THE BEST BRAND AWARD CEREMONY WAS HELD LAST WEEK WITH DENGI (MONEY) MAGAZINE AS ITS INFORMATION SPONSOR. THE NUMBER OF NOMINEES INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY.

Last year only Russian companies were among EFFIE/The Best Brand award winners. Even the winning brands that belonged to international corporations (Nestle, Unilever, Philip Morris, among others) had been created especially for the Russian market.

This time the number of contestants as well as category grew significantly. As a result, the list of candidates was more than democratic: it included western transnational companies, as well as large Russian firms, brand-new trademarks, and regional brands. It is obvious from the archives of the award ceremony from recent years that most of the contestants are the most frequent participants. For example, winners of the 2004 competition who are participating again this year include Samsung, Gillette, Calve, BeeLine, Aeroflot, Hyundai and Euroset.

For the first time this year the Best Brand Award ceremony was conducted by RBC Information Agency. Based on the rules of international refereeing procedures, the jury was allowed to include representatives of the participating companies. Meanwhile, to ensure impartiality, the members of the jury were not allowed to vote for their own brands or for contestants in categories their brands were part of.

"The main criterion according to which candidates were judged was the effectiveness of their advertising campaign," Chairwoman of the Best Brand Steering Committee Elena Biryukova said. "The jury was to judge how well the results achieved matched the goals indicated in the application. The members of the jury judged on a 100-point scale, where 1 signified the least effective advertising campaign, and 100 - an exceptionally effective one. Finally, working materials were considered: was the advertising campaign an interesting one, how creative was it," she added.

For the first time the award ceremony did not include any "ceremonial bystanders". The contest's organizers explained that they wanted to see at the ceremony the most prominent figures in the sphere of advertising, marketing, economics, politics, as well as representatives of the participating companies.

As a result, the concern of the General Director of RBC about what the impressions of the participants of the ceremony proved to be groundless. The organizers managed to create the solemn yet cozy atmosphere of a family ceremony. The association was intensified by the first snow, which began to fall outside the Expocentr Exhibition Center, and a snowfall of gold at the gala closing of the ceremony. At the same time, the number of gifts, or prizes, the contestants received was greater than usual.

"The award winners think highly of their achievement and use the award's brand as a kind of a quality mark. Just think of the TV coverage the recipient of the Brand of the Year award is getting. The spinning logo is posted in the corner of the screen. Very soon such logos will be in the commercials of this year's winners, " Elena Biryukova said.

OLGA SOLOMATINA