EIBTM unveils Global Industry Awards for 2004

The prestigious EIBTM Awards 2004, to be unveiled at a glittering evening ceremony in Barcelona on Wednesday 1st December 2004, promise to be a truly global reflection of the industry’s very greatest talents. EIBTM is the annual global exhibition organised by Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) for the incentive, business travel and meetings industry.

Aiming to honour the leading lights of the meetings, incentive and business travel industry, EIBTM has announced that this year its distinguished Awards will be supported by media partners from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Scandinavia, Russia and the Middle East. 

Covering every type of event, the EIBTM Awards aim to encourage creativity and reward excellence in the meetings and incentives industry, offering the many talented event creators the chance to be recognised for their highly imaginative skills and professional execution of ideas. The awards are open to international client companies, their subsidiaries or event management agencies that have organised events anywhere in the world.

This year’s Awards categories have been fine-tuned to reflect the latest international events being held and include Best Consumer Event; Best Business to Business Event; Best Automotive Event; Best Technology or Telecommunications Event; Best Media, Leisure or Entertainment Event; Best Financial Event; Best Food, Drinks or Household Event; Best Government, Not-for-Profit or Charity Event; Best Health, Pharmaceuticals or Cosmetics Event; Best Conference; Best Product Launch; Best Incentive Travel Programme; Best Event - held inside Europe, Best Event - held outside Europe; and finally, the most coveted award of all, the Grand Prix.

The international judging panel is made up of well known experts from all aspects of the industry who will select the most significant, creative and effective events organised for various corporate, consumer, public or government clients during the past year. Judging will be held in London on 14 October 2004.

Every year spectacular multimedia presentations and image montages of the winners events are produced and shown at the EIBTM Awards ceremony, where the coveted prizes are presented. Looking at the range of brilliantly devised projects that have triumphed in their field of expertise at the EIBTM awards over the years, it is easy to see how aspiring to excellence can help others in the industry to develop their own special skills.

Last year, an Australian incentive by Travel Impact (UK) demonstrated how on-going incentive travel can build dealer loyalty as well as being commercially effective through using innovative communication channels, creative promotion and an outstanding travel experience. Winning Best Incentive Travel Product, Travel Impact (UK) had organised a Continental Tyres Group Dealer Incentive OZ02. Billed ‘Under the Spell’, it took in a few action packed days in Australia with Harley Davidson rides, Harbour Bridge climbs, off-road driving in the Blue Mountains, a visit to a koala sanctuary and a sailing regatta, to name a few. Culminating in what was billed as a Sydney Opera black tie dinner, dealers were given VIP red carpet treatment before a final drinks reception in a venue decked out as a rainforest jungle.

German-based MAX.SENSE Live Marketing agency swept the board by winning three EIBTM 2003 Awards at one stroke, the Grand Prix, the Best Event Inside Europe and the Best Automotive Event for its innovative Hyundai Dealer Conference. The conference, which was cited by the international judging panel as exceptionally imaginative achieving ‘a clear and unmistakable profile’ for Hyundai, was held in the tiny wine growing village of Trittenheim on the Rivel Mosel and involved the entire community. It culminated in the Mayor handing over the keys of the village to Hyundai’s Managing Director. 

Equally impressive was the entry by another German agency, Oliver Schrott Kommunikations that won Best Product Launch for the relaunch of the new flagship brand of DaimlerChrysler, some 61 years after the Maybach Zeppelin was built. The agency planned a multi-stage media oriented campaign which mirrored the former slogan of the Maybach from the 1930’s and began in Germany, switched to the UK and culminated in the streets of New York - a voyage on land, on water and in the air.

A third German agency, stöcker & friends, who had already won EIBTM awards before, demonstrated that the sky’s the limit and won Best Consumer Products Event Award for their unusual take on a futuristic Siemens European customer conference in Seville to launch its latest mobile phones and digital products. A 30 meter silver spaceship with a  friendly group of aliens landed at the Siemens Mobile Academy 2002 to transport those present to a new world where rulers of the galaxy were beamed on stage with an intergalactic laser show.

Debbie Jackson, EIBTM’s Exhibition director, said she was delighted with the high standard of the entries: “ The EIBTM Awards certainly encourage creativity at its best and provide a spur for excellence in the global meetings and incentive industry. We look forward to even more dazzling entries from the industry in Barcelona.”

Deadline for entries for the EIBTM Awards 2004 is 30 July 2004.