The good, the not so good about the 2009 Mexico Effie Awards and what I expect for 2010.

Last week I had the chance to go to the 2009 Mexico Effie Awards celebrated by the Mexican Association of Advertising Agencies, which for the last 10 years has rewarded the best , but specially most effective advertising campaigns in our country.

This year the jury was presided by Carlos Fernández, President and General Manager of Grupo Modelo, and was formed by 150 marketing, advertising and communication professionals who, based on their ample experience selected the winners of the awards.

And this is precisely the first item on what I thing was really good in the event:

• First of all such great attendance. It was great to see all the main players in the advertising industry in Mexico, creative directors, brand managers, client service VPs and CMOs, etc. all gathered around in one place at the same time to learn what the best campaigns were in the last year.
  
• Of course the opportunity to meet with so many old and new friends, and to know that they were all there because their campaigns had been nominated.


• The announcement of the upcoming publication of a commemorative book containing all the gold winners campaigns in the last 10 years.


• See how the production of the event gets better every year.

What was not so good (and with this I don’t mean to say that it was wrong either) were just two things:

• The competition spirit seemed to have over thrown the spirit of collaboration and integration of just one industry. To be perfectly honest, it was kind of weird to see how all the audience formed themselves into small groups by agency, and it was plain sad to see how they only applauded to the nomination or award to a campaign of their own, but never to some else's. Weren’t we all supposed to be there to celebrate the best of the industry even if the best did not necessarily come from us?


• Out of 31 awards, only two campaigns showed a clear strong component of interactive marketing, and only one of these won a silver Effie. Which sadly speaks to the still existing lack of adoption within the industry of this discipline, not as an emergent one or a as trend, but as a clear, unstoppable evolution on the way we generate communication.

What I expect from next year?

• Quite frankly, I would hate to see a special award for digital campaigns. This would be a huge mistake we’ve already done in the past. I'd much rather love to see a testimony of the real integration of marketing communication campaigns, not only with the use of traditional on-line display ads or search or social media; but with the integration of off-line metrics tied to web analytics tools.
  
• And definitely a more integrated industry with less interest in winning and a lot more interest in contributing.

What do you expecto for next year?