Dell Bags Gold Effie Award in Sri Lanka

Dell was named winner of the Gold Effie Award at the recent Effie Sri Lanka Awards Show organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM). Presented at the Water’s Edge in Colombo on February 27, 2015, the award is a testament to Dell’s outstanding strategy and execution of the Dell Power Circle campaign.

The campaign, which ran from February to August 2014, was targeted towards empowering university students in Sri Lanka. It aims to foster a mindset amongst young peopleto help them understand that they have the potential to positively impact their society and environment.

Lackshmindra Fernando, country manager, Dell Sri Lanka said, “This campaign is an excellent representation of our corporate philosophyof giving back to the society and our environment. As business leaders, it is in our best interest to influence young people to identify a problem within their community that they want to resolve and create sustainable changesthat drivepositive impact for the future. We are delighted to have won the prestigious Effie awards and hope to continue to this momentum to impact change to the Sri Lanka community.”

“We embarked on this project to inspire young individuals who are passionate about taking up the challenge of changing the world. Since we started, we have successfully reached approximately 17,500 students in five universities and institutes in the Colombo District. We are proud to be working with some of Sri Lanka’s bright and innovative young minds to lead the change in the community,” said Tharanga Jayakody, marketing manager, Dell Sri Lanka.

Dell also won the “Most Effective Brand of the Year” award, the newest introduction to the overall Effie awards program. This award highlights Dell Sri Lanka’s marketing effectiveness and positions Dell as the most successful brand in the market for the creation of ideas that delivers results.

The Effie Awards organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) and the 4 A’s annually, has only presented one other gold award in the history of the Sri Lankan Effie Awards. The Effie Awards, which adheres to global standards, recognizes and rewards the most effective marketing campaigns in the country. The awards are judged by an imminent panel of judges who have experience in the marketing and advertising sectors.

Dell Power Circle Campaign

The Dell Power Circle campaign was developed by Benchmark Innovation based on an age old practice of university students called the ‘kuppiya’ where groups of students traditionally gather together round a table to conduct study sessions. Dell together with Benchmark Innovation used this insight as a springboard to develop a plan to bond with students, using something they were familiar with, whilst introducing the power of technology to achieve more.

Dell Power Circle is a multi-pronged campaign that consists of a number of other segments including Dell Power Talk, Dell Power Pitch, Dell Power Ambassadors and Dell Power Cards. The Dell Power Talk and Power Pitch segments were mainly targeted at empowering and motivating student entrepreneurs. As part of this segment Dell supported three selected students with funds to bring their entrepreneurial ideas to life.