Commentary

The Value Of Awards For Ad Agencies

  • by , Op-Ed Contributor, April 6, 2016

My agency competed in the recent American Advertising Federation’s annual Washington, D.C. “Addy” ceremony earlier this month, and the experience got me thinking about what advertising awards really mean and why so many agencies are obsessed with winning them.

And here’s what I’ve discovered: awards don’t really mean all that much personally, and I’m not at all sure they serve as the new business catalyst that so many of my peers seem to believe they represent. I think they have a place, but not under what has become the conventional wisdom.

I know that’s not an entirely original assessment. In January, DDB Worldwide’ s Chief Creative Officer Amir Kassaei made an eloquent and compelling case for why agencies should rethink the whole awards process. He said awards lacked real meaning and that DDB had made a conscious decision to participate in fewer competitions.  He made some great points, some of which I agree with, others not so much.

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But while ruminating about our recent spate of Addy awards, I discovered there’s a genuine purpose that awards actually serve which is sometimes not as recognized as it should be:  by showcasing the best of the best, they push us all to do better work, and that’s important. 

The Washington Addys were a mixed bag of emotions for me. On the one hand I was glad we picked up some trophies.  But even more so I wanted to be inspired at these shows and I want to see work I wish I had done.  And if that means other agencies winning awards instead of ours, then so be it.  I don’t mind, because if we are to survive and thrive as an industry, all of us have to do better work and all of us need to be rewarded for it.

The work is the work, and that’s all that’s really important.  As the aforementioned Kassaei of DDB said:

“Our industry has lost focus about what really matters. All of us who are working in advertising and marketing communication have only one purpose: to use our creative talents and insights to build relevance and influence in today’s world that consequently creates substantial results for the brands, products and services of our clients.”

I couldn’t agree more.  And while some agencies complain that they can’t do great work because their clients won’t let them, I don’t buy that argument.  If you can’t do great creative work for a client, then do it for a friend.  Or do it for yourself.  Or take on pro bono clients with the agreement that you control the work.  We have to stop blaming clients for mediocre work. We’re the ones doing it, so we just need to do it better. And we can.  We need to have the courage to try anything to be great and do great, and hopefully at next year’s awards ceremonies, we’ll all find ourselves in the winners’ circle. 

1 comment about "The Value Of Awards For Ad Agencies".
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  1. Neil Mahoney from Mahoney/Marketing, April 7, 2016 at 7:58 a.m.

    Like the Oscars, they've had their day.  30 or 40 years ago they may have had some cachet, but they were really an ego trip.  Oftentimes Agencies would create an ad designed to win, and less to sell the clients' ptoducts,

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