Cannes Lions have announced  the addition of a Young Lions Design Competition to the 2012 International Festival of Creativity, taking place from 17-23 June.

The new competition will see teams of two briefed to work on a special project on behalf of the client, either a charity or non-profit organisation. Given just 24 hours, teams will be required to deliver a brand identity for the project which may be fictional or real depending on the appointed client. Within the allotted time competitors must produce a logo/brand identity, a 150-word description of how the brand identity fits the brief and a 150-word description of how the brand would evolve.

Steve Latham, Cannes Lions Director of Talent & Training, commented, "Cannes Lions prides itself on providing unrivalled opportunities, experiences and training for the rising stars of the industry. With the introduction of the Design Lions category in 2008 it makes sense for us to recognise and encourage the young design community, allowing them to showcase their talents on the global stage at Cannes."

The competition is open to young designers holding positions such as graphic designer, web designer, retail designer, product designer and other specialised design roles. Competitors will be welcomed from design agencies and advertising agencies and should be aged 28 years and under.

The Young Lions Design Competition will see competitors briefed on Sunday 17 June, with the competition running on Monday 18 June. Entries will be judged by the Design Lions Jury. The winners of the competition will be announced and presented with their medals at the Press, Design, Radio and Cyber Lions Awards Ceremony taking place on Wednesday 20 June in Cannes, France.

The Young Lions Design competition will sit alongside the existing Print, Cyber, Media, Film and Marketers competitions. With a dedicated Young Lions Zone providing networking opportunities, other Festival activities for the young in Cannes include a series of master classes given by high-profile speakers, The Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers and the newly-launched Young Creative Academy, details of which will be released soon.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is now open for delegates and entries.

London: Transform Awards shortlist highlights brand success from growth companies.

Communicate magazine has announced the shortlisted entries for this year’s Transform Awards.

Last year, the awards heavily featured entrants from financial services, understandably keen to alter perceptions, whereas this year the awards shortlist reflects rebranding efforts from across a wide array of sectors.

This year’s shortlist features remarkably few financial services firms, perhaps because so many such firms have already rebranded in recent years as a reaction to the economic downturn.

Instead, this year’s shortlist highlights brands which have weathered the downturn well. Organisations like Pearson and Global Blue and Telecity are now capitalising on their success by improving their brand.

The awards programme celebrates excellence in product, regional and national rebrands, with categories that focus on strategy, execution, content and evaluation.

The Transform Awards is Europe’s only dedicated celebration of rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation. It is a platform for organisations to tell their rebranding stories and to discuss reputational change.

Andrew Thomas, Publisher of Communicate, comments: "The number of entries this year was very high, and so too was the calibre. This reflects the growing importance of the Transform Awards, increasingly perceived to be the only true benchmark of excellence in rebranding work."

Transform Awards 2012 Shortlist

Best overall visual identity
DWF (Living Group)
Futurestep (Further)
Mission Burrito (The House)
Pearson (Interbrand)
Vertere (Interstate)

Best use of a visual property
Futurestep (Further)
Hawksford (MerchantCantos)
Monster Slippers
Pearson (Interbrand)
Rugby Football Union (Interbrand)

Best brand architecture solution
British Airways Executive Club (Landor)
National Maritime Museum (SomeOne)

Best use of copy style/tone of voice
Pearson (Interbrand)
Rugby Football Union (Interbrand)
The Student Housing Company (The Beautiful Meme)

Best internal communication of a rebrand
DSM
Pearson (Interbrand)
Telefónica

Best implementation of a rebrand
Direct Marketing Association in conjunction with Jacob Bailey
Global Blue (Goosebumps Brand Consultancy)
Monarch (Interbrand)
Pearson (Interbrand)
Rugby Football Union (Interbrand)

Best creative strategy
Asics (Interbrand)
Global Blue (Goosebumps Brand Consultancy)
Larix (BrandTailors)
Little Chef (venturethree)

Best brand evolution
Global Blue (Goosebumps Brand Consultancy)
Ocean Outdoor (Heavenly)
PDX (Appetite)
Telecity Group (Design by Structure)

