Entries for 2012 POPAI awards close this week

The awards, now in their second year locally, cover 13 categories and are open to any designer or producer of point-of-purchase (POP) material - agencies, brand owners, services companies and retailers - produced and placed between 1 August 2011 and 31 July 2012. ZaPOP, specialists in the in-store marketing arena, is sponsoring the 2012 POPAI Awards.

"The aim of the awards is to promote best practice in the industry, whilst celebrating creative, innovative and effective point-of-sale," comments Scott Adcock, executive director at POPAI South Africa.

International benchmark

Two of the 2011 Gold Winners in South Africa went on to win gold at the POPAI Global Awards. "The awards provide that stamp that says we are producing international standard material in South Africa. Without it, the marketing at retail industry in SA would not have a measure to say just how good it is," says Chris de Wet, business development manager at POPAI SA.

The POPAI award is not just a gold star next to the winners' names. It creates a point of difference for the winning organisation, showing it to be on the forefront of retail marketing in South Africa.

"International recognition also grows the critical mass of the awards and builds up their relevance," says Adcock. For example, Unilever in the UK uses the UK POPAI Awards as one of its key performance indicators (KPIs) for staff. "The awards have actually become a measure of effectiveness."

Judging criteria

The first round of judging will be done online with judges reviewing photographs, videos and case studies against the following criteria:

• Marketing objectives and strategies
  
• Innovation
  
• Quality of case history
  
• Design
  
• Construction
  
• Creativity
  
• Use of retail space
  
• Branding
  
• Communicative value
  
• Ability to drive sales or meet objectives set out by client in brief
  
• Any other factors the judges determine make the display stand out against others in the same category

The judges will then meet for a day to review and discuss each category and decide upon final winning displays. The judging panel is made up of brands and retailers who do not know which companies have designed, manufactured or submitted entries.

POPAI, founded in 1932, is the only global not-for-profit trade association exclusively dedicated to the retail marketing industry. It has 1700 members and covers 45 countries worldwide. The POPAI Awards 2012 are based on the criteria and format utilised by all POPAI chapters around the world.

For more information, go to http://awards.popai.co.za.