Fifty-five entries recognized at 2005 ad awards competition.

• Position: MARKETING edge

What are the trends in bank advertising? A good way to find out is to look at the results of the 2005 Ad Awards contest, which is sponsored by the ABA Marketing Network. The names of 55 winners in the 33rd annual competition were announced last month at the ABA Marketing Conference in South Beach, Fla.

The contest is an opportunity for marketers to keep tabs on the best creative being produced by financial institutions around the nation. It is also a chance for marketers and their teams to be recognized for quality work.

Members of the Marketing Network receive a price reduction on contest entries. In addition, marketers who attend the annual conference have an opportunity to preview the winning entries. Marketing materials submitted by each of the winners will be published during the upcoming year in ABA Bank Marketing magazine. (See the "Idea Bank" in this issue.)

This year, 390 entries were submitted. Ten entries were singled out for special recognition, including the "Best of Show" designation. Nine of those 10 entries were also designated as the "Best of the Best." Forty-five entries received "Certificates of Excellence." Judges noted a trend toward customer-service themes in ads targeted both at small-business and retail markets. In addition, there was a strong multimedia winner that dealt with educating customers about the timely issue of identity fraud.

The contest covered advertising or marketing materials that were printed or broadcast during calendar year 2004.

Below is a list of winning entries by category.

Best of Show (Selected from the Best of the Best)

Bank of the Cascades, Bend, Ore., (asset size: $250 million to $1 billion), category: multimedia, "Everything's Possible."

Judges Special Recognition (Selected from the Best of the Best)

Alpine Bank, Glenwood Springs, Colo., (asset size: $1 billion to $5 billion), category: multimedia, "Alpine Swines Project for Literacy."

Behavior LLC (agency), New York, for J.P. Morgan Chase, New York, (asset size: over $5 billion), category: website/e-commerce, "Chase Fraud Detector Demo."

Best Use of Humor

Mintz & Hoke (agency), Avon, Conn., for Connecticut Bank & Trust, Hartford, Conn. (assets: under $250 million), category: TV single, "Geno Auriemma Campaign-Tongs--Incentives"

Best of the Best

Biggs-Gilmore (agency), Kalamazoo, Mich., for Wilmington Trust, Wilmington, Del. (asset size: over $5 billion), category: print single, "Impossible?"

North Middlesex Savings Bank, Devens, Mass...