| Clio Awards | |
|---|---|
 The Clio Awards logo | |
| Awarded for | Creative excellence in advertising and design |
| Country | Worldwide |
| Presented by | Evolution Media |
| Established | 1959 |
| First award | 1960; 65 years ago (1960) |
| Website | clios.com |
TheClio Awards, also simply known asThe Clios, is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence inadvertising,design, andcommunication, as judged by an international panel ofadvertising professionals. The awards are presented byEvolution Media.
The Clios has several awards programs alongside the larger Clio Awards that recognize creative marketing efforts in specific industries:Clio Cannabis,Clio Entertainment,Clio Fashion & Beauty,Clio Health,Clio Music, andClio Sports. One work in each media type may be awarded theGrand Clio, the highest honor.
Time magazine, in 1991, described the event as the world's most recognizable international advertising awards.
The awards, founded byWallace A. Ross in 1959, are named for the Greek goddessClio, the mythologicalMuse known as "the proclaimer, glorifier and celebrator of history, great deeds and accomplishments."[1]
Originally presented by theAmerican Radio and TV Commercials Festival, the parent company for the Clios, also founded and directed by Ross,[2] the first Clios were awarded in 1960 for excellence in U.S. television advertising. Each winner received a goldGeorg Olden–designed statuette. The competition was expanded to include work on international television and cinema in 1966, and then U.S. radio ads in 1967.[1]
The Clio Awards were acquired by Bill Evans in 1971 forUS$150,000[3] (equivalent to $1,127,566 in 2024) and became a "for profit" company.[1] Over the next two decades the company's income grew to $2.5 million per year, derived primarily from Clio nomination fees, of $70 to $100 per entry.[4]
Evans expanded competition by including U.S. print advertising in 1971, international print advertising in 1972, international radio advertising in 1974, U.S. packaging design in 1976, international packaging design and U.S. specialty advertising in 1977, U.S. cable in 1983, and Hispanic competition in 1987.[1]
The rules for the 1984 award required that a given entry appear publicly during the calendar year in 1983. In order to be eligible,Chiat/Day needed to runApple Computer's "1984" commercial (directed byRidley Scott) for theMacintosh computer prior toSuper Bowl XVIII. In December 1983, Apple purchased time onKMVT inTwin Falls, Idaho, after the normal sign-off, and recorded the broadcast in order to qualify.[5]
In 1984, a nearly identical situation occurred whenDoyle Dane Bernbach, the ad agency forZiebart, purchased time on aDetroit channel carrying the inauguralCherry Bowl college football game in December in order for Ziebart's "Friend of the Family (Rust in Peace)" commercial to be eligible for the awards the following year. The commercial won the Clio Award in 1985.[6]
The 1988 awards were aired on television onFOX and hosted byDavid Leisure on December 7, 1988.[7]
Attendees of the 1991 Clio Awards who had paid the $125 admission price did not have tickets waiting at the door, as promised. Also missing was Clio President Bill Evans.
The caterer of the event announced that themaster of ceremonies was considered a no-show, but that he would attempt to stand in as the host. He informed the audience that the winners list had been lost. Print ads were the first awards; transparencies of the winning entries were displayed, sometimes backwards or out of focus. As each image appeared on screen, the owner of the work was asked to come to the stage, pick up their Clio, and identify themselves and their agency. Eventually, advertising executives, intent on the Clios that remained, rushed the stage and grabbed any that had not been claimed.[4][3]
The event for television commercials, scheduled a few days later, was called off.[4][3]
On March 17, 1992, Clio Enterprises Inc., filed for bankruptcy, claiming $1.8 million in debts and indeterminate assets of at least $1 million.[8]Chicago publisherRuth Ratny purchased the Clio name for an undisclosed figure. Evans had wanted $2 million, and trade publications reported a sale price of $10,000, which Ratny called low. Ratny reorganized the event as theNew Clio Awards, and combined what had previously been two events into a single presentation, which was delayed from June until September 1992.Advertising Age magazine reported 6,000 entries, less than one quarter of the 1990 total. As a concession to the 1991 winners who had not yet received the trophies, their entry fee was waived. The 1990 award show at theLincoln Center for the Performing Arts drew 1,800, while only 500 paid for the 1992 show at theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel,[3] which was hosted byTony Randall. A total of 86 awards in 73 categories were handed out.[9] Another major change with the "New" Clios was direct competition between U.S. and foreign firms, which resulted in Swiss agency Comsult/Advico Young & Rubicam being named the winner of the best Television campaign.[10]
A bankruptcy court ruled that the creditors of the 1991 Clio Awards should be paid. At the time, Ratny lacked the financial resources to settle the $600,000 debt. Another Chicagoan, former film editor James M. Smyth, put up the money and became sole owner of the Clio Awards. On New Year's Eve of 1992, Smyth began working on the 1993 show.[11][12] The award ceremony was again delayed until September, andJay Chiat ofTBWA\Chiat\Day, Rick Fizdale fromLeo Burnett Worldwide and Keith Reinhard atDDB Worldwide joined the Clio Executive Committee.[13]
In 1997, the Clios were sold to Dutch-owned companyVNU Media;[4]Andrew Jaffe atAdweek managed the acquisition.[14]
In 2007, VNU changed its name to theNielsen Company.[4]
In 2009,e5 Global Media assumed control of Clio, when it acquired magazinesAdweek andBillboard, among others, from Nielsen Business Media.[15][unreliable source?]
In 2010, Nicole Purcell was appointed executive director of Clio and Brooke Levy was hired to run marketing for the organization. In 2015, Purcell was promoted to president.[16]
In 2014, the Clio Awards absorbedThe Hollywood Reporter'sKey Art Awards (created in 1971 byTichi Wilkerson) to celebrate marketing and communications in the entertainment business. In 2017, it was renamed the Clio Entertainment Award.[17][18]
In 2020, the Clios were postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[17]
The Clios are an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel ofadvertising professionals.[19][20]
In 2007, Clio stated that the competition received more than 19,000 entries from all over the world and enlisted a jury of more than 110 judges from 62 countries. Nearly two-thirds of the submissions came from outside the United States.[citation needed]
In 2014, Clio assembled a 50/50 male-female jury, of which 75% were international (non-US) judges.[citation needed] 2014 was also the year Clio began holding judging sessions internationally. The 2014 session took place inMalta, and the 2015 session inTenerife, Spain.
According to the Clio Awards website, more than 80% of submissions are eliminated within the first two rounds. Juries then determine whether a work deserves to be included on the Shortlist, or receive a Bronze, Silver, or Gold medal. One work in each media type may be awarded the Grand Clio, the highest honor.[citation needed]
In 1991Time magazine described the event as the world's most recognizable international advertising awards.[4]
In 2017, theIndiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive acquired the Clio Awards Collection from the London International Awards, the organization that purchased the collection from the Clio organization in 1992.[27] Composed of thousands of reels of16 mm and35 mm film, the collection contains Clio entries and winners from the 1960s through the early 1990s across a wide variety of categories.[28] International submissions are also included in the collection.[27]