The reaction at our company last summer when the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi asked whether we would be interested in joining an industry initiative to somehow celebrate the best in children’s advertising was similar to what I imagine takes place at a movie studio when a great script comes through the door.

We took one look at the idea and said, ‘yes.’

Response throughout the industry has been the same. It began with seven of the world’s biggest ad agencies that believed in this project passionately enough from the start that they were able to look beyond their everyday competitive environment and provide a sufficient base of support and encouragement to allow this awards show to happen.

The Founding Patron agencies are: Foote Cone & Belding, Grey Advertising, Griffin Bacal, J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Now, eight months and a lot of planning later, and with the additional commitment from three of the top children’s television networks and channels-Cartoon Network, Fox Kids Network and Nickelodeon-as Gold Sponsors, we are proud to announce the launch of The Golden Marble Awards.

As Joe Bacal, co-chairman and creative director of Griffin Bacal and the chief judge of the inaugural show, says, ‘Each year, millions of dollars are spent on advertising products to kids. Yet, the people who create these ads have gone largely unnoticed. The opportunity to recognize these individuals with their own special award is an exciting idea whose time has come.’

The first Golden Marble Awards will be presented this fall, on the evening of September 10, in New York City at an exciting new facility that is being completed at Chelsea Piers, the extensive sports and entertainment complex on Manhattan’s lower west side. The awards gala event, like its subject matter, will be fun and youthful and guaranteed to offer a few pleasant surprises.

It will also be industry-inclusive. We have emphasized from the outset that while the awards show will focus on advertising creative, the intent of this celebration is to foster a sense of pride and achievement among all those involved in developing the advertising product, including clients, agencies, media and the vast army of creative services talent.

To help meet that objective, we are broadening the occasion by launching at the same time a two-day conference that will explore issues related to advertising to children. The conference will differ from other events and seminars about kids by focusing exclusively on advertising to children and the many issues related directly to it. The conference will run September 9 and 10, concluding just before The Golden Marble Awards gala.

For this first year, The Golden Marble Awards are restricted to advertising developed for the U.S. and Canada. Our hope, however, is to expand the program to make it a worldwide celebration of children’s advertising in 1999, and to do the same with the conference content.

An important new date on the international children’s industry calendar of events has arrived.