Chairman's Note

Serving as the Jury Chair for the 2010 Asian Marketing Effectiveness awards was a tremendous honor.  The entire week in Shanghai - from judging the short-listed awards entries, to participating in the two-day conference, to the awards show itself - was such an exciting and eye-opening opportunity. And, most importantly, it allowed all of us to celebrate together as a marketing community all of your successes and accomplishments in marketing effectiveness for 2009.

I very much enjoyed working alongside my fellow judges, all of whom were distinguished leaders in Marketing Communications.  The team was committed to recognizing and rewarding the best campaigns of 2009.  The short-listed entries were very strong. And during the final judging we had healthy debates and discussions around which entries demonstrated the use of smart consumer insights.  And which ones truly united creativity with effectiveness.  Hopefully you all agree with our award selections!

As marketers, we know that proving campaign effectiveness is core to what we do and is critical to our success.  And it helps determine how we invest marketing dollars in the future.

Again, thank you for the wonderful opportunity and for your generous hospitality.  And I hope to see you again next year!

Until then, I encourage you to really know your customer and to use that knowledge to create the best [and, of course, most effective] ad, mailer, PR campaign or media plan you can to demonstrate your brand 'gets it' and is worthy of consideration.

Bob O'Leary  

Managing Director, Global Advertising

Citi