“Advertisement of the Year 2006” in the “ZeitungKreativ” Competition

Thuringian "Idea Factory" designs receive "Advertisement of the Year" award

New award for the Thuringian Image Campaign "The German Idea Factory.":
In the nationwide "ZeitungKreativ" competition, the advertisement designs "There’s more to Thuringia than you think." have been awarded the "Advertisement of the Year" prize by the competition jury. "We have given this award to the most daring and creative advertisement of the past year", the jury justified its decision. This prize has been awarded by ZMG ZeitungsMarketing Gesellschaft in cooperation with the trade journal "w&v" each year since 1984. A total of 368 advertisements were submitted for this year’s competition.

The criteria for the award of the jury prize included, according to ZMG, a clear "message", a convincing presentation, an innovative approach, an accomplished realisation of the design and suitability for the width of the newspaper header. The winner was chosen by an expert jury made up of representatives of companies, agencies and newspaper publishers under the chairmanship of Prof. Klaus Hesse from the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach (Offenbach University of Art and Design). The award ceremony was held yesterday evening in Frankfurt/Main. Besides the jury award, also an audience award and the "New(s)comers Best" award for talented newcomers were handed over.

ZMG Zeitungs Marketing Gesellschaft, domiciled in Frankfurt am Main, is the central marketing organisation for newspapers and newspaper groups in Germany. It provides marketing, research and related services for and in the German newspaper market. The ZMG is umbrella to more than 330 publishing houses with a total circulation of approx. 30 million copies.

As part of this image campaign, the Thuringian Ministry of Economy issued a new series of advertisement and poster designs with the slogan "There’s more to Thuringia than you think." in October 2006. These designs have had a great impact and met with a strong response throughout Germany. Just this March, the Thuringian image advertisement received the "Bronze Nail" award in the "Print advertising: specialist ads" category and another award in the "Print advertising: daily/weekly newspaper ads" category in the competition organised by the Art Directors Club für Deutschland e.V. (ADC).