Best corporate rebrand following a merger or acquisition
Archer (Handsome Brands)
Merseyside Shopping Centre (Studio North)
Puratos (Duval Guillaume Corporate)

Best corporate rebrand to reflect changed mission/values/positioning
Bauwerk Parkett (Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft AG)
Global Blue (Goosebumps Brand Consultancy)
Greene King (Handsome Brands)
Lexis, The Recommendation Agency (The Lexis Agency)
White Logistics & Storage (The Allotment)

Best corporate rebrand for a spinoff/new company
Boots Laboratories (Creative Leap)
EDF Energy (Corporate Edge)
Ink Insurance
RPC (Corporate Edge)
Trapoil (Appetite)

Best brand consolidation
Greene King (Handsome Brands)
Tiriac Holdings (BrandTailors)

Best rebrand of a digital property
Action on Hearing Loss (Redweb)
FNZ (Tayburn)
Instruct (Fairley & Associates)
JTI (Corporate Edge)
Reckitt Benckiser (The Workroom)

Best rebrand from the Public Sector
Stirling Castle (Corporate Edge)

Best rebrand from a not-for-profit organisation
Guide Dogs (Interbrand)
Independent Age (Corporate Edge)
Instruct (Fairley & Associates, Hildebrand and Felt Branding)
Merlin (Spencer du Bois)

Best rebrand from the Consumer Services Sector
Greene King (Handsome Brands)
Little Chef (venturethree)
Travelodge (Corporate Edge)

Best rebrand from the Financial Services Sector
FNZ (Tayburn)
Global Blue (Goosebumps Brand Consultancy)
Hawksford (MerchantCantos)
The Share Centre (Radley Yeldar)

Best rebrand from the Professional Services Sector
DWF (Living Group)
Futurestep (Further)

Best rebrand from the Education Sector
University Campus Suffolk (Radley Yeldar)

Best rebrand from the Media & Telecommunication Sector
Emailvision (Design by Structure)
Ocean Outdoor (Heavenly)
Vertere (Interstate)

Best rebrand from the Property Sector
Merseyside Shopping Centre (Studio North)

Best rebrand from the Retail Sector
Argos Bush (Bonfire CI)

Best rebrand by region: Baltic Region
Onet (DragonRouge)   
Grupa Zywiec (DragonRouge)   

Best rebrand by region: DAS   
Bauwerk Parkett (Scholtysik Niederberger Kraft AG)   

Best rebrand by region: Eastern Europe
Tiriac Holdings (BrandTailors)   

Communicate is the UK’s leading magazine in corporate communications and stakeholder relations. Communicate is the only magazine to help organisations present a consistent and coherent image to all their stakeholders, including the media, investors, employees, regulators, the supply chain and the communities in which they operate.
 

New Jersey :Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide (www.ogilvychww.com), representing the largest assembly of creative talent in the world of healthcare communications, today announced the network won a total of 22 awards at the 25th Annual Rx Club Awards, held
November 10 at Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.

Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide is a part of the Ogilvy & Mather network (www.ogilvy.com) and a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY, www.wpp.com). The organization houses and maintains individual Ogilvy CommonHealth and Ogilvy Healthworld brand identities within the marketplace.

The organization’s Parsippany-based Ogilvy CommonHealth office won silver in the “campaign” category, for creative developed for a natural soluble fiber, and received 16 “Awards of Excellence.” The network’s Ogilvy CommonHealth office in Madrid and its Ogilvy Healthworld office in North Sydney also earned “Awards of Excellence” (three and two, each, respectively).

The Rx Club Awards, sponsored by the healthcare industry trade publication Pharmaceutical Executive, were created to recognize and honor the creative aspects of pharmaceutical product advertising and promotion. The competition was founded in 1986 by Ina and Carveth Kramer.

The Eurobest Advertiser of the Year award is presented to advertisers, born out of Europe, who have distinguished themselves for inspiring innovative marketing of their products and who embrace and encourage the creative work produced by their agencies.

