Listed below are some of the frequently asked questions about the Beacon Awards. If you have additional questions after reviewing this document, please contact Michelle Butler at:
Phone: 202-222-2372
Email: mbutler@cablecommunicators.org
Eligibility
Q. I'm not an ACC member, but my company is. Does that make me eligible to enter the Beacon Awards?
A. You must be an individual member of ACC to submit an entry. If you are not a member of ACC, you may submit your membership application and payment of $200 for your membership dues with your Beacon entry. There is an ACC membership application in the 2008 Beacon Award Call for Entries.
Dates & Deadlines
Q. What are the deadlines to enter the Beacon Awards?
A. The 2008 Beacon Award early bird deadline allows ACC members to save $50 on the entry fee and is November 2, 2007. The final deadline is November 16, 2007. To qualify for the Early Bird discount, the completed entry (including all forms, summaries and collateral materials) along with the payment must be received by ACC no later than 5:00 p.m. (EST) on November 2, 2007.
If the entry is incomplete in any way, ACC reserves the right to deny the discount and charge the
entrant the regular fee in order to be eligible for judging.
Q. My campaign falls within the required dates of November 17, 2006, and November 16, 2007, but I would like to include the kickoff element which was in September 2006. May I do that?
A. Yes. As long as the majority of the project was completed between the dates of
November 17, 2006, and November 16, 2007, it is eligible for the 2007 Beacon Awards.
Q. If an event continues after the November 16, 2007, deadline, should press clips and results be sent after the entry deadline of November 16, 2007?
A. No. If you do not have all results in by November 16, you may relate in your entry the methodology by which you intend to measure results, what you anticipate the results to be, and why.
Categories
Q. Did ACC introduce any new categories this year?Q. Why did the Beacon Award Committee introduce new categories this year?A. Yes. The 2008 Beacon Awards Committee developed two new categories: Cause Marketing and Programming Publicity. The category descriptions are below.
Cause Marketing – Campaigns in partnership between a company or network and nonprofit partner which measurably drive sales/increase viewership, increase brand loyalty, retain customers or reach a niche market while providing financial support and awareness for the non-profit.
Programming Publicity - Campaigns designed to drive awareness and tune in for specific programming, specials or series, with results demonstrated by press clips in both consumer and trade publications, and with electronic coverage.
A. With the new name and expanded mission of ACC, the 2008 Beacon Awards committee wanted to ensure that all the campaigns that cable communicators oversee had a home and appropriate category in the Beacon Awards. It was felt that the categories in last year's competition did not cover the types of campaigns that network publicists implement, so the workgroup designed the new programming publicity category. Cause Marketing will recognize the many strategic partnerships that cable companies and networks are entering in with nonprofit partners to help achieve the cable company's business goals while also meeting the needs of the nonprofit partner.
Q. What is the difference between Community Relations and Cause Marketing?
The Community Relations category is defined as follows:
Campaigns that seek to win the support or cooperation of – or that aim to improve relations with – people or organizations in communities that position the organization as a committed partner and deliver measurable, positive results for the cable company.
The definition for Cause Marketing is:
Campaigns in partnership between a company or network and non-profit partner which measurably drive sales/increase viewership, increase brand loyalty, retain customers or reach a niche market while providing financial support and awareness for the non-profit.
The main difference is that cause marketing must deliver bottom line/sales type results while community relations may bring less tangible results.
Q. I did an announcement about our system's new VOD services. We held a reception at the local Chamber of Commerce and set up televisions and PC work stations. Network representatives were on hand to answer questions and hand out premium items. We held special sessions for government officials/council members and the general public. Do I enter this event under Government Relations or Community Relations?
A. Initiatives can be submitted in more than one category. In this case, you may enter the announcement under both. Just remember that your summary should be geared toward the selected target audience.
Q. For the competitive response category, what kind of support materials are you looking for?
A. A variety of tactics can be used in a competitive response campaign like in any other campaign. Some of the tactics may include media relations materials, programming, public service announcements or promotional spots, Web sites, print advertising, brochures, direct mail, newsletters or other print materials, correspondence, photographs, marketing products such as premiums, electronic and online communications, television ads, radio spots, posters, etc.
Q. How is the Reputation/Brand Management category different from the Media Relations category?
Q. Is there a specific target audience attached to the Events and Observances category?A. Reputation/brand management entries can include a variety of tactics, such as earned media, paid media, PSAs, events, etc., tied to a strategic objective of establishing or improving a company's brand, image or reputation. An example of a reputation/brand management campaign is Cox's Your Friend in the Digital Age.
The media relations category honors programs using innovative earned media strategies and tactics to effectively deliver company messages intended to promote the organization's products or services or to enhance its reputation or image. Examples of successful media relations campaigns among the 2006 and 2007 Beacon Award finalists are 2005 Time Warner Cable Tech Calendar, Court TV's Home of the Brave/Voting Rights Act, Comcast-Utah Local Dating on Demand, and Comcast Announcement of the mtn. network. The project summaries for these projects can be found in the members-only area of the ACC Web site.
