Comments on: Why Advertising Awards Are Retarded*

By: sean

sean — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:59:19 +0000

I don’t have any figures for the sales i’m afraid so can’t help you with that.. I would say though, and I think you know me well enough to know this already, we didn’t do carousel just to win awards, which i think is what you’re really complaining about. We went to the client with a full retail toolkit showing how we’d use the content at the point where consumers were considering purchase (online retailers).. and there was a solid strategy behind it, regarding how it positioned the client in the market.

of course none of that stuff goes into the award entry.. because no-one cares about it, which is why we both agree awards are bollocks.

only good thing i can think of is they give us something to talk about. imagine how shit our jobs would be if all we could talk about was conversion rates and IPSOS tracking.

By: The Doctor

The Doctor — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:20:34 +0000

Welcome to my world dude.
You’ll like it here, it’s like being a sane person locked in an asylum.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:59:10 +0000

Pretty much spot on, Darren said it best “at the end of the day we are a service and we should always offer ROI on the campaigns that we produce”.

By now we all must have realised that awards help attract creatively minded people to the industry, while providing for inter-agency one-up-man-ship and thats pretty much all there good for.

Great rant, keep em up.

By: rubbishcorp®

rubbishcorp® — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:41:11 +0000

Zac, thank you and yes I agree. I am preparing another about just that. But it’s a little bit more sensitive as you’d imagine.

By: Zac Martin

Zac Martin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:47:08 +0000

I imagine the client is as much to blame as the agency. Great rant dude.

By: Death

Death — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:33:30 +0000

I think this could well be advertising piffle; however it is worth pointing out that the characteristics that make an ad good to an awards jury and good as in effective are often the same, different, distinct, original, well branded, as in the idea is about the brand, relevant to the audience and resonant. Have a look at the IPA effectiveness awards and say D&AD and you’ll find a reasonable amount of match ups.

By: weikee

weikee — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:32:54 +0000

Some really well observed points – the self masturbation of ad awards shows in particular. how many industries are as self centered as adland?

however to be fair – is it any less of an effective campaign than the multitude of banner campaigns that 0.01% of visitors click on or the obligatory facebook apps that no one uses? At least 21:9 is a nicely crafted piece of work and does what it sets out to do pretty well.

But ja, it ain’t Bravia with digital Balls.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:43:38 +0000

Will come to with the results. Although the client does seem happy.

By: Darren

Darren — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:37:52 +0000

Totally agree, at the end of the day we are a service and we should always offer ROI on the campaigns that we produce, otherwise why employ a creative agency in the first place.

Good rant Mr Cooper

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:42:30 +0000

“..We all know Carousel, a well executed piece of film based on a clever technique..”

..and based on award winning AKQA work from a few years before:
http://awards.sf.akqa.com/creative/2007/halo3/believe/