Petra Cameron: Society celebration of creativity sees stars in the market for top awards

We are looking for the stars in our community across six different ­categories – Development, Strategic, Communication, Sector, Chairman’s and Champions.

The development category has awards ranging from our Star School Award, Star Creative and Marketing Students as well as the Rising Stars in the industry.

The Star School Award has been developed with Young Enterprise Scotland and recognises the ­importance of an effective marketing plan as central to a successful ­business plan. Last year the winner was The Green Bean Company from Grove Academy in Dundee.

The Star Creative Student award is judged based on the response to a live brief with the winner given the opportunity to work in a paid placement at Union Direct, one of the leading agencies in Scotland.

The Star Marketing Student award is based on nominations from universities across Scotland who compete in an Apprentice Day, working on both strategic and creative tasks. The winner is invited to work in a paid placement role at Edrington Beam Suntory a leading drinks company based in Glasgow. This year we have relaxed the age criteria for our ­Rising Star nominations reflecting the growing trend for potential ­candidates who have had a later start to their career, or who have returned to work after a career break, and who aspire to be an inspirational leader. We are looking for nominations of less than 200 words for Rising Agency, Creative and Marketing Stars.

There are six awards in the Strategic category; Integrated Marketing, ­Digital Strategy, International ­Marketing, Marketing Planning, Marketing in Society and Brand Development.

The Communication category also has six awards covering a wide range of disciplines; Advertising, Design, Brand Experience, Media, Digital Communications and PR.

We are also searching for marketing excellence across six industry ­sectors – Food and Drink, Retail, Financial and Professional Services, Public Sector, Tech Sector and Tourism, Leisure and Sport.

The Chairman’s Awards recognises great case studies from first time entrants and small to medium sized enterprises. Last year we launched a new award for the Champions of Diversity and Equality recognising the importance of promoting inclusion and challenging areas of potential discrimination including LGBT +, race, disability and mental health. The Scottish Government won the Gold Star award in 2019 and supports our commitment to ensure our industry promotes these important issues.

We have four other Champions Awards – Star Agency of the Year, Star Marketing Team of the Year, Inspirational Agency Leader of the Year and the Inspirational Marketing Leader of the Year.

The shortlist for the Star Agency of the Year and Star Marketing Team of the Year is based on the scoring of entries across all categories and then judged on the basis of a questionnaire covering performance as an organisation as well as a commitment to diversity and equality, training and development and support of the industry. In 2019, Wire won Agency of the Year and the Scottish Government won Marketing Team of the Year.

The Inspirational Agency and Marketing Leaders are shortlisted on the basis of nominations and then judged based on a questionnaire covering their personal performance and leadership qualities, including bravery and original thinking, as well as their commitment to the industry.Last year Ian Greenhill from Studio Something won Agency Star of the Year and John Bernard from Dexcom won Marketing Star of the Year.

Nominations for individual awards should be emailed to ­[email protected] by the end of January and the deadline in the other categories is 17 ­February. You don’t need to be a member of The Marketing Society to enter and first time entries are free of charge.

The Star Awards Gala Dinner will be held at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh on June 18. Full details can be found at www.starawards.marketingsociety.com

Petra Cameron, Star Awards chair and head of advertising and content at Royal Bank of Scotland.