Q. What is the difference between Crisis Communications and Issues Management?A. The two Events and Observances categories do not have a predetermined target audience, and an entrant in that category can target one or several target audiences as dictated by the goals of the project. Entrants should still identify the target audience or target audiences addressed by their campaigns in their project summaries so that the judges can evaluate whether those audiences were reached and influenced by the campaign.
A. A crisis is an unplanned event or incident that demands an immediate response from the cable company due to its threat to the way it conducts business. An example of a crisis is a weather storm that destroyed parts of the cable infrastructure or discovering that the phone book your company published includes numbers that should be unlisted because they are for people in the witness protection program or are for battered women hiding from their abusers.
Issues management addresses an ongoing issue or concern that could extraordinarily affect business strategy. This issue is not always a crisis demanding immediate attention but may have the potential to become a crisis at some point. Examples of issues management campaigns are ones that address retransmission consent negotiation or a proposed law at the state or federal level that will force the cable company to change the way it does business.
Q. In the past, I submitted a promotional spot in the video promotion or PSA category. Where should I submit a promotional spot this year?
A. A promotional spot may be entered in the reputation/brand management category as part of a campaign. If the promotional spot does talk about the community service efforts of the cable company, it may be appropriate to enter it in the new Public Service Announcement (single or series) category. Another choice may be to submit the promotional spot in the support materials category.
Q. Why is there not a separate category for a single Public Service Announcement vs. a series of Public Service Announcements?
A. The Public Service Announcement category will reward the PSA or series of PSAs that produced the desired results or end impact whether that took one PSA or a series of PSAs. The new category concentrates on the results of the PSA.
Q. I have submitted a company newsletter to the Beacon Awards in the past. Where would that fit?
Q. In which category should a Web site be entered?A. Newsletters may be submitted to the Support Materials category. Be sure to stress in the project summary why the newsletter was the best tactic to use to reach your target audience.
Newsletters may also be submitted to another category as part of a campaign directed at a target audience captured in the other categories. For example, a newsletter to government officials may be part of a campaign aimed at those officials, and that campaign can be submitted in the government relations category.
Q. Will you accept live URLs for Web sites and other electronic media?A. Like newsletters, a Web site can be entered in the support materials category. Be sure to stress in the project summary why a Web site was the best tactic to use to reach your target audience. An incredibly innovative or creative Web site may also be entered in the new media campaign category.
Like all tactics and other support materials, Web sites may be submitted as part of a campaign entered in another category. For example, a Web site supporting a cable company's pro-social efforts may be an example of supporting materials used by a company in a campaign submitted to the Community Relations category.
A. No. Entries to the Beacon Awards must represent work executed and results achieved between November 17, 2006, and November 16, 2007. Judging for the Beacon Awards will take place in January 2008, and live URLs viewed at that time may represent work executed after November 16, 2007, so no live URLs will be accepted for electronic media components such as Web sites.
Please submit the electronic media component as print materials or as a CD-ROM or DVD with the appropriate files and directions for viewing. Print materials and files can be a representation of the electronic media. All Web sites and other electronic media must operate from the actual media source it is sent on. No downloads or installs please.
Q. Is it better to submit a Web site entry on CD-ROM or as print materials?
A. Beacon judges prefer the Web site entries on CD-ROM because a full, interactive version of the Web site will be projected on a theater screen that all judges will review. This provides the judges with a similar experience as that of the end user. However, some winning Web sites have been submitted on print materials in the past.
NOTE: Please submit print materials and a CD-ROM with the appropriate files and directions for viewing for the judges to review. Print materials and files can be a representation of the Web site. All Web site entries must operate from the actual media source it is sent on (CD-ROM). No downloads or installs please. No live URLs will be accepted.
Programming
Q. I want to submit a 3-5 minute highlight package of events and programs we produce with voice-over providing information on each. Does that fall within the rules for a 5 minute video?
A. Yes. Remember to include a written log of what is on the tape as well.
Q. I heard that some of the DVDs submitted last year did not work, and I want to make sure that the ones I send in play. How do you suggest I format it?
A. DVDs should be formatted to play on a television. DVD submissions should be provided on DVD-ROM, DVD+R, or DVD-R optical media, and should comply with standard DVD-Video and DVD-Audio application and file formats, specifically:
Video format
Encoding: MPEG-2 (MP@ML) CBR or VBR
Coding rate: Optional (9.8 Kbps maximum)
Frame Size: 352 x 480, 704 x 480 or 720 x 480 (NTSC)
Frame Rate:
Coded - 24fps progressive, 29.97fps interlaced (NTSC only)
Displayed - 29.97 (NTSC) Aspect Ratio: 4:3 or 16:9Audio format
Channels: 2 - Stereo (min.)
