• by August 4, 2005

GOT CREATIVE? -- We can remember a time when the word "creative" came up and media people would instantly develop an inferiority complex as they scanned the room for guys dressed in jeans, fashionably chic designer glasses and expressions of cool detachment. They were the guys who held the client in rapt attention. They were what it was all about. Media was just a way of getting it there. These days, media people are the real creatives. Okay, so it's a partnership: medium and message, and hopefully a good dose of research and planning thrown in. But at least media is now deemed equally as creative as, well, creative. The question is how creative are you feeling about your work right now? Have you had any brilliant media strategies in the past 12-months? The kind that made your colleagues and clients say, "cool," and your consumer targets say, "Hey, what was that?" If you have, you've got precisely eight days - make that six business days - to make the deadline for the 2005 Creative Media Awards. You know, the media planning and buying world's version of the Oscars.

Hey it wasn't our idea. We always thought the advertising business already had plenty of awards shows to go around. It was the idea of people like Carat's David Verklin and The Media Kitchen's Paul Woolmington, who cooked it up a couple of years ago during one of MediaPost's inimitable Forecast conferences. Apparently, Cannes Media Lions and media Clio awards were not enough. The industry needed, they said, an awards show dedicated exclusively to celebrating creativity in media. So we created one, bestowing awards for the most innovative ideas in 16 media categories, as well as a best in show. You may recall last year's show, when Fallon threatened a near sweep, qualifying as a finalist in nearly half the categories and taking home a quarter of the CMAs. The best in show went to MindShare and client Yahoo! Personals for an unusual live billboard campaign featuring Julie live. That's right, an actual Yahoo! Personals subscriber named Julie, who appeared live on a billboard in Los Angeles for several days while she corresponded, screened and ultimately dated potential men of her dreams.

Have you come up with any media matches made in heaven? Let us know, and we'll invite you to the gala CMA awards show Sept. 26 in New York. And who knows, you may be a winner. Then you can dress in jeans, wear expensive specs and cop a major 'tude at the next client meeting too.