21st Australian Catalogue Awards - Calling for Entries

The Australian Catalogue Association’s (ACA) 21st annual awards night recognises excellence in catalogue design and effectiveness in retail, marketing and creative design.

Entries have opened for the Australian Catalogue Association’s (ACA) 21st annual awards night, recognising excellence in catalogue design and effectiveness among some of Australia’s best known retailers, marketers and creative designers.
Ken Bishop, ACA chief executive, said the awards night is an opportunity to celebrate one of the most popular advertising mediums by bringing together over 600 retailers and the industry’s most creative minds.
“The awards are a terrific opportunity to acknowledge not only the strength of catalogues, but the industry’s creativity from designers, printers and retailers,” he said.
Entries close on 29 April, 2012 and Mr Bishop expects over 800 entries across over 30 categories, including the coveted ‘Catalogue of the Year’ award.
“We expect another strong field, with entries from some of Australia’s largest retailers.”
The awards night is introducing several new categories this year, including super high volume categories for supermarkets, discount department stores, home, whitegoods, furniture and pharmacy as well the Technology on Paper category. The awards will also continue with the popular Environment and Sustainability Award.
“The ACA looks forward to showcasing the talents of our industry in what is a great networking event, while acknowledging the contribution to one of the most effective advertising mediums in Australia,” Mr Bishop said.
Last year’s winners included David Jones (up to 1.5 million catalogues) and Freedom (over 1.5 million catalogues). Amanda Bailey, from PLUSH, won best young designer of the year, while Cumming Agency and Studios won best advertising agency of the year.
Around $1.5 billion, or 60 per cent of total print advertising spend, is invested by Australia’s retailers in catalogues, with the industry continuing to experience healthy annual growth.
“Our recent research indicates 70 per cent of consumers make a visit to a store as a direct result of reading a catalogue and 85 per cent of Australians are happy to receive them in their letterboxes.”
Catalogues have experienced modest growth of two per cent to four per cent a year since 2008, amidst a poor economic environment and consumer confidence.
"When most cut back on advertising in fear of what would happen next, catalogues still experienced growth and have become and indispensable part of the marketing mix,” Mr Bishop said.
Mr Bishop also said retailers were beginning to complement their letterbox drops with text messages, emails and online catalogues and specials.
“Catalogues are at their most effective as part of a multi-channel offering and have complemented the digital offering well.
“With the web becoming a competitive purchasing channel, the role of catalogues has expanded to become a driver of online, while maintaining their own place as a powerful marketing tool.”
The Australian Catalogue Association was formed in 1992 and represents the producers, printers, distributors and suppliers to the catalogue industry. The Australian Catalogue Awards were first initiated to encourage the stakeholders in the highly competitive, visible and diverse industry to band together and provide a forum for catalogue designers and advertisers to improve their art.
The awards night will be held at Atlantic at the Docklands in Melbourne on Friday, 10 August 2012.
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