In this age of increasing competition, advertising has become an essential tool for firms to communicate with the consumers and market their products. Despite various arguments for and against advertising, it is now well accepted that advertising is necessary for the proper functioning of a modern economy and and has become one of its prominent features. Advertising grows with the growth of economic activities of any nation. Increasing advertising spending indicates vibrancy in an economy and reflects confidence of the business community and the consumers.

Advertising industry in Nepal has relatively a short history.  As most of the industries in the past had monopoly or near monopoly market structures, many firms did not realize the need for advertising and considered advertising expenses as additional financial burden for them. Advertising agencies in the early days were simply like “release offices” collecting advertisements from the clients and getting those inserted in the newspaper or get them broadcast from the radio for a commission. There were very few daily and weekly newspapers and no FM stations. Almost all advertisements and commercials used to be designed and prepared in India and abroad. Commercials and slides were exhibited as trailers in cinema halls. Most of the advertising agencies were run in small rooms with very few staff. Some agencies even operated their activities single handedly with the office confined to the pockets of their owner/proprietors. The whole advertising industry was much fragmented and unorganized. Disappearance of the agency and non-payment of the dues to the newspaper publishers and radio operator was common problem.

Advertising industry in Nepal has changed since then. Although in recent years there has been many ups and downs in the advertising business due to the political instability and shrinkage in economic activities, advertising industry in Nepal has grown substantially over the period of last three decades . Due to the liberal policy of the government industries in Nepal have become highly competitive. The competitive landscapes of industries like banking, airlines, hotel, health, transport, confectionary, noodles, brewery etc. have changed a lot. Besides, Nepali consumers have also become more sophisticated and knowledgeable due to their global exposure and increase in the literacy level. Various factors like phenomenal growths in radio stations, newspapers, and television channels, the growing popularity of cable television and satellite broadcasting, progress in computer technology, increasing use of Internet and World Wide Web have also contributed to the growth of advertising industry in the recent years.

All these have forced Advertising agencies to become more professionalized and are more creative than in the past. Most of the advertising agencies today have built their own infrastructure and facilities to provide a wide range of services. They handle campaigns and provide counseling to their clients. They act as long-term partners of their clients. One of the positive aspects of advertising industry in Nepal is the entry of young professionals into this field. With their ingenuity, creativity and perseverance these professional have made the advertising business a respectable profession in the country.

The advertising industry is undergoing a major change throughout the world mainly due to the digital revolution  and been full of challenges. Online advertising is getting speedier and smarter. Digital advertising  on websites, mobile devices and the like is picking up. Media  websites such as Google are increasingly selling their slots directly to advertising clients. Many online advertisements are being sold and bought automatically with real time bidding. This is changing the way advertising agencies establish their relationships with their clients. With this development advertisers no longer need to contact various publishers to fined rates and consult the client before placing the order.  In the countries like the US advertisers specify the audience they want to reach and the rate they are willing to pay. Then they use advertisement “exchanges” to buy space on the websites that fit their requirements in a fraction of minute. Although   this may be little far for the advertisers in Nepal, they should be aware of this changing scenario and prepare for this.

This changing scenario of the advertisement industry clearly indicates that the advertisers need to be more creative and innovative in the years to come. With a view to foster creativity and innovativeness among the advertisers, Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN) started Crity Award in 2060. The primary objective of the Award is to encourage Nepali Advertising Agencies to be more creative and innovative focusing on their originality in idea and presentations and recognize their achievements publicly through the Awards. In 1960, seventeen agencies participated filing 118 nominations under five different categories. In 2071, 32 agencies filed nominations for 335 entries in 23 different categories.

The selection process for the Award starts with the invitation for advertising agencies to file nominations for their entries in different categories for the Award. The whole process of selection for the award takes place under the careful and active supervision by the Judging Committee. The members of the Judging Committee are selected on the basis of their experience, competencies and contributions to the society in their fields. The Judging committee decides on the number of categories , criteria for selection and the evaluation process. Once AAN receives the nominations for entries by the advertising agencies, the Judging Committee  forms Jury committees for each categories and select the members of each committee on the basis of expertise, experience and contribution made by the individual. In the current 8th Crity Awards, #2 jury members were selected to work  on the 232 categories contested. The Jury members meet separately  in the premises and evaluates the entries  on different dates  agreed upon as per the convenience of the members. It took about 9 days for the Jury members to select the best five and the Winners for each category for the 8th Crity Award. In the process of selecting the winners, the involvement of office bearers of AAN is kept almost to zero except for the arrangement of logistics. Much emphasis is placed on making the awards unbiased and credible.

Crity Award is a positive step of AAN towards recognizing the creativity and innovativeness of advertising agencies in Nepal.