This year's judges find that the simplest ideas power the most effective advertisements in Ireland's important recruitment sector, writes Claire Shoesmith

Simplicity and clarity are key to creating an effective recruitment advertisement, according to Orlaith Blaney, managing director of McCann Erickson and one of the judges assessing the entries in this year's Cedar Awards, which recognise excellence in recruitment advertising.

Speaking at the awards ceremony last week, Ms Blaney said the six-strong panel of judges had had a tough time assessing the entries and choosing the winners, which included companies as wide-ranging as US computer giant Dell, restaurant chain Pizza Hut and pharmaceutical group Guidant.

All were propelled to their winning positions thanks to Irish advertising agencies Bell Advertising, Anderson Spratt Group, Rubicon Advertising and James Lavan and Associates.

Addressing the audience of recruiters, advertisers and company representatives gathered in Dublin's Westin Hotel last Friday, Maeve Donovan, managing director of The Irish Times, which hosts the annual event, said recruitment advertising continues to play an important part in the life of the newspaper.

She said the development of the group's nicemove.ie website last year had proved very successful and that it had become an excellent online advertising forum, averaging more than one million page impressions a month.The coming year will also be an exciting one for The Irish Times, she said, referring to the group's stake in the Metro newspaper that hit Dublin's streets last month.

"The purpose of Metro is to gain the attention of a particularly challenging young demographic," she said. "It brings them into the habit of using print publications, which we hope in time will migrate into paid press." While the decline of the print industry has been less severe in Ireland than in other parts of the world, Ms Donovan said it is important to be prepared.

The Cedar Awards, now in their 18th year, were divided into eight categories ranging from computers to sales and marketing and medical. Awards were presented to both the recruiting firm and the agency responsible for creating the winning adverts.

Commending all the winners, Ms Blaney said assessing the wide range of entries had made one thing clear. "The simpler and more single-minded the idea, the more powerful the advertisement," she said. "Clutter is something to be avoided."

The first winner to be announced was in the computer category, won by US technology group Dell, which employs about 4,000 people Ireland, for their advert appealing for developers. It was created by Dublin-based agency Bell Advertising, which took several of this year's awards.

In the general management category, an advert for managers at Pizza Hut featuring a pizza carton and the slogan "Think outside..." was named as the winner. Anderson Spratt Group created the advert for the multinational company.

Bell Advertising featured for the second time in the afternoon when their advertisement for State Street was named winner in the finance category.

Playing on both local and global aspects of State Street, one of Ireland's leading hedge fund service companies with offices in Dublin and Kilkenny and which is part of a larger corporation operating in 25 countries around the world, the advert shows a globe divided in half with the world on one side and a bail of hay on the other. The slogans are "The strengths of a worldwide network" and "The benefits of Kilkenny's pace of life."

In the engineering and technical category, Wyeth Medica Ireland came top for its advert created by Rubicon Advertising.

Berkley Recruitment Group, which places staff in the information technology, sales and marketing and pharmaceutical sectors from its Dublin and Cork offices, was named winner in the sales and marketing category for its advert for a sales manager for a call centre in Limerick. The advert was created by James Lavan Associates.

In the medical category, the winner was Guidant, a world-leader in the design and development of cardiovascular medical products, for its advert for five different positions.

It uses a picture of a young girl above the caption "Just one of the 4,320 lives you'll touch a day". This was created by Bell.

Bell featured for the fourth and final time in the afternoon with the announcement of the winner of the education category.

KPMG came out top with its advertisement for chief executive of the Waterford Institute of Technology Foundation, featuring an empty field under the caption "Ireland's next state-of-the-art campus. Can you make it happen?"

In the special merit series category, Altana Pharma was the winner with a series of adverts created by James Lavan and Associates for a range of positions at the Cork plant of the German pharmaceutical group.

The judging panel was chaired by Martin Cronin, chief executive of Forfás. The other judges were Tom Doherty, managing director of QMP/Publicis; Elizabeth Joyce, human resources director at Greenstar; Frank Kelly, human resources manager at Dublin City Council; and John McManus, business editor of The Irish Times.