Scottish Food & Drink
Entry Form for Marketing Initiative of the Year
Category Sponsor:
The Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards recognise those companies in Scotland who are leading the way with innovation, enterprise and quality. Entries are encouraged from small, medium and large food and drink companies. Support for these Awards comes from a range of organizations and reflects the breadth of the industry. The competition’s major sponsors are the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland and Scotland Food & Drink. The main sponsor is the Clydesdale Bank. Media Partner is The Grocer.
Entry Process
1. Send your entry form by email to by Friday 4th March. (or on digital medium in the post to David Cochrane, SF&D Excellence Awards, RHASS, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh EH28 8NB) Contact telephone - 0131 335 6207.
2. Short-listed entrants will be asked to send a high quality digital image of logo/product for publicity purposes to as soon as they are notified.
3. A senior representative of each short listed company is expected to attend the Awards Dinner and Presentation at Dunblane Hydro Hotel on Thursday 26th May. Tickets cost £100 available from Scotland Food & Drink and tables are for ten; email:
Dress code: Formal - Black tie/Highland wear.
NAME OF BUSINESSCONTACT NAME
POSITION IN COMPANY
EMAIL ADDRESS
ADDRESS AND POSTCODE
TELEPHONE NUMBER
FAX NUMBER
DATE
Marketing Initiative of the Year: presented to the business that has demonstrated the most effective marketing initiative supported by a robust strategy.
Closing date for entries – Friday 4th March
Please provide the information requested below and answer the questions.
Name of specific marketing initiative (new product/ product range/ brand/ campaign) being entered and description
What market research and development was undertaken as preparation for this initiative; please refer to any external services and brief methodology used.
Describe any innovative aspects incorporated into the product itself and designed to differentiate it from the competition:
How does this initiative impact on your brand strategy (does it stretch your brand into new sectors, develop your brand for the future, reposition your brand…etc).
Have you adopted a specific promotional strategy for this initiative?
What methods of communication do you employ and how do you highlight your unique selling point to attract potential customers?
Illustrate with examples the way in which your marketing material supports your unique selling point. Please include samples of any relevant literature, packaging and other promotional material and website details of specific pages etc.
How have you interacted with customers / potential customers to develop this initiative and do you retain a customer database and communicate with them on a regular basis?
Describe your marketing strategy, how it links to your business plan and expectations for this initiative (product / product range / brand / campaign) over the next 12 months in its intended market. Please attach a copy of your marketing plan for this initiative if available.
Explain what process is in place to monitor, measure and review the effectiveness of this marketing initiative.
Scotland Food and Drink Excellence Awards Presentation and Benefits
No publication of category winners is made prior to the Awards Ceremony. For publicity purposes it is assumed that winners agree to product and company details being forwarded to the Awards’ PR consultants. Winners will receive an inscribed Scotland Food and Drink Award, a certificate for display purposes and use of Scotland Food & Drink Awards branding for product labelling.
All entrants will receive written feedback reports which include the comments and opinions of top professionals in the industry. Many businesses have acted on the comments and advice supplied in these reports and gone on to reap the benefit through enhanced product or service offering and consequent increased sales.
Supplementary Information
Qualifying Businesses
The awards are open to all Scottish food and drink companies whose products are wholly or mainly produced, processed and packaged in Scotland.
Criteria for entries
1) An entry may be a single product or group of related products from the same supplier.
2) Entries can be new or already established in the marketplace.
3) Entries may be part or fully processed and may be intended for any form of storage.
4) Entrants are solely responsible for the accuracy of the information they supply.
5) If you are a non-manufacturing company then you should identify the product manufacturer.
Judging
Judging Panels
The judging panels will be made up of prominent figures from relevant sectors of the food & drink industry. The decisions of the judging panels will be final.
Judging Criteria
Entries will be judged according to the criteria established for each sector at commencement of the Awards competition and to which the judges will make specific reference during their assessments. Judges decisions and comments will be included in feedback reports sent to all entrants after the Awards presentations.
Stage One Judging
All entries will be paper-judged in the first instance by a panel of experts in each category.
Stage Two - Short Listing
Products from following categories will be tasted:
Retail
Foodservice
Product Innovation
Healthy Choices/Healthy Eating
Companies whose products are shortlisted in these categories will be invited to send a specified quantity of the product for tasting to the Tesco Product Assessment Centre, Perth. Detailed instructions will be sent out advising mailing arrangements.
A suitably qualified person appointed by the Awards organizers will prepare the products. This stage will be conducted in a private session with only the judges and organizers present
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