Sampling Rate: 48 KHz
Coding Rate: Optional (912 Kbps maximum)File Format
The files used for DVD-Video and DVD-Audio should follow the conventional DVD-ROM file format specifications. For example, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio should be arranged in directories called VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS, respectively. Files with the extension ".IFO" should contain application information needed to reproduce the content. Files with the ".VOB" extension should contain the actual video or audio content.
Q. Our system telecasts a weekly high school football game featuring schools from within our viewing areA. I am planning to submit this as an LO series. Considering the 5-minute video limit, should I only send a clip from one game?
A. You can either send a clip from one game, or create a montage of highlights from a series of games. The only limitation is that the tape not exceed 5 minutes and that you provide a written log of the tape's contents.
Q. Our system produces a local origination series, but there is one particular episode that was extremely well-received by the community and received significant coverage. Can one episode from an LO series be entered in the Programming (Single Program) category?
A. Yes. You should make clear in your entry summary that this program is part of a series that you would like to have judged on its merits as a stand-alone program.
Entrant Classification
Q. What are the entrant classification guidelines?
Q. Why did you break the division between cable network 1 and cable network 2 at 40 million?A. They are:
Cable system 1 (up to 200,000 subscribers)
Cable system 2 (200,000 to 400,000 subscribers)
Cable system 3 (more than 400,000 subscribers)
MSO
Cable Network 1 (up to 40 million subscribers)
Cable Network 2 (more than 40 million subscribers)
Other (includes Association/Nonprofit and Hardware/software or new technology providers)
A. Although the number isn't hard and fast, 40 million is usually the upper threshold of where a network can still be an unrated, “emerging” network. Once a network is rated, business practices, including public affairs, change, so it is hard to make a fair comparison between a rated and unrated network.
Q. My system, which is made up of 225,000 customers, worked in partnership with The Disney Channel to promote an upcoming program. As part of the Disney promotional tour, there was a screening at my local theater and Disney characters were available to greet attendees and take pictures with the children. We promoted the event by sending out direct mail pieces, creating radio spots and contacting several community organizations in the areA. Can I enter the screening in the Beacon Awards competition or should it be entered by The Disney Channel?
A. Both your system and the network can enter the promotion. You should enter the program under Community - Cable System II whileThe Disney Channel should enter the entire tour as a Community - Cable Network II entry.
Q. The cable system I work for partnered with a cable network on a community relations event. Can we submit a joint entry to the Beacon Awards?
A. You may enter the event to the community relations category as a cable system project, and the network may submit it as a cable network project. There is no entrant classification for joint projects.
Judging
Preliminary judging for the Beacon Awards will take place in Washington, DC, on January 16 and 17, 2008. Preliminary judges will be cable communications and public affairs professionals and ACC members from various cable organizations. Finalist entries will be judged by a panel of ACC Board members, other senior communications and cable public affairs professionals and experienced judges on January 31, 2008.Judging criteria are as follows:
Planning and Strategy (20% of overall score)
Implementation (25% of overall score)
Results (25% of overall score)
Presentation (10% of overall score)
Creativity (20% of overall score)
Q. In the description of each entry's summary, you ask for comments on the "tactics and/or strategy" used for the project. Can you explain?
A. "Tactics and/or strategy" means the process and/or procedures you followed in order to achieve your project's goals and objectives. In other words, you should address what steps you planned to take to make sure your project was going to have the results you anticipated.
Q. Why does ACC require that entrants include a justification statement in their three-page summaries?
A. In the past some Beacon judges have questioned whether certain entries had been submitted in the correct categories. To avoid this question, ACC eliminated this judging criteria. The 2008 Beacon Award Call for Entries also requires that the entrant include a justification statement in their three-page summaries. This statement should explain why the entry category was chosen and prevents judges from questioning whether an entry is in the right category.
Q. Are all the categories judged by the same criteria?
A. Yes. Judges will go through a training session to ensure that they all understand the judging criteria and have a similar frame of reference for judging entries.
Q. How important is the presentation of the entry? Do I have to use a fancy notebook and high-tech art?
A. The presentation is important, but you don't have to spend a lot of money to be successful. Entries are judged primarily on their content. However, 10% of your overall score is based on the appearance, organization and completeness of your entry. You should make sure your entry is neat in appearance, clearly organized, and contains all necessary elements. The majority of entries are submitted in three-ring binders.
Q. I know that we are required to submit 8 copies of our three-page project summary. Should we send 8 copies of any other materials we plan to send, such as news clippings, premium items, DVDs, etc.?
A. No. Only one copy of any other materials should be sent; this includes press clippings, premium items, and DVD/VHS highlights. The only item ACC requires entrants to send duplicates of is the three-page project summary. There is no need to send eight separate notebooks per entry.