I judged a very famous Advertising Effectiveness Award recently and have to say I found the whole thing utterly frustrating and disappointing.
I’ll write about why another day [after the official results come out so I can give specific examples to demonstrate my point without getting into any trouble with the ‘Authorities’] … however it reaffirmed my view that any company who chooses an agency based purely on the number of Effectiveness Awards they have is about as flawed as any company who chooses an agency based purely on the number of Cannes Lions they’ve attained.
This industry cannot keep naval gazing – it needs to do some wholesale changes if it is to move forward and have true commercial value again – and while you’d think effectiveness awards help [which to a degree they do – some much more than others] in the big scheme of things, I believe they are adding of the cause rather than the solution.
Let me put this on the backburner for a while but it’s a bloody massive issue and I look forward to taking it on – even if it means I might never again be asked to sit through days and days and days of case studies where 90% of the submissions prove too much of advertising deludes itself that it makes a massive difference to a companies success both interms of profit and popularity.
[Saying that, when I come across a submission that truly demonstrates an agency solved a clients business issue thanks to their brains, imagination, bravery and creativity – then it makes me feel excited to the point of bursting]