Greetings!

What a year! It’s been an amazing year that has made a lot of us look at the things we do and ask ourselves “is there a better way?” Historians may focus on the difficulty of these times, but I suspect creative communities will look back on this period as some kind of primordial ooze from which many new, brilliant ideas evolved. It really feels like there is a new order of things…but exactly how it all nets out remains to be seen.

If ever there were a time for strategic thinking and innovation, now has to be that time—a time to find answers to questions that have not been asked before…a time to look beyond “what is” and to imagine new realities of “what could be"…and a time to identify new opportunities, new business models, new brand relationships and new methods of building those relationships. Strategic thinking (and doing) has never been more valued, both within our industry and in other industries. This skill set is becoming very highly prized amongst emerging and evolving businesses. Yet, to date, there is no broadly recognized award for celebrating the area of strategic thinking.

Today, our strategic thinking is impacting more than just advertising and it’s time to reflect that in what the Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence and the 4A’s Planning Conference celebrates.

The fundamental structure and format of the 4A’s Planning Conference is being re-engineered as we speak to encompass more than just advertising strategy. At the 2009 Conference in San Francisco we will be announcing some significant changes to the planning conference that will make it more like a festival of strategic thinking. We look forward to revealing these details and hope you will join us there for the unveiling. As part of this, the Jay Chiat Awards will play a much more central role in showcasing strategic excellence in all its guises.

Which brings us to this year’s awards. Since changing the awards is much easier than changing the conference, we have decided that 2009 awards will lead the change. An appetizer, as it were, of what is to come.
The purpose for the Jay Chiat Awards will not change. Its purpose is as relevant today as it has always been:

“To celebrate brilliant strategic thinking clearly led to a powerful creative expression.”

However, we are pleased to announce the following changes to the Jay Chiat Awards in 2009:

1. New Categories: The categories will be changed to reflect the variety of creative outputs that our strategic thinking impacts. Of the eight categories only two will be for traditional marketing and advertising campaigns. The other six categories include: brand experiences, original content, new product ideas and innovative design and research. (See next page for categories).
2. The judging process and high-profile juries: Each category will have its own jury. The jury will be responsible for both round 1 and round 2 judging. Each jury will have a Chair and 4–8 jury members who are recognized leaders in that category; 50 percent of each jury will come from non-U.S. markets. A combination of the 4A’s committee and the Chairs of each jury will decide the “Grand Prix” award at the conference.
3. All categories are open to international entries: The last few years taught us that entries from non-U.S. markets are both inspiring and deserving of more attention. In 2009 we are making the Jay Chiat Awards the world’s first global award for strategic excellence. Although we require all papers to be written in English, all categories are open to entries from any market, anywhere in the world.
4. Pricing: We are introducing an early bird entry fee special of $350 per entry, for entries received prior to June 1st.

We hope you agree that this sets the stage for the Jay Chiat Awards to become the industry leading awards they deserve to be. We look forward to reading your entries and are open to your feedback on the changes and any suggestions for improvements you feel we should make for the big unveiling in 2010.

Good Luck,
Make them great.
William Charnock
Chair of the Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence