GENERAL CREATIVE REQUIREMENTS

Creative materials are required to include a creative reel and images.

Your creative work is scored as part of Scoring Section 3: Bringing the Strategy & Idea to Life, along with your answers to the questions in Section 3 and in the Investment Overview sections of the written Entry Form.

Judges review the creative reel after reading the written case.  Review the Creative Requirements | Entrant Guidance for judge recommendations regarding the creative reel and images.

If your creative materials contain work executed in a language other than Ukrainian, a translation must be entered in the “Translation” field under the Creative Materials section of the online entry portal. Additionally, all creative reels are required to include English subtitles.

CREATIVE REEL

The focus of the reel should be the creative work for the entered case. You don’t need to feature all of the items selected in the touchpoints checklist (from the Investment Overview), only those integral to the case’s success that are explained in your written case. Any set-up on the reel (re: context, challenge) should not impede the judges’ ability to have a clear understanding of the creative work as the audience would have experienced it.  ​

Judges recommend that, at minimum, 70% of the reel is spent showing examples of creative work the audience experienced, or other materials created to bring the idea to life internally or externally.  Judges review the creative reel after reading the written case.  

New in 2026: 

Entrants now have the option to include results in the creative reel. This update offers the opportunity for richer, more comprehensive storytelling, showcasing all forms of marketing effectiveness.

Updated description and guidance: 

Provide a three (3) minute maximum reel (4 minutes for Sustained Success). The reel should show your integral creative work as the audience would have experienced it. You can provide explanation, including results, as long as it does not take time away from showing the work.

Explanation and results are not required, and any results must also be in the written case.

Do not include any confidential information in the creative reel, as it will be shown publicly if your case is an Effie finalist and winner, and edits cannot be made after submission.

Must include: 

• The original creative work for the entered case that ran in the territory and eligibility time period for the competition. 
• At least one complete example of each integral touchpoint, as it ran, to ensure that the judges can see the breadth of the work you've described. It can be helpful to label each creative example by media type (“Outdoor”, “Social”, etc.)
• Work over 60 seconds may be edited down for time; but entrants are encouraged to keep as close to the original as possible. 
• If showing multiple examples of a touchpoint (e.g. 3x TV spots), after you show one example in full, it’s fine to edit down the additional examples for time.

Do not include: 

• Agency names, logos, images unless they were part of the creative work.
• Competitor creative work or logos.  (Exception: permitted if competitor logos/work were included in your campaign materials.)
• Editing that will misconstrue what your audience viewed (e.g. changing the audio during a TV spot).
• Any confidential information, as creative reels will become public for finalists & winners.

Technical Requirements:

• 1 creative reel per entry
• 3 minute maximum (Sustained Success entries can be 4 minutes)
• 150 MB maximum file size
• mp4 format
• High Resolution: 16:9 at 1920x1080.
• Do not include any agency names/logos in the video or in the file name.
• It is helpful to label each creative example by media type (“Outdoor”, “Social”, etc.)
• Sustained Success:  Creative examples from three or more years are required, with labelling of the year/time period on the creative reel and images.

Talent / Licensing  

• Do not add music/stock images that did not run in your original creative work to your reel unless you secure the rights to include those supplemental materials and they do not cause confusion with or take time away from showing the integral creative work. 
• Effie honors effective marketing ideas and the successful teams (advertiser and agency) creating them. If your case is a finalist or winner, the creative work (reel and images) will be published.  

CREATIVE IMAGES

Images of the Creative Work: 2 images required; 6 images maximum

When the judges have read your case and watched the reel, they’ll review images of your work. The images uploaded should complement your reel and help the judges better evaluate the image-based creative elements that ran in front of your audience. It can be helpful to provide images of work best seen as a still image (e.g. website, print ad, direct mail piece, etc.) or you may wish to upload work that you’d like judges to have another look at after watching the reel.

This is an opportunity to showcase your creative work:

• Highlight elements that are better seen as a still image vs. video format.
• Draw further attention to key element you wish to highlight

Technical Requirements: ​ 

• .jpg format​
• High-res. 15 MB max
• It is helpful to label each creative example by media type (“Outdoor”, “Social”, etc.)
• Do not include agency names or logos on any creative materials (including file names) you submit unless they were included in the work that ran.
• Sustained Success:  Indicate time period the work ran as part of the labeling.

Creative images will be shown publicly if your case is a finalist or winner. 
 

PUBLICITY MATERIALS

By submitting your entry, you are agreeing for your entry materials to be used as detailed in the Effie Awards Authorization Form. You must ensure you have all rights and consent to enable your entry material to be used as set out therein, including (but not limited to):

• submitting the entry materials to a jury for judging;
• having the entry materials included in a data set for Effie research purposes that do not breach any confidentiality obligations we may owe you; and
• the use, publication and screening of Winner and Finalist materials by Effie, its affiliates, partners and authorized third parties.  

Unless you are a winner or a finalist, or you have elected to grant us further publication or use rights, your entry materials will be used in aggregate form only.

Where you are a Competition winner or finalist, or you are not but you have elected to grant us these rights, your materials (which means: your creative work; a public summary; a public statement of effectiveness, the back-end data provided with the case, and a written case approved for publication by you in line with your publishing permissions) may be published and/or used by us, our partners, affiliates or other organizations associated with, or authorized, by us. This includes but is not limited to: (a) publishing such materials in Effie’s Case Library and upon other partner websites and/or publications; (b) using such materials to promote the Competition; (c) analyzing the materials to create reports or commentaries on particular types or categories or entries; and (d) displaying materials at public or private presentations. We will respect your chosen publication preferences for your written case. Your materials should not contain any confidential information as they may be used however we deem fit. Review the Effie Awards Authorization Form, which includes our Competition Terms, in the Entry Portal for full details.

The creative work and publicity materials will be published if your case is a finalist or winner.

In extraordinary circumstances, Effie will review requests to submit an edited reel for publication. Such requests should be submitted if the case becomes a finalist, as non-finalist creative reels are only seen by judges and will not be published.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS: PUBLICITY

Entrants are required to provide the publicity materials below at the time of entry.

PRIMARY PUBLICITY IMAGE
This should be an image of the work that best represents your case. This image will be the primary image of the work for publicity and promotional purposes if the case is a finalist or winner.​
​
Specs: High-res jpg, 15 MB max.​

LEAD AGENCY & CLIENT LOGOS​
Please provide current company logos for the Lead Agency and Client. Logos are not required for companies designated as Contributing Companies.​ These will appear on screen at the gala if you’re one of our winners, so please make sure the logos are current and hi res.

Specs: High-res, ai/eps preferred; jpg also accepted.​

CREATIVE EXAMPLES FROM JUDGING​
​The Creative Work provided for judging (reel + images) will also be used for publicity purposes.​

PUBLIC CASE SUMMARY
In 90 words, provide a summary of your case with no confidential information included.

STATEMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS
In 15 words or less, provide a statement that exemplifies the results of the case, ensuring no confidential information is included.

TEAM PHOTO (Optional)
Team photos may be featured publicly online and during the Effie Awards Ukraine Awards Ceremony. Photos may include joint client-agency teams or separate photos of the agency and client teams.

You may upload up to one photo for the primary agency and one photo for the primary client. If your entry includes a second lead agency or a second client, additional photos may be uploaded. A maximum of four (4) images may be submitted per entry.

Technical Specifications: 300 dpi, high resolution, CMYK format, 100% scale, maximum file size 15 MB per image.