News

20 September, 2020
Transform

Transform Awards MEA 2021 open for entries

The Transform Awards Middle East and Africa is back for its eighth year, to celebrate excellence in rebranding and brand development across the region. The winners at each year’s awards reflect the indispensable talent that exists within the branding sphere and the growing significance of brand in strategic communications.

After September’s celebration in Dubai, announcing the 2020 winners, Transform Awards MEA is announcing its annual call for entries for its 2021 programme. Entries are accepted from any client or agency that is based in the Middle East and Africa region.

Winners of the 2020 Transform Awards MEA include the likes of the UAE Pro League, the Saudi Space Commission, King Salman Park and Bank ABC. To read more about the winners, click here.

Entries into the 2021 awards are accepted five categories focusing on strategic brand development and creative visual identity: content, type, sector, process and strategy, allowing space for all ranges of projects and agency work. Examples of categories include ‘Best corporate rebrand following a merger or acquisition,’ ‘Best implementation of a brand development project,’ ‘Best naming strategy,’ and ‘Best brand architecture solution.’

“The Transform Awards has grown every year and in 2020 we saw a phenomenal growth. The work we celebrated was sent in before Covid-19, which changed everything. We face a major recalibration of the way we relate to the brands, the businesses and the organisations that touch our lives. Those talents that drive the transformative power of brand strategy and design have never been more important. We are so excited to receive the entries in our 2021 awardsprogramme, which I am sure will continue to challenge the norm and push creative boundaries” says Andrew Thomas, publisher of Transform magazine and founder of the Transform awards.

The entry process is straightforward and there is a helpful entry guide available here. For further questions, please contact the events team via +44 (0) 20 3950 5356 or email Catherine cpersson@transformmagazine.net

CONTENT

BEST USE OF A VISUAL PROPERTY; PHOTOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATION OR DIGITAL

This award is for the best use of imagery: graphic, still, video or digital, during a rebrand or brand development project.

BEST BRAND ARCHITECTURE SOLUTION

This category rewards the most efficient corporate organisational strategies developed for a brand.

BEST USE OF COPY STYLE/TONE OF VOICE

This award is for the brand that best uses a verbal style to reflect its overall identity and to differentiate the brand from its competitors.

BEST BRAND EXPERIENCE

This award recognises excellence in the experiential aspects of a brand or rebrand. Developments to a physical space, online portal or other location that enhance the user’s experience of a brand will be accepted.

BEST USE OF PACKAGING

This award recognises the company that most effectively communicates a brand’s positioning, values and visual identity via product packaging.

BEST WAYFINDING OR SIGNAGE

This award honours branded signage and wayfinding systems that have been strategically developed to be effective and reflective of the brand’s values and overall visual identity.

BEST USE OF AUDIO BRANDING

This award recognises companies that have employed an innovative use of sound in the development of their brand.

BEST USE OF TYPOGRAPHY

This award reflects the role that typography has played in a brand's journey. This could be where the typography is an actual component of a wordmark or where typography is used within the visual identity. Alternatively, this award could be given when visual identity and typography have been strategically aligned through an organisation’s brand guidelines.

BEST PLACE OR NATION BRAND

This award recognises the brand journey made by a nation or a place. Entries could be from national, regional, city or district level.

PROCESS

BEST EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS DURING A BRAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

This award is for the best communication with external stakeholders throughout the process of a rebrand or during a brand development project. Companies should recognise that progress requires measured communication with all external stakeholders.

BEST INTERNAL COMMUNICATION DURING A BRAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

This award recognises the importance of effective communication with the internal audience during a brand transformation. Employees should be engaged and informed about changes in a company’s positioning or brand strategy, ensuring the changes takes place evenly throughout the organisation.

BEST IMPLEMENTATION OF BRAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

This award is for the best execution of developments to or rebrand of an organisation. The coordinated rollout of a change helps to ensure a new identity has maximum impact on audiences

BEST IMPLEMENTATION OF A BRAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT ACROSS MULTIPLE MARKETS

This award is for brand development campaigns or rebrands that have been rolled out across multiple national markets to ensure that brand identity works across different languages and cultures.

BEST LOCALISATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BRAND

This award benchmarks the effort of an organisation at bringing a global brand to the MENA region, making it relevant to the local markets.

STRATEGY

BEST CREATIVE STRATEGY

This award is for the best creative, thought-out, aligned strategy behind the repositioning of a brand.

BEST BRAND EVOLUTION

This award is for the brand that best moves its identity into the future while maintaining links with the past and evolving in a clear and creative way.

BEST STRATEGIC/CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW BRAND

This award is for the company that has adopted a strategic or creative approach when developing its new brand in order to differentiate the brand or the company amongst its competitors or within its sector.

BEST DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW BRAND WITHIN AN EXISTING BRAND PORTFOLIO

This category rewards companies that develop a new brand within their portfolio of brands. As well as acknowledging the strategy and development of the new brand the judges will also look to see what the development adds to the existing corporate or master brand.

BEST NAMING STRATEGY

This award honours innovation in naming. It is for the most appropriate new name for a new brand, rebrand or brand extension or where an organisation can demonstrate a clear and well thought through naming strategy.

TYPE

BEST CORPORATE REBRAND FOLLOWING A MERGER OR ACQUISITION

This award is for the best rebrand of an organisation following a merger with another company or the incorporation of another company into the original brand.

BEST BRAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT TO REFLECT CHANGED MISSION/VALUES/POSITIONING

This award is for the best repositioning of an organisation to reflect a new approach to its business.

BEST BRAND CONSOLIDATION

This award is for the most effective alignment of individually branded elements and sub-brands of an organisation.

BEST REBRAND OF A DIGITAL PROPERTY

This award is for the best rebrand across the digital and online assets of an organisation, including its websites and apps.

SECTOR

BEST VISUAL IDENTITY FROM:

This award is for the best identity developed and used by a brand, including all visual aspects of a rebrand from logo to typeface in the brand’s sector.