Awards.


There are at least 39 award shows in advertising -- I actually counted them. In alphabetical order they are; the Ace Awards, the ADDYS, the District 2 ADDYS, the Ad Age BEST Awards, the AME International Awards, the ANDYS, the Art Director's Club, the A+ Awards, the Athenas, Auroras, CA Annual, Cannes Lion, the Caples, Clios, Creativity, Cresta, D&AD, Echo, Effie, Good Samaritan, Graphis, Icon, Interactive Media and Marketing, Kelly, Marcom, Mercury, Mobius, New York Festival, Obie, One Show, Portfolio, Print Regional Design, Reggie, Silver Microphone, Summit, Type Directors Club, Telly, and the Visual Club Awards. And I'm sure I left out a bunch.

Award shows strike a nerve with ad people. Some love'em; mostly creatives, and others hate'em; mostly non-creatives. The "Love'ems" see awards as an important and necessary industry acknowledgment of high creative standards and achievement. The "Hate'ems" see them as self-indulgent distractions from what really matters -- the client's bottom line. I can appreciate both points of view. I think one important question to ask is; How impressed are clients with creative awards? Some clients are impressed with awards, especially the Clios, probably because their spouse or kid has heard of it. But most clients wouldn't know a One Show from a Reggie. Come to think of it, you could probably run down to your local trophy shop, pick up a bunch of cool looking trophies, and put'em around your office. Clients wouldn't know the difference. And think of the time and money you'd save. Entry fees alone range from about $70 to $250 per piece. Then you've got the obligatory ticket to the event -- another $200. And God forbid you actually win something -- then you've got something called the "hanging fee", another $50 per piece. And unless only one person is getting all the credit you'll need a few duplicates at about $125 a pop. This doesn't take into consideration the time and cost it takes to complete the form which will involve about 7 calls to the show sponsors to explain. Then you've got to physically prepare each entry which involves measuring, trimming, mounting, making slide dupes, reel dubs, C-prints, and carefully packing and delivering each piece. From an overhead standpoint the it's like servicing a small account for a month. So, as I was saying, you simply visit your local trophy shop and make up these really cool looking awards. Then, when a client visits your office they]'ll see all the shiny hardware with your agency's name on them:
   
    Client (skeptically): "So, what’s this award?"

    Agency (without missing a beat): "Oh, that's The 'Golden Ad' Award."

    Client (very skeptically): "The 'Golden Ad' award?"

    Agency (with attitude): "You don't know the 'Golden Ad' Award?"

   Client (feeling very uncool): "Oh right...the 'Golden Ad' Award. Impressive!"

Of course, I'm being a wise-ass. But I'm serious when I say that there are people in this business who believe there's too much emphasis on the creative. They'd rather see an award for "the Best Qualitative Research in an Ethnic Market for Single Women 18 to 35 who have 2 Kids and Earn over $40,000." The bottom line is that advertising award shows are only as good as the judges that judge them, the agencies that enter them, the ads that promote them, and the clients that know them. What some people simply fail to realize is that smart creative work will be more effective at building business. As advertising genius Bill Bernbach said;

   "Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten. Because it's notjust what you say that stirs people. It's the way you say it. You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You've got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut, because if they don't feel it, nothing will happen."

That's where creative brilliance comes in. And smart clients demand it. They seek out creative agencies because they know that it's not just the number of ads you run, it's the of number impressions you make. Smart clients realize that disciplined creativity is the last remaining legal means of gaining an unfair advantage over their competition. Bottom line: If you want to get anyone excited about your product or service, you'd better get them excited about your advertising.

With all the talk about account planning, and integrated marketing, and flying under the radar, and "The New Media" it's sometimes easy to forget what this business is about -- exciting ads. We can't forget that. And it's why we'll always need advertising award shows. Just not 39 of them. ¤

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John Follis is President/Creative Director of Follis/NY. His agency has won over 3 dozen creative awards, incuding 9 Clios, but so far no "Golden Ad" awards.



(c) 2001 Follis Advertising, Inc. All rights reserved.