Thank you for your time and comments.

First, I want to stress that I think it’s commendable you provide the judges’ comments and scores in your letters as opposed to just sending a notice. It’s clearly above the norm.

Second, we have no suspicions of the judges’ comments. Rather we just wanted more disclosure regarding their specific skill sets and identifying who made which comment. According to the bios on your site, two of the judges are from radio and one from video. As we know, there’s many different ways to bake an on hold program depending on avg hold time, marketing philosophy and listening clientele. My inkling is these judges are biased toward radio and TV ads.

Third, if possible, try to include the respective scores of each category above in your letter.

Fourth, thanks for requiring all judges to produce a constructive comment.

Finally, I’m probably disturbing the hornet’s nest here but it’s a conflict of interest to chair the awards and submit your company’s work plus win the top award. As well intended, honorable, faithful and any other attribute we can use to positively describe you, your company and OHMA, the arrangement is intrinsically problematic. To be above reproach, the chair should recuse him/herself and their company from submitting their work to the competition.

Nevertheless, I think OHMA is making valuable contributions to our industry, though like any other association, changes are sometimes needed.

Best,
Marc A. Gallo
Mind The Gap

Since 2005, the On Hold Messaging Association has presented awards to honor the year’s best On Hold Messaging productions. The MARCE Awards (formerly known as The Holdies) is an international competition that encourages and rewards creative and marketing excellence among On Hold Messaging providers exclusively. In doing so, we hope to raise the creative and marketing standards of all On Hold Messaging agencies and the expectations of clients and their callers.

You expressed concern that the judging and the judging criteria may be somewhat suspect. Hopefully, the following information will make you more comfortable with the credibility of the competition.

First, three new judges are selected each year based on their experience in the audio marketing industry. Their primary source of income must not be derived from On Hold Messaging and they must not have an affiliation with any entrant. Combined, this year’s judges have written, produced, directed, and been honored for audio marketing projects for more than 85 years.

Second, the MARCE competition has very strict judging criteria. Each entry is to be judged on a scale of 1 to 10 in categories 1 through 4 (below). To emphasize the importance of creativity and marketing effectiveness, the judges’ scores for categories 5 and 6 will be tripled. (100 points equals a perfect score.)
1. Copy – Presentation of information, calls to action, and – if any – humor or characters; plus the overall effectiveness of the script.
2. Voice – Voice quality; interpretation of copy; “connection” with the audience; is the voice type appropriate for the script, the client and/or their industry?
3. Production Value – Recording; mixing; music editing; creative choices; use of music, sound effects and/or special elements.
4. On Hold Messaging Format – Based on the length of individual messages and the overall tone, is the production appropriate for use as On Hold Messaging, as opposed to broadcast applications or other types of audio marketing presentations?
5. Overall Creativity – Is the concept original? Are the ideas well executed by the production and voiceover talent? Is it intentionally funny or does it effectively create a specific mood? Does the production “raise the bar” and change your idea of what On Hold Messaging can be?
6. Effectiveness as a Marketing Tool – Does the production support the specific marketing goals as expressed by the entrant? Would the production motivate you to buy or seek more information about the company or its products? Does it support what you perceive to be the client’s brand identity? Does it help to differentiate the client’s company? Would callers listening to it consider it a positive customer experience?

My company has been entering audio marketing competitions annually for 20 years and we’ve been honored with scores of awards. It’s been my experience that The MARCE’s is the only competition that sends letters to every submitting agency detailing how their entries were scored. With that said, one improvement that will be made for next year’s competition is that individual judge’s comments will be mandatory for every entry they judge. “No comment” will no longer be allowed.

Again, I appreciate your condor and that you took the time to give us suggestions on how to improve the competition. Hopefully we’ll see your work again next year.

Good Marketing,
Jerry Brown, MARCE Chairman