With awards the more you get, the more you get
Following recent controversy surrounding entries to the Cannes Lions awards Eaon Pritchard argues until we have a better way to evaluate the merits of agencies than awards all agencies will be highly incentivised to do whatever it takes to win .
Advertising’s outcomes are notoriously hard to measure. Which is why in advertising agencies, we love to measure outputs instead.
Agency outputs (ie creativity, ingenuity, technical wizardry and planning cleverness) are far easier to evaluate than the contributions that the work agencies do has to actual business outcomes.
Despite this clients will often clamour for performance based remuneration deals from their agencies. Some agencies even claim to offer this. How they can do this is unclear.
True. Creative awards are a pretence about the fraternity of the industry around friendly competition. The reality is more like a war.
I was part of a screening for a agency pitch for a top 10 spending client.
The criteria were: Relevant category experience of key people-especially creative, tenure of their service and stability of the agency.
No one asked about awards.
The belief that awards somehow lead to new businesses is a fallacy touted by award networks who already have them by the truck loads and award organizers.
Awards are like huge boobs.
Yes they will get you noticed.
Some are born with them.
Others pay to get them fixed.
Bottomline is that it’ss no measure of much milk they can produce.
Which I believe is what nature intended.
If agencies keep crying for partnership and respect, stop behaving like eye candy at a bar.
Ad agencies need Awards to get noticed, to get on pitch list. Creatives, planners, designers need awards to get promoted, to move on in their career. The advertising world created the need that certain people are criticising right now.
How could we be judge otherwise? On pure effectiveness? If it was the case my EDM offering movie tickets for a mobile operator will have won gold in 2009… ( it did won an obscure effectiveness award )
Like Terry Savage said: “It is the Cannes International Festival of Creativity as clearly headlined in the name of the event.”
So get creative.
“You’ve gotta be in it to win it.” (The Rouse Hill Times that is.)
Can’t wait for the piece on the ‘ineptitude of market researchers’…strong words, sounds fascinating.
@Welcome, u r 100% correct
“The belief that awards somehow lead to new businesses is a fallacy touted by award networks who already have them by the truck loads and award organizers”.
as an advertiser with a brain, i pay no attention to awards – just the smarts of the team who’ll be on my job
One thing is for sure, awards nights are all about getting drunk and abusing the competition.
@mark@quirk mea culpa, a sweeping generalisation. There are some in mrx doing a good scientific job. Just not many.
@Eaon. No argument from me on that. Even though I’m a market researcher, I am always – seriously – happy to hear other people’s criticism. So, I’d still like to hear your thoughts!
We like to think we are the centre of the world but AUS/NZ makes up three fifths of F all for revenue in global networks and the real players in the game need the guys at Saatchi / DDB / JWT Sydney to increase the clout on a global level in NY or London.
To NY, Australia is Minnesota, a test market at best.