The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

I’m sensing you’ve been reading claims of growth in shareholder value being directly correlated to the coincident timing of an ad campaign while ignoring all the strategic and process changes that had nothing to do with the agency but probably made a much bigger impact. (it’s late here so sod the punctuation)

I absolutely believe awards play an important role for the ad industry – they help validate our influence, celebrate our success and inspire clients and practitioners alike to aim higher – however in the case of the awards I judged recently, the credit for any [supposed] effectiveness should of been pointed towards the marketing / sales and distribution companies, not the advertising agencies.

There’s loads I want to write about this subject … how most agencies still think interms of ads not ideas … how creativity tends to only be aimed only at ‘media channels’ rather than all the other areas it could touch [including product development] … how it is ridiculous to try and claim sole credit for success without appreciating the role of things like sales, marketing, packaging, distribution, price, economy etc … how media companies talk a great game but 90% of what they do [at least interms of the awards I judged] seemed to be stock-standard approaches … the list goes on and on and on …

Lets be honest, most award programs are done to validate our own deluded self importance in the World. As I said … they can play a part in helping business grow [and I am all for that] however just like winning an Oscar doesn’t really mean you have made the best film of the year, winning an Effectiveness award doesn’t really mean you’ve had that much involvement in ensuring the outcome.

There’s never going to be a perfect solution, but like Pete said, there are certain loop holes that can be sorted out to make a far more credible evaluation system – because if we don’t, we’ll continue to hand out ADVERTISING effectiveness awards when the reality is advertising had fuck all to do with the result.

I think I know exactly what/who sparked off this post of frustration. You were more direct last time you went after them. Ha!

How soon will you launch the WMD? Can’t wait.

And the winner is … KABOOM!

I feel like I should run the “real” advertising awards.

Best ad
Worst ad
Best strategy in an ad
Worst strategy in an ad
Best effectiveness in an ad
Best direction in an ad
Worst direction in an ad
Most gratuitous use of pack shot
Worst dubbing in an ad
Best character in an ad
Worst character in an ad
The PI Helpline award for outstandingly awful personal finance or accident laywer ad
etc

…and each ad can be sponsored by a different blog!

I did. I think I voted for them…

But I like the idea of doing this. If other blogs are involved in the awards then it gives them reason to bring people in. And its not me personally slagging ads off so it shouldnt affect employment chances!

I should also point out that like Pete, my views on the majority of the effectiveness awards [but not all] has remained despite also being the recipient of quite a few throughout my career.

This isn’t sour grapes – this is about moving advertising forward … pushing them to think bigger than just ads and that initial spark of consumer interest … it’s about getting them involved in all consumer touch points – be it the actual brand creation to carrier bag and pretty much everything inbetween.

And to those who think that’s 360 marketing, you’re wrong, 360 is focused on ADVERTISING touchpoints, not consumer touchpoints.

And if you want some examples, either read previous points on this blog or drop me a line and I’ll happily bang on about what we have – and continue to – do for clients as diverse as NASA to Virgin.

Oooooh this issue really is getting me heated – I look forward to the ‘release’, ha!

I’m not sure if you are being geniune or sarcastic Mr Dodds [which is sort-of a compliment, ha] however the bigger issue is whether you are up for developing an effectiveness award with us that is how it should be?

You know what Mr Kaiser, I reckon there’s more effective companies than ad agencies. I hope you know how hard it was to write that 🙂

A bit of both .

I agree with your point but my conclusion would be to do away with the masturbatory awards. The awards materialise in new business for those of you who do effective work – i.e. work that is judged to be effective by potential clients rather than by awards committees who may not always comprise people such as yourself who are prepared to question their premise.