Women take top honours in communications planning and implementation award

The graduates of the industry’s first ever advanced certificate in communications planning and implementation gathered in Belgrave Square, London to receive their awards from Moray MacLennan, IPA president and chairman (Europe) of M&C Saatchi

MacLennan, who congratulated the candidates, said that nearly 80% of those who started the course in March 2007 had successfully completed it and passed the exam. Of that number, 95 gained a pass with credit and 18 gained a pass with distinction.

The occasion marked the accomplishment of a new learning initiative first introduced by Stephen Woodford at the start of his IPA presidency in 2003. The Advanced Certificate (introduced alongside the Foundation Certificate and Excellence Diploma) is designed to provide a bridge from trainee to experienced practitioner in the challenging field of communications planning and implementation. It's also intended to encourage depth and breadth of understanding about the increasingly complex media world through practical and recent cases.

'Interestingly, some 75% of candidates came from media specialist agencies, while 25% came from across creative and digital agencies,' explained MacLennan. 'And further analysis reveals that even when we allow for the fact that more women than men took the qualification, there were more distinctions awarded to the women than the men. This is a trend we also found at Foundation Certificate level,' he adds.

'We're very glad to have had the opportunity to sponsor this great initiative over the years and see it blossom from an ambitious idea to a professional, examined qualification that's respected across the business. The IPA has brought solid recognition of planning and implementation skills to our industry,' says Henry Lawson, president, DDS.