For years now, thousands of marketing professionals and advertisers from around the region have been gathering at the Weekend Media Festival in Rovinj, where top agencies from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia have a unique opportunity to present themselves through their best projects.
On this fifth, anniversary year in 2016, the BalCannes jury has, for the first time ever, consisted of advertisers only (thus additionally highlighting the significance of clients on projects). Moreover, special BalCannes awards have been presented, including the award for the best BalCannes agency.
As always, BalCannes’ professional jury chose 25 of the best projects from six countries in the region and the agencies have personally presented them to numerous clients at Weekend Media Festival’s Main Hall during festival primetime. At the same time, all entries are available via these BalCannes’ Yellow Pages, a reference database of agencies from six different countries in the region.
Submissions are now open for all the interested agencies in ten different categories. All entries should be video files of up to three minutes in length (format: an mp4 video file, min. resolution 720 x 576, max. 140 MB), featuring creative materials and briefly describing project challenges and market context, as well as solutions chosen and results achieved. When submitting their entries online, the agencies should upload each project’s main visual that the organizers will be able to use for promotional purposes should a project be selected for final consideration. Furthermore, each entry should state the main partners that have contributed to its quality, including the name of the advertising company as well as primary and perhaps even secondary agencies, individual recognitions, and all the authors who have contributed the most to the success of the campaign and will, as such, be listed on BalCannes’ Yellow Pages.
The submission process will be carried out online (www.balcannes.com), at a fee for the first four entries from one agency (no fees will be charged for other entries). Eligible for submission are projects implemented in the period between May 1, 2015 and September 1, 2016 (it is essential that the entries were shown, even if only partly, during the period in question). The application process will remain open for nearly three months, until September 1, 2016. All entries can be submitted in either the language of the applicant’s origin or in English.
It will be possible to submit projects and campaigns that were published more than once by one or more different media, in one or more countries. Moreover, only those projects that the advertisers have approved and used as well as implemented and made public during the qualifying period can participate in BalCannes, while those that had already competed in the event are no longer eligible for submission.
A total of 25 of the best projects in the region at BalCannes will be selected by advertisers and marketing heads from companies that the industry has recognized as leaders in their respective fields – one from each of the participating countries. The selection process will be made up of two rounds. In the first round, which will take place following the expiry of the submission deadline, the jury will choose approximately 40 of the best projects based on the final rankings. In the second round of the selection process, which will take place following a live discussion in Rovinj, shortly before the start of the Weekend Media Festival, the jury will shortlist 25 of the region’s top projects. During the Weekend Media Festival, the projects in question will be showcased and the winners announced. The scoring process in both rounds will be anonymous, with jury members using an online judging system. All jury members will go through and score all the submitted entries, apart from entries from their own respective countries and entries that they have a conflict of interest with; in such cases, the jury members in question will be excluded from judging the said entries. Submission categories will have no effect on the scoring process and scores from 1 to 100 will be given to the submitted entries based on the following three criteria:
Following the second round of the selection process, the organizer will tally the score for each of the submitted entries. The top 25 entries will be showcased as part of the festival program, through 5-minute agency presentations during festival primetime. To ensure equal representation, only three entries from the same agency will be allowed to enter the select 25 projects. Should there be four or more entries from the same agency, those additional entries will not be showcased but will be replaced by the following highest-ranked ones from other agencies. Nonetheless, the additional entries’ scores will be taken into consideration when deciding the winners of BalCannes awards.
In order to have enough time to prepare for a potential presentation at the festival, all shortlisted applicants will be informed about being on the BalCannes shortlist by September 16, while the final notice on entering the top 25 rankings will be distributed on September 22, following the completion of the second round of the selection process. Only the top 25 projects will be showcased at the festival.
Alongside selecting the top 25 projects, the jury will also decide on the following awards:
The winners will receive one statue for each winning agency or project and the top 25 projects will all be given BalCannes certificates.
Even though submission categories will have no effect on the scoring and judging of the top 25 projects (they are selected on the basis of their total score ranking), the agencies will be able to enter projects in ten different categories, based on which the projects will be featured on BalCannes’ Yellow Pages.
The 2016 BalCannes categories are as follows:
The organizer reserves the right to re-categorize the submitted entries.
After filling out the online form, which requires details on the contact person and company paying the entry fee, a pro forma invoice will be sent to the e-mail stated in the application form. In order for the entry to be accepted in the competition, the said invoice has to be paid by the due date (September 15, 2016).
For the members of HURA, SOZ, IAA, UEPS, AMAC, MAAM and DSOJ, the fee totals HRK 999 (approx. EUR 133) + VAT (25%) per entry; for all others, the fee amounts to HRK 1,125 (approx. EUR 150) + VAT (25%).
Special offer 4+: The first four entries by the same agency will require submission fees, while all other entries will be free (fifth, sixth, seventh etc.).
Winners can order copies of the award statue after the festival, at the price of HRK 999 (approx. EUR 133) + VAT (25%), while additional copies of the certificates for the top 25 projects will be available at HRK 375 (approx.. EUR 50) + VAT (25 %). The delivery cost will be paid by the buyer.
All those who submit their entries for BalCannes will receive a special discount to Weekend Media Festival’s ticket: in their case the ticket will amount to HRK 2,200 + VAT (the festival ticket is not included in the BalCannes’ application fee).
BalCannes accepts all market communication entries, provided they comply with the following descriptions and requirements:
By submitting applications to BalCannes, the agencies confirm they have obtained the advertisers’/clients’ prior consent. Once submitted, applications are considered final and the information stated in them cannot be subsequently changed; moreover, the organizers will thus be given the green light to publish the submitted entries in their original form for any requirements regarding the project. All contacts and information provided during the submission process will be used exclusively to forward any relevant project-related information to the authors.
In the case of any breach of the Terms of Participation, the entries concerned will be immediately excluded from further competition. Furthermore, in the case of extreme breaches of the Terms of Participation, the entries concerned can be suspended until further notice, with the information about the breach and suspension forwarded to the publics.
For more information about BalCannes, please visit www.balcannes.com or e-mail us at [email protected].
BalCannes is organized by HURA (Croatian Association of Communications Agencies) and Weekend Media Festival.