The Digital Marketing Award, now in its 7th year, honoured 139 outstanding digital campaigns across 24 diverse categories. The grand award gala was hosted at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka on Saturday. Organized by Bangladesh Brand Forum, the event, presented by Meghna Group of Industries in association with The Daily Star, brought together more than 600 digital marketing and business professionals. Evolving global order brings risks and opportunities for Bangladesh, economist Wahiduddin tells BIDS Conference This year's edition received an impressive 1037 nominations across 24 categories, highlighting the growing significance of digital marketing in Bangladesh. Following a meticulous two-level jury process, where 10 jury panels consisting of 136 jurors shortlisted 453 campaigns and 115 category experts evaluated them in grand jury sessions, a total of 139 campaigns emerged victorious in Bronze, Silver, and Gold categories. In her welcome speech, Nazia Andaleeb Preema, Director & Creative Editor of Bangladesh Brand Forum, remarked on the evolving landscape of digital marketing, incorporating data, AI, and innovation. The awards ceremony, she noted, not only serves as recognition for outstanding efforts but also as a motivating call to push boundaries and excel in the dynamic digital marketing arena. No legitimate grounds to warrant economic sanctions against Bangladesh: BGMEA This year's awards included 71 Bronze, 49 Silver, and 19 Gold awards, with no Grand Prix recipients. Despite the absence of the top honor, the event celebrated the diverse and innovative campaigns that have shaped the digital marketing landscape in Bangladesh. Themed "Innovation and Disruption: Guiding Through the Digital Terrain," the summit explored the intricate dynamics of the digital marketing landscape, emphasizing the role of innovation in navigating disruptions. The summit featured four exclusive keynote sessions by globally renowned speakers, including Shihab Ahmad of Robi Axiata Ltd., Prasun Basu of Inteliphyle Ltd., Tara Yoon of Google APAC, and Bharat Avalani of Connecting the Dots, Malaysia. Panel discussions delved into crucial topics such as "Creating Engaging and Impactful Marketing Narratives in the Digital Era," "AI's Transformative Role in Media and Marketing," and "Unlocking Creative Potential - Guiding Through the Digital Terrain." Commerce Secretary slams onion price hike as irresponsible act of businesses The event's partners included Bangladesh Creative Forum, Inteliphyle, Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB), aamra Networks Limited, and Backpage PR. The summit and awards ceremony collectively served as a testament to the digital marketing industry's resilience, innovation, and commitment to navigating the challenges of a digitally transformed future.

Bangladesh Brand Forum hosted the ninth edition of the Digital Summit with the theme "Winning the Digital Age," at a city hotel Saturday. Four keynote sessions, four-panel discussions, two insight sessions, and one case study were presented at the summit. More than 350 professionals attended the summit. Along with some notable local experts, speakers from different regions of the world joined the event to share their knowledge and experiences. Nazia Andaleeb Preema, director and creative editor of Bangladesh Brand Forum, said: "The post-Covid reality has unveiled the true potential of a digital world in front of us. It's high time we cashed in on all the opportunities the superior digital ecosystem offers us." "But again, opportunities come with challenges. So the professionals and experts here have to lead meeting those challenges and filling the gaps." Read more: BBF’s 5th Digital Marketing Summit: Grasping the scope of ‘digital’ The daylong event shed light on important issues like the significance of data as the most underused asset of a marketer, the essentiality of long-term influencer partnerships for a brand, and how brands can explore the new horizon through marketing in the Metaverse. The ninth edition of the summit delved deep into the industry challenges allowing industry leaders to share multi-dimensional experiences and enable a platform to stage exclusive discussions on possible solutions, analyse digital trends, integrate technology and innovation, and develop industry guidelines to positively contribute to the digital media marketing industry. Mathieu Brunier, partner director of Mediam Group by Aleph, Kazi Monirul Kabir, country director of Httpool Bangladesh, Oliver Wilke, regional director of Eskimi South East Asia, and Solaiman Alam, chief digital and strategy officer of Grameenphone, presented their keynotes at the event. Read more: Httpool partners with Digital Summit 2020 Mathieu said: "Privacy matters because users care about it; 64 percent of users don't trust companies with their data. However, data is important for relevant and useful user experience."

Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF), in collaboration with the Cannes Lions and in association with The Daily Star, hosted the 11th edition of communication summit at a city hotel on Saturday.  This year the summit was themed “Creativity in  challenging times”.  The summit brought together global & leading industry professionals, decision-makers, thought leaders and communication industry enthusiasts under one roof, said a press release. They exchanged and shared their experiences on different aspects of communication. It also provided a multidisciplinary forum to present and discuss the most recent trends, strategies, challenges, and solutions in the field. In his Opening Speech, Shariful Islam, Founder & Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, said, “ Creativity during duress and challenge has opened up new possibilities, which will definitely change the mindset and outlook of different stakeholders to be more oriented and prepared for better outcomes and move ahead with sustaining ideas.” Read: BYLC launches development sector-focused career expo in Dhaka The keynote speakers for this year’s summit were: Tay Guan Hin, Group Chairman, BBDO, Singapore; Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, 82.5 Communications, Ogilvy Group; Syed Gousul Alam Shaon, Managing Director & Country Head, Grey Group Bangladesh and Dave McCaughan,Thought Leader and Storyteller, BIBLIOSEXUAL; Co-founder, Marketing Futures. Sumanto Chattopadhyay during his keynote speech said the more one goes beyond the narrow traditional definitions of advertising, finding ways of combining old media with new to interact with the consumer, the better one can build one’s brand. In another keynote session, Tay Guan Hin mentioned that with the future prospect and change how can we collide, and the drastic change is necessary. The summit was followed by “The 11th Edition of COMMWARD, Excellence in Creative Communications. It celebrated the creative excellence of brand communications in the country.    

Grameenphone has been presented with two accolades at the Bangladesh Retail Awards 2021 – the first-ever retail award endeavour organised by Bangladesh Brand Forum. The telecom operator received awards in the best use of technology and best retailer-others categories. The names of the winners were announced at a virtual event recently. READ: Grameenphone launches Bangladesh cricket team jersey campaign Aulad Hossain, acting CMO of Grameenphone said, "We are expanding our flagship stores to ensure best in class services are very close to the customers and at the same time, bringing more and more services in the digital interfaces to make things easier for customers and retailers. We have been incorporating more innovation and futuristic methods into our retail business." READ: Grameenphone partners with Wipro for advanced network management

Grameenphone's communication partners have won 28 awards at the 10th edition of "Commward," the flagship initiative of the Bangladesh Brand Forum that aims to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding marketing campaigns run by brands in Bangladesh. The telecommunications service provider's media agency, Asiatic Mindshare, won 13 awards, including one gold, six silvers, and as many bronzes. Grameenphone's creative agency Grey Advertising obtained gold for two of their campaigns along with two silvers and five bronzes; digital agency, Magnito Digital, won one gold award, along with three silvers and one bronze. Read: Grameenphone receives Asian Leadership Awards 2021 Also, production house Half Stop Down won bronze in the film category. In total, the telecom operator won four gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze awards in 14 out of 26 different categories. "Grameenphone is a brand that has been built by the trust of the customers and we have always focused on what matters most to our customers. I am delighted to see that this has been reflected and recognised again in this award," said Grameenphone Chief Marketing Officer Sajjad Hasib in a media statement. Read Grameenphone awarded for resolving highest cases through ADR The 10th Commward was different from the previous ones, as the nominations phase continued from May 1, 2019, till May 31, 2021. Despite the restrictions posed by the pandemic, this year, there were 1100+ nominations under 26 categories, and each of the category-winners was ranked in the ascending order of bronze, silver, gold, and Grand Prix. "Commward is a critical initiative of the Bangladesh Brand Forum to shape the brand-building ecosystem. The platform celebrates the most creative and impactful works every year. Grameenphone, since the beginning of Commward, has continued to produce powerful, impactful, and thought-provoking communication, which has impacted the company's brand equity and business," said Shariful Islam, founder and managing director of the Bangladesh Brand Forum. Read GP Explorers: 2nd batch graduates from Grameenphone's in-house skill academy

bKash has won the country's Best Brand Award for the second time in a row in a consumer survey conducted by Bangladesh Brand Forum.