-Home - Integrated Campaign

PR - Integrated Campaign Led by PR

DIGITAL

Creative Use of Technology/AI

Games

Integrated Web Campaign

Social Media

Virtual Worlds

MULTICULTURAL

Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

Integrated Campaign

PUBLIC SERVICE

Campaign Led by PR

Creative Use of Technology/Virtual Worlds

Experiential/Special Events/Stunts

Health and Wellness Education and Advocacy

Integrated Campaign

Social Media

 

Case Documents and Videos

A Case Document offers a description of your campaign as it applies specifically to the category in which you have entered it. Case Documents should be a maximum of 500 words. If your campaign has multiple facets (i.e. elements of the campaign may appear in multiple categories), please address category relevance by explaining why it deserves recognition in the specific category, and how central that activity was to the campaign’s overall success.

NOTE: Please ensure that your company name and/or logo does NOT appear anywhere in your write-up. 

Case Videos operate in the same manner as Case Documents, only in an audio-visual format, and are required when a visual representation of an entry is needed by the jury in order to make an evaluation of the work involved. These videos should be a maximum of two minutes in length.

Each campaign is evaluated on:

Concept (50%): How strong, breakthrough, unique and relevant is the concept of the creative? Is it strategically sound for the brand and the target audience? In the case of integrated programs, is there cohesion and continuity across the campaign?

In relevant cases (i.e. PR, Direct, Digital categories, etc.) the jury will also consider impact when evaluating the concept, i.e. did the entry deliver on the intended objective (metrics and proof of results)?

Creativity (25%): How engaging is the entry? How captivating, affecting and impactful is it relative to this category and/or target audience?

Execution (25%): How well are all the elements of the program executed? Depending on the category, the jury may focus more closely on impeccable craft, while in other cases seamless flow and faultless deployment will be crucial.

Each Craft entry is evaluated on:

Creativity (50%): How engaging is the entry? How captivating and impactful is it?

Execution (50%): How well are all the elements executed?

We recommend including the following information in Case Documents and Videos:

Overview: What business challenge was this particular project looking to address for the client? What were some important factors that were meaningful to the campaign and its success? Who was the target audience?

Entry Description: How did the program work? Describe the execution, and any relevant factors such as how the work was presented to the public, involvement of users, (if applicable) how multiple elements tied together, etc.

Impact: As noted in the Judging Process section of this website, in relevant cases (i.e. within the PR, Direct, Digital categories, etc.) the jury will consider whether an entry delivered on its intended objectives, and evaluate the entry based on metrics and proof of results.  

For the Multicultural Marketing categories, Case Documents are required and should include a clear explanation of any cultural nuances of the creative that may be unknown or missed by judges not from the target demographic.