Winning A Caples



Every year we get hundreds of entries, from all over the world. And though the number and quality keep increasing, the number that are disqualified also grows. Sad but true.

This year we decided to ask the judges exactly what constitutes a winning Caples Entry. Is there a trick for increasing the Judges’ positive response? Are there special "action verbs", or was there clever use of bold or underscored type in the write-ups? Surely our panel of distinguished judges has advice to give fellow direct marketers who aspire to take home a Caples Award.

Here is that advice, for everyone hoping to make the trip to the podium.

10. Don’t display the name of your agency anywhere on the piece. (Unless it's Agency/Self Promotion). It’s the judges’ duty to flag issues that compromise their objectivity. In order to eliminate any prejudice or preconceived notions about any particular agency, the judges should have no clue as to the origination of the entry.

9. Make sure your entry is in the right category. Seems obvious, sure. But if your entry gets juggled from category to category on judging day, it could affect how it is judged.

8. Translations: The English language is your friend. Though we have a panel of international judges, English is still the primary language. A piece of paper with headlines on it stuck in the box with your entry won’t get you far. If you really want to up your chances of winning, cut out the translations and attach them to your entry in their correlating copy positions.

7. Call-to-action: Have one. If the entry doesn’t clearly have a call-to-action and a specific offer, it will lose. Period. This is supposed to be direct marketing, remember? A URL at the bottom of the page does not constitute a call-to-action.

6. State the target audience. If your target was left-handed calligraphers from Tuscany, it probably has some bearing on your execution. Come to think of it, if that was your target, it better have some bearing on your execution.

5. State your insights about the target and how it relates to your creative solution. This sets up the case for evaluating just how innovative your solution really is.

4. Make your concept understandable. This is probably one of the most important points on this list. Judges have been known to pass on explanations that seem confused. Think about what you’re writing. Better yet, before you send it off, have someone read it who knows nothing about the promotion. If they understand the reasoning behind the creative, so will the judges.

3. Multimedia entries: Be specific about the role and sequence of each communication. Let us know what messages were seen, when and by whom in order to achieve your marketing objective.

2. Make David Ogilvy — and John Caples — happy. Long copy is good in the case of writing up your Caples entry. More often than not, the longer write-ups have gone on to win the hardware.

And finally, the number one tip for winning a Caples Award:

1. It’s all in the write-up. Spend time writing up the problem and presenting your creative solution. Sure, all the judges like a great execution. But remember, the Caples Awards are for "creative problem solving," not for the most brilliant use of foil-stamping, embossing and laminating a #10 package -- not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sell the concept to the judges the way you would to a client. Enlist the help of your partners in Strategic Planning and Account Service in crafting the entry write up. Not to put too fine a point on it, here’s an example:

Bad Write-up:
We created an insert to sell voicemail services to new customers using a bag for them to recycle their old answering machine.

Good Write-up:
Target audience: Recent purchasers of DSL service. Cement new customers’ purchase decision and help minimize attrition by highlighting a feature of a new DSL product – Voicemail. Overcome customer disregard for package inserts through the use of an involvement device. Instead of the usual single sheet of paper telling the customer about a new feature of their recent purchase, bring the feature to life. We created a plastic recycling bag for customers to put their old answering machine in. The solution highlighted the fact that the answering machine was obsolete. Even better, the bags cost only about 7 cents to produce. The client loved the solution so much it was turned into a stand-alone direct mail piece.