McConnells Advertising and Dublin Institute of Technology were star performers at the annual Creative Effective Design Advertising for Recruitment awards, writes Ed Power.
Recruitment advertising has emerged as a vital barometer of the health of the wider economy,according to the managing director of The Irish Times Ltd, Ms Maeve Donovan. She was speaking at the CEDAR awards ceremony in Dublin last week.
CEDAR is an acronym for Creative Effective Design Advertising for Recruitment.
The first suggestions of an economic recovery have been reflected by increasing activity in recruitment in the services and financial sector, while there are also indications that the IT industry may be starting to rally after several years of sustained decline, Ms Donovan said.
Having overcome its own difficulties, The Irish Times has, like many other businesses, focused on "core" activities, Ms Donovan said.
The company is committed to delivering a high-profile audience to advertisers by offering a product of consistently high quality, she said. The newspaper's position as the home of Ireland's most comprehensive jobs listings remains unchallenged, she added.
Choosing winners was not an easy task, said Mr Rody Molloy, chair of the judging panel and director general of FÁS.
Ultimately, the winning entries hinged on the subjective opinions of the judges and the shortlist did not presume to be definitive, he said.
The awards are divided into eight categories, with a ninth given for best advertising series. Categories encompass a range of sectors, including information technology, education, finance, and sales and marketing.
Nominees included not only indigenous and multinationals but training institutions and State bodies. Awards were presented both to the recruiting firm and to the advertising agencies behind the winning campaign.
The first award to be announced was in the computers category. The winners were Total Manager Delivery (TMD), an IT consultancy specialising in Oracle solutions. The company, whose headquarters are in London, opened a Dublin office early this year.
The winning ad was designed in association with Bell Recruitment Advertising. The award was accepted by Ms Leanne Pretorius, marketing executive, of TMD, and Ms Mary Nagle, Bell account manager. Bell has been a winner every year since the award's inception. The other nominees were GMAC/Anderson Spratt and Wyeth Medica/ Rubicon.
The winning advert set out to capture the "drive and energy" of TMD and attract people with similar qualities, explained Ms Nagle.
"TMD has a very fresh attitude to life and we wanted that to be reflected in the ad," she said. "Essentially we've given TMD a powerful employer brand that will appeal to the right candidates and provides a platform for all future communications."
In the general management category, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the McConnells Group received awards. These were accepted by Mr David Spring, DIT human resources manager, and Mr James Lavan, managing director at McConnells. They edged out the Marine Institute/AFA O'Meara and Newstalk106/McConnells.
The human resources and training category saw a win for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and AV Browne, the Belfast-based advertising agency.
It was the third year running that PSNI and AV Browne were honoured at the awards. Accepting the award was Mr Michael Cox, PSNI director of personnel, and Mr George Lavery, AV Browne managing director. The other nominees were Wyeth Medica Ireland/Rubicon Ireland.
In the finance category, the winners were Premier, the financial recruitment specialist and Rothco Advertising. The award was accepted by Ms Jane O'Keefe, group director at Rothco, and Ms Laura McLoughlin, Premier's strategic marketing manager. She said the winning advertisement aimed at making deliverable promises to clients.
She said: "We devised this campaign around key research findings, which highlighted a lack of credibility in the consultants recruiting candidates for financial roles. Candidates and clients lacked confidence in financial recruitment agencies and felt they were unable to fully understand their needs." The winners edged out Bank of Ireland group/ KPMG.
In the engineering and technology category, McConnells reaped another award, this time in association with the ESB. Accepting the awards were Ms Kathy Murran of the ESB human resources department and Mr James Lavan, managing director at McConnells. Runners up were Hewlett-Packard/TMP Worldwide and Visticom/TMP Worldwide.
The award for sales and marketing was won by Superquinn/ Riley Advertising and was accepted by Ms Julie-Anne Broderick, Superquinn recruitment director, and Mr Patrick Ryan, agency director at Riley. The other nominees were Dell/Bell Recruitment Advertising and Hertz/Riley.
The East Coast Area Health Board foster section/TMP Worldwide were the winners in the medical category. The award was accepted by Ms Catherine Robinson, foster team leader at the health board, and by Ms Ger Hayes, account manager at TMP.
The other nominees were the North Eastern Health Board/ TMP Worldwide and Richmond Recruiting/Rubicon Ireland.
In education, DIT and McConnells won a second award, edging out Bank of Ireland Group/McConnells.
The award for a series of recruitment ads was won by Wyeth Medica Ireland and Rubicon Ireland. The awards were accepted by Mr Larry Kelly, human resources director, Wyeth, and Ms Anne-Marie English, business development director at Rubicon.
