Goals: Direct Hit 2008 Best DM-Project Contest (hereinafter referred to as «the Contest») shall be held for the purpose of attracting attention of direct -marketing services clients and customers to authors of innovative projects; encouragements of a creative approach in communications; direct-marketing industry development.

Organizer: OS-Direct DM-Agency.

Regional Contest Partners: Partners on holding the Contestare representatives of Organizers in their regions. The partners of the Contest act in the framework of these Regulations and have the following powers: informing participants of the Contest on the Contest terms, acceptance of applications for participation and payments for participation in the Contest. The list of Partners in the regions is given on the website of the organizers: http://www.dmdays.com.ua/.

Participation Terms: only projects executed using direct-marketing instruments and which took no part in the Contest before shall be accepted for participation in the Contest. Participating in the Contest shall be paid. Organization fee for participation per project shall be an equivalent of EUR 70 (including taxes).

Contest Term: November 01, 2007 – May 01, 2008. Public defense of projects having reached the finals shall take place in the framework of Direct Marketing Days in Ukraine on May 28, 2008.

Contest Jury: the Jury shall consist of at least 8 Ukrainian and foreign experts. The Jury shall be headed by the Chairman of the Jury having the right of decisive vote in case of equal distribution of votes. Jury members shall not score the work, if it is executed by their company or with their assistance.

Categories of the Contest:

• Direct mail ?2?
• Direct mail ?2?
• Projects based on Contact-centre
• DM using interactive channels (web, SMS, ?-mail, iVR, DRTV)
• Distance trade
• Comprehensive DM-projects
• DM in comprehensive advertising campaigns

One and the same work may be simultaneously submitted to several categories.

Contest Awards:

Grand Prix of 2008 Direct Hit International Open Contest:to beawarded to the best project of the Contest. The holder of the Grand Prix shall be selected by the Jury by simple majority out of the projects being ranked the 1^st in their categories. The author of the project awarded the Grand Prix shall be invited to the Jury of 2009 Direct Hit Contest.

Direct-Marketing Black Belt: to beawarded to the projects being ranked 1^st in their Contest categories. The authors of the projects (developer companies) being ranked the 2^nd and the 3^rd in their categories shall receive the corresponding Diplomas of 2008 Direct Hit International Open Contest.

Audience Choice Award:duringthe public review, the attendees shall evaluate the works using the same method as the Jury members. Based on filled in protocols, the organizers shall determine the average score of each project. The project assigned the highest score by the audience of DMIT conference shall receive the title «Audience Choice Award of 2008 Direct Hit Contest» and the relevant Diploma.

Special Diplomas: may be awarded to any work submitted to the Contest, but not being compulsory.

• For originality
• For the best loyalty program
• For the best low budget campaign
• For the best advertising message text
• For the best design and polygraphy

Special diplomas may be awarded by collegial decision of the Jury members. All participants of 2008 Direct Hit Contest having received special diplomas shall be invited to the awarding gala party.

At the time of public defense, works may be awarded special diplomas and prizes from DM Days partners and sponsors.

Work Evaluation Stages: evaluation of contest works shall be performed in 2 stages:

Stage 1. Preliminary evaluation. On May 01, 2008 to May 15, 2008, the Jury shall evaluate the projects submitted to the Contest on a remote basis with reference to 5 criteria (the maximal score is 5). Based on protocols filled in by the Jury members, the Organizers shall form a consolidated evaluation datasheet controlled by the independent board of observers.

One project from each category having received the highest score shall be admitted to public defense (final). Among other projects, regardless the category, 14 more projects having received the highest score shall be also selected.

The consolidated evaluation datasheet specifying the projects selected for the final shall be placed on the website: http://www.dmdays.com.ua/.

Stage 2. Public defense of the project. Project developers having reached the final shall be entitled to make a 15-minutes’ public presentation of the project on May 28, 2008 in the framework of the DM Days in Ukraine. Based on final scores, the Jury shall determine winners. The Jury’s decision may not be contested. The results of the Contest shall be placed on the website: http://www.dmdays.com.ua/ in official press-releases.

All winners of 2008 Direct Hit Contest shall be invited to the awarding gala party.

Evaluation Criteria of Submitted Projects:

Distinction and innovation. Original use of communication methods, creativity in DM project components and communications.

Addressee motivation. Addressee impact of the motivation, goal compliance. The campaign result (response) is the single most important evaluation criterion.

Communicative scheme. Distinction, efficiency, and goal compliance.

Response registration system and database organization. Project efficiency of the response registration system (response forms, calls, site visits), organization of data entry in the database (DB), prevention of information distortion, DB settings to provide follow-up on the addressees.

Project Graphics. Distinction of the campaign graphics design, their compliance with the project goals. No score will be given to projects without graphics.

Requirements to Contest works:

• The project shall be provided in the form of a multimedia presentation (Power Point) and a brief description of the project in accordance with the form suggested by the organizers (see at http://www.dmdays.com.ua/).
• The project may be provided in English, Ukrainian, Russian.
• Physical elements of the DM-campaign (sample letters, envelopes, return forms etc.) are advisable for public presentation.

Special category for journalists: DM: Journalist’s View

Participation in this category is free of charge!

Articles may be submitted to the Contest by a journalist personally, by editorial staff of the edition, by a reader on November 01, 2007 to May 06, 2008. Article shall mean journalistic material (2 to 40 thousand signs in Russian or Ukrainian) published in mass media, Internet, or written for the Contest.

The Jury members shall study the articles submitted to the Contest on a remote basis. The Jury members shall determine the winner and awardees by simple majority. «Translated» articles and «summary-like abstract» articles telling over any foreign press articles, advertising articles shall not be scored.

Title «Best Direct-Marketing Article»: to be awarded to the author of the best (in the opinion of the Jury) article on direct marketing first published in 2004-2008. The author of the best direct marketing article shall receive a prize.

The Jury members may also award special prizes: «best database article», «best loyalty system article», «best direct mail article», «best call-center and telemarketing article».

• Authors of prize journalistic works shall receive free-of-charge accreditation for special events of 2009 Direct Marketing Days in Ukraine, where they will be able to find new subjects and interesting material for further writing of articles.
• All articles submitted to the Contest shall be announced on the website of Reklamaster Advertising Portal, partner of the Contest (www.reklamaster.com)

At the time of evaluating the articles, the Jury shall take into consideration the level of the article’s content compliance with the DM problems, knowledge of the direct marketing area; completeness of the specific problem coverage, availability of summaries; exposition style.

Information distribution: information on participants, their details, projects submitted to the Contest shall be open and may be distributed by organizers, including distribution on a commercial basis. Participants of the Contest shall grant the right to organizers to reproduce the submitted works in the framework of the Direct Marketing Days’ in Ukraine for the purposes of its advertising.

Contacts: for participation in the Contest, preparation of a brief and presentation, and methodological assistance, please contact the Organizing Committee:
Tel. (+38 044) 492-70-42, 490-90-88; e-mail: dh@dmdays.com.ua