Innovative and creative marketing will be centre-stage at the 2018 ICCA Congress in Dubai, with three leading ICCA member suppliers set to compete live on Tuesday 13 November for the chance be named the 21st winner of the prestigious Best Marketing Award. The 2018 ICCA Congress will be the biggest one held outside of Europe, with 1,000 participants registered to attend.
The shortlisted finalists for the ICCA Best Marketing Award are:
VisitScotland: “Scotland Where Ideas Become Legend”
The Hague Convention Bureau: “Cyber Security Week 2017”
Serbia Convention Bureau: “APIMONDIA 2021”
Chairman of the judging panel and BMA plenary moderator, Patrick Delaney of SoolNua, said: “We were very impressed by this year’s entries, and were particularly excited to discover the innovative ways our finalists are linking destination marketing to their local intellectual capital. They all have a clear focus on the legacy and beyond-tourism aspect of their meetings. We are very much looking forward to their presentations at the ICCA Congress!”
“The BMA has become a unique centrepiece of the ICCA Congress, the only award in our industry that combines careful, detailed scrutiny of each entry by a team of past winners and other marketing experts with the voting input from hundreds of peers from around the world.”
As well as a detailed evaluation by an expert panel, including past winners, Best Marketing Award finalists will be judged by a live audience made up of industry colleagues and competitors during a dedicated plenary session at the ICCA Congress in Dubai. The BMA session has become one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights of each year’s ICCA Congress. The winner is announced during the Closing Ceremony.
The ICCA Best Marketing Award, established in 1997, recognises the excellence and outstanding achievements of organisations in their effort to market their destination or product. Entries are open to ICCA members from all sectors and geographical regions and are diverse in content: submissions can range from full scale campaigns and branding exercises to individual promotions and events. The ICCA Best Marketing Award is sponsored by The Meetings Show.
Biggest Congress outside Europe
The 2018 ICCA Congress is on schedule to be the biggest Congress held outside of Europe, with 1,000 participants registered to attend as of early October. The previous record for a Congress held outside of Europe was the 52nd ICCA Congress with 936 participants, held in Shanghai in 2013.