With the motto ‘Excellence in Creative Communication’, Commward was initiated by Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) in 2009 in association with Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Commward, also known as Communication Award, is the biggest local platform aimed at recognizing the best creative communications by and in the creative industry of Bangladesh. Commward has been organized 9 times: 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Commward is organized in association with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival), the most coveted and well respected in the entire advertising and creative communications world, often informally called “Oscar of Advertising”.

Over the time, Commward has ensured transparency and credibility in the overall process. Commward has been established as an industry standard for creativity with relentless and sustainable efforts. In the initial days mostly, the creative agencies participated in Commward, now all forms of agency (Creative, Digital, Media, PR, Events & Activation), production house, NGO & development agencies, different organizations, etc. with credible communication campaigns participates.

As forms of communication changed with time, Commward has also adapted by changing the awarding categories. Commward has shifted from mostly commercial campaign preference to social good preference. These categories inspire both the brands and the agencies to incorporate societal elements for a greater cause in the branding and communication activities.

Commward is awarded under different categories for different advertising campaigns in different media. Commward is awarded in four levels: Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

So how are the best creative works evaluated?

All the action starts as soon as the call for entry for nominations for Commward starts. agencies, brands, media houses, and production houses from various backgrounds and scale submit their work. And as soon as the deadline is met all the nominations go through a major and rigorous selection and jury process. These vital activities are divided into 4 stages:

• Filter/ Eligibility Phase
• Shortlisting Jury
• Grand Jury
• Vote for the Color

So how does the process function?

So, the first phase of the selection process is Filtering and Eligibility check of the submitted nominations. A dedicated team goes through all the nominations to check missing information, documentation, supporting materials and check whether the nominations are submitted properly in their respected categories. The team then collects missing information and related materials of the submissions and prepares them for the jury process.

The second phase of the selection process is the Shortlisting Jury. Usually, 7-8 shortlisting boards are formed to go through the massive number of submissions. Each board consists of 6-8 industry experts who specialize in brand communication, advertisement, and marketing. Each board is then provided with related categories based on the boards’ expertise. Each board then evaluates whether a nomination is eligible to move to the grand jury session or not. The entire process is kept bias-free as they are provided with individual evaluation forms, and experts related to the campaign are excused from evaluating the nominations. Thus, the evaluation is tabulated and the shortlisted campaigns are then selected to move on to the grand jury. Based on statistics 50% – 60% of submissions are dropped off from this evaluation process.

The third phase of the evaluation process is the Grand Jury. 6-7 Grand Jury boards are formed for the final evaluation process. The grand Jury board is directed by a Jury President. The Grand Jury board consists of industry leaders who have mammoth experience of leading the communication industry and the Jury President is selected from the international communication fraternity. The grand jury boards are then assigned with related categories to evaluate. The board then scores between 1 to 10 for the scoring process. To manage expectations and clarity here are what defines each score:

10 – Best in class.
9 – New standard in creativity
8 – Big idea
7 – Excellence in craft
6 – Fresh idea
5 – Innovative strategy
4 – Cliché
3 – Not competitive
2 – Destructive
1 – Appalling

Based on the individual bias-free scoring the marks are then tabulated. Nominations/campaigns with a minimum score of 5 are considered to move to the next phase of the selection process.

The fourth and final stage of the rigorous selection process is “Vote for Color”. Nominations with the minimum score requirement adhere to this process. As mentioned earlier, COMMWARD recognizes works in 4 colors: Grand Prix, Gold, Silver & Bronze. With the direction and guidance of the Jury President and Grand Jurors, a voting process takes place. This is the last and most crucial phase of the evaluation process. Grand jurors vote for the submitted works. The regular framework for the color selection is:

Bronze=6
Silver=7
Gold=8
Grand prix=9/10

Discussions and debates take place while the respected jurors compile the complete scores of all the medal winners to determine what color they receive. After the voting session campaigns are then finally selected for the final recognition in the auspicious event of COMMWARD.

Through this conclusive and rigorous process, brands, agencies, production houses, and related stakeholders are recognized through “COMMWARD”.