Taking place from 28-30 November, the Eurobest Advertising Festival is pleased to announce that the recipient of this year’s prestigious Advertiser of the Year Award will be Kandia Dulce, one of the most important confectionary companies in Romania, which launched the very courageous 'American Rom' campaign.

Manufactured by Kandia Dulce, ROM, is a traditional chocolate bar wrapped in the national flag that all Romanians grew up with. Having an ageing and nostalgic consumer base, the ROM bar was losing ground with the young generation who preferred cool international brands.
Working with their agency McCann Erickson Bucharest, Kandia Dulce decided to challenge young Romanian’s national ego by replacing ROM’s packaging with an American version. The first phase of the campaign saw the newly US-branded ROM bar being widely promoted in stores across the country, on billboards, on the campaign’s microsite and Facebook page. The brand change caused outrage across the nation with consumers’ reaction being widely debated and reported. As Romanian patriotism peaked, Kandia Dulce launched the second phase of the campaign which saw, overnight, the US-branded wrapping being replaced once again by the national flag and all communications and promotions reverting to the original Romanian style design. The stunt created immense PR and reporting across all national media.

“Kandia Dulce took a great risk and were extremely brave in the way that they re-launched Romania’s favourite chocolate bar ROM. Not only did their achievements supersede their expectations with increased brand awareness and sales in the activated stores, but it also caught the attention of the nation awakening national pride. It’s great to see a traditional brand challenge consumers in such an imaginative way. We are proud to present them with The Advertiser of the Year accolade at Eurobest this year, an honour well deserved,” said Philip Thomas, Festival CEO.

The award will be presented to Kandia Dulce’s Elena Petrea, Senior Brand Manager, and Gianina Popescu, Brand Manager, during the Eurobest Awards Ceremony on Wednesday evening, 30 November, in Lisbon’s São Luiz Theatre.

Commenting on the award, Gabriela Munteanu, Marketing Director, said, “ROM is a true Romanian brand, the chocolate bar born in the troubled communist era and reborn in democracy, a brand that remained unchanged, authentic and daring in a permanent changing society. We believe that the ROM brand has a special place in the hearts and minds of many people. The amazing engagement of people during the campaign was due in part to this strong connection with the consumer. We are much honoured to receive the Eurobest recognition and we feel encouraged to raise the stakes for another Eurobest in the coming years.”

The 'American Rom' campaign has already won two Cannes Lions Grands Prix this year in the Direct and Promo & Activation categories as well as winning at New York Festivals, Cresta and Golden Drum.

Kandia Dulce have been producing confectionary for the Romanian market for over 100 years, taking care to make products that match Romanians’ tastes and traditions while evolving along with their consumers’ needs . As well as ROM, Kandia Dulce’s portfolio of brands include Kandia, Laura, Magura, Silvana and Sugus.

Previous recipients of the Eurobest Advertiser of the Year Award are IKEA (2010) and Guinness (2009).

Atlanta : Calysto Communications, a global public relations, media relations and social media marketing firm focused on the communications industry, was named a Finalist in the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business for a public relations campaign it managed for its client The mGive Foundation.

Calysto received the honor in both the “Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year” category and the “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Crisis Communications” category. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, and the companies they run – worldwide.  The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world’s premier business awards.

“Calysto provided us with excellent strategic counsel during the disaster earlier this year in Japan. They helped us strategically use public relations to enhance the efforts of our nonprofit clients to raise funds for victims," said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of The mGive Foundation. "Calysto’s fast action resulted in hundreds of millions of individuals learning how they could donate via mobile. The results were incredible – within days, traffic to our website had jumped more than tenfold, thus significantly increasing exposure for the mobile fundraising efforts on behalf of victims in Japan.”

“The campaign we did for The mGive Foundation provides a perfect example of Calysto’s ability to ramp up a client’s PR efforts at a moment’s notice,” said Laura Borgstede, CEO of Calysto Communications. “The horrible tragedy in Japan earlier this year began with an earthquake on March 11. Just four days after the earthquake and the resulting tsunami, the Calysto team had already secured a significant amount of coverage to help The mGive Foundation raise funds on behalf of its nonprofit clients. In fact, the coverage reached an estimated 700 million individuals through stories on Web sites and in publications – including mentions in Forbes, MSNBC and Inside Dateline.”

Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word “crowned,” winners will be announced during a gala event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Friday, November 11.  Nominated women executives and entrepreneurs from the U.S.A and several other countries are expected to attend. The presentations will be broadcast live on radio in the U.S.A. by the Business TalkRadio Network.

More than 1,300 entries – a record for the competition – were submitted this year for consideration in 75 categories, including Best Executive, Best Entrepreneur, Women Helping Women, and Communications Campaign of the Year.
 

MediaCom has topped the shortlist of the M&M Awards with 29 shortlisted .29 MediaCom entries were shortlisted. In addition, MediaCom was also listed as the credited agency for an additional 3 others.

The 2011 M&M Awards have attracted more than 200 entries from 50 companies across the globe.

Combined, the shortlisted campaigns ran across more than 100 countries globally. Click here to view the full shortlist.The winners will be announced at the M&M Awards ceremony on 8 September 2011.
 

New York: The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) named three Summit Business Media products winners for National Azbee Awards last night at the ASBPE National Editorial Conference in Chicago, IL.

PropertyCasualty360.com, a Website devoted to providing insurance news and analysis for today's property & casualty professionals, won the Gold Award for Best New or Relaunched Website.

"It's an honor for PropertyCasualty360.com to be recognized with this award," said Bryant Rousseau, Group Editorial Director for Summit's Property & Casualty Group. "There's a lot of outstanding work being done in B-to-B journalism and we are grateful that our Website was chosen as among the best in the business."

National Underwriter Life & Health magazine was given the Silver Award for Best Feature Series for its investigative coverage of "Inside the NAIC" in the November 22, 2010 issue.

Additionally, Senior Market Advisor was awarded the Bronze prize for Best Web Feature Article for following father-daughter financial superheroes in "A Day In The Life", featured in the November 2010 issue and online at SeniorMarketAdvisor.com.

"For a B-to-B editor, winning an Azbee is a career highlight. The fact that three of our brands have won national awards testifies to the editorial talent we have throughout the company and the quality work we're doing," said James E. Green, Group Editorial Director for the Life & Health Insurance Network. "Congratulations to our talented staff."

ASBPE is the professional association for editors and writers employed in the business, trade, and specialty press. Every year ASBPE hosts the Awards of Excellence competition, which recognizes the best in editorial, design, and online achievement.  A panel of judges selected three finalists in all categories and announced the 2011 winners on August 4.

Other Summit Business Media brands including Agent's Sales Journal, Benefits Selling, Life Insurance Selling, and National Underwriter Life & Health are also finalists for several regional Azbee awards.

Atlanta : Calysto Communications has announced that it has earned a Distinguished Honoree medal in The 2011 International Business Awards. Calysto received the honor in both the “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Low Budget (Under $10,000)” category and the “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Global Issues” category. The International Business Awards are the only global, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in business.
 
Nicknamed the Stevie for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to honorees at a gala event on Tuesday, 11 October in the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
 
Honorees were determined through two rounds of judging by close to 200 professionals worldwide. They were selected from more than 3,000 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 40 nations.
 
“Calysto is excited to be recognized by the Stevies once again for its outstanding PR work on behalf of our client, The mGive Foundation,” said Laura Borgstede, CEO of Calysto Communications. “In this campaign, Calysto secured coverage on Web sites reaching more than 702 million unique visitors and in publications with around 3 million readers in just four days – including coverage in Forbes, MSNBC and Inside Dateline.
 
“As a result, traffic on The mGive Foundation’s website increased more than tenfold,” said Borgstede. “Our announcement hit the wires on March 11, 2011, and mgivefoundation.org received a total of 28,314 visits in March 2011 – compared to just 2,906 total visits in February 2011.”
 
"We were grateful for the strategic counsel Calysto provided when the disaster in Japan occurred. Calysto outlined exactly how we could use public relations to help victims in Japan and immediately get the word out on how to donate via mobile," said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of The mGive Foundation. "I was also impressed by how quickly Calysto was able to secure media coverage – and how fast that translated into additional donations for the disaster victims."
Organizations all over the world are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards and can enter in any of more than 40 categories from Company of the Year to Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year and Executive of the Year. 
 
“Entries to The International Business Awards grew by more than 80% this year, and that illustrates the increasing importance of the IBAs worldwide,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, presenters of the IBAs.  “We congratulate all of the honorees, and we look forward to recognizing them for their achievements at our gala event in Abu Dhabi in October.”

BBC World News America has scored four nominations in the 32nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy ® Awards.

Richard Porter, Acting Controller of English, BBC Global News says: "We're extremely honored once again to be nominated in the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. It is a tribute to the courageous work of our brilliant correspondents, and to the skills of the World News America production team. The BBC has a deep commitment to foreign news reporting, and we're delighted to receive this recognition."

The program received two nominations in the category for Outstanding Continuing Coverage Of A News Story In A Regularly Scheduled Newscast and two nominations in the category for Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast.

Outstanding Continuing Coverage Of A News Story In A Regularly Scheduled Newscast Haiti 's Earthquake

Amidst the global media coverage of the Haiti earthquake, World News America anchor Matt Frei and BBC correspondent Matthew Price delivered a series of reports on the humanitarian crisis and the struggle facing those left without shelter, food or water.

The BBC's correspondent Orla Guerin traveled to some of the worst affected and most remote areas in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. In four special reports, she reported on the humanitarian crisis and the challenges facing the country in the aftermath of this disaster.

BBC Correspondent, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, received extremely rare access to one of the world's greatest enigmas – North Korea . Even while taking the “model tour,” Lloyd-Robert was able to offer an insight into everyday life.

Peabody Award-winning BBC correspondent, Lyse Doucet, reported from some of the wealthiest of streets in the Afghan capital of Kabul and met some of the children trying to make a living on the streets.

BBC World News America has won an Emmy Award in 2009 for Business and Financial Reporting for Return to White Horse Village , which looked at the impact of urbanization on a Chinese farming village.

BBC World News America's other prestigious awards include three Peabodys, one of which commended the newscast for overall excellence with the judges in 2009 describing the program as, “A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had, it places our actions and concerns in a global context.”

BBC World News America broadcasts live Monday – Friday at both 4pm and 6pm ET on BBC World News. The show is also offered as a 30 minute commercial-free program on public television stations, under the existing distribution agreement with KCET in Los Angeles , under which BBC newscasts reach 97% of U.S. households.

Farmington : Co-Communications, Inc., a full-service public relations and marketing agency, was recognized with two Gold Mercury Awards by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) at the Connecticut Valley, Southern Connecticut, and Westchester/Fairfield Chapters' Annual Mercury Awards celebration at Fantasia in North Haven on June 23rd.

Co-Communications received Gold Mercury Awards for its work on behalf of 2-1-1 Child Care and the Connecticut Historical Society. 

For 2-1-1 Child Care, a free, multilingual resource that helps families across Connecticut find child care arrangements to best meet their needs, Co-Communications received Gold in Not-for-Profit Community Relations.  In 2010, Co-Communications executed a strategic campaign on behalf of the non-profit that increased awareness of its new interactive online support functionality and summer camp placement resources while demonstrating the impact Connecticut's economy was having on the child care industry and providing parents with tips and resources to navigate the changed landscape. 

Co-Communications also received a Gold Mercury Award in Not-for-Profit Reputation/Brand Management for its work on behalf of the Connecticut Historical Society.  Established in 1825, the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) is a non-profit museum, library, and education center and one of the oldest historical societies in the nation.  In 2010, Co-Communications developed an ongoing campaign that highlighted the programs and exhibits that make CHS an indispensable resource for connecting the present with the past and inspiring a love of history among this and future generations.

"We are honored to have our work recognized by our peers and to be in the company of so many outstanding PR pros and campaigns," said Jessica Lyon, Vice President, Co-Communications. "Thank you to PRSA for this recognition."

Awarded annually, PRSA's Mercury Awards recognize outstanding advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns throughout Connecticut, Westchester County, New York and Western Massachusetts.