It’s awards season again, which can mean different things to different people. To some it means frocking up, applying two cans of hair spray and tower diving into an Olympic-sized swimming pool filled with fake tan.
To others it means cheap wine, failing to learn from last years's mistakes and rocking up to work the next day smelling like Mel Gibson. And to the hard done by, it means envious whispers behind peoples backs, finger pointing and a lot of “You know that was actually my idea”.
You see, awards are a funny thing.
Something I’ve noticed is that very few people are actually willing to admit that an award means anything to them, that is of course until they become a finalist. At this point everything changes and what was previously sniped about is now a topic that somehow finds its way into every one of their conversations.
Physically, awards may only be small pieces of plastic and while you may not have deserved one in the first place, that doesn’t change the fact that in an industry obsessed with materialism an award might not be valued, but it sure as hell is valuable.
For the individual recipient opportunities can open up almost immediately. The award itself seems to act as a magic wand for salary increases. And why shouldn’t it? Agencies are embarrassingly competitive and anything that is making your agency look good in front of the wider community should be rewarded.
The danger arises when agencies and planners become award obsessed and the focus shifts from creating great work that can achieve your clients’ objectives, to creating a big idea that’s “award worthy”. Yes, awards can be very beneficial to the individual and agency, however both parties exist for the primary purpose of improving their clients business not their own. This is the conundrum agencies face – when does improving your own business become a priority over improving your clients business?
The answer of course is never, but unfortunately for clients awards aren’t judged solely on results, and fortunately for the rest of us creativity and insight do play a role.
So whether you are polishing a shiny new toy at the end of this year’s awards season or pretending not to care about being forgotten remember this: in the real world awards mean nothing... but this isn’t the real world, it's media so put your head down and start winning.
It’s awards season again which can mean different things to different people. To some it means frocking up, applying 2 cans of hair spray and tower diving into an Olympic sized swimming pool filled with fake tan.
To others it means cheap wine, failing to learn from last years’ mistakes and rocking up to work the next day smelling like Mel Gibson. And to the hard done by it means envious whispers behind peoples backs, finger pointing and a lot of “You know that was actually my idea”.
You see, awards are a funny thing.
Something I’ve noticed is that very few people are actually willing to admit that an award means anything to them, that is of course until they become a finalist. At this point everything changes and what was previously sniped about is now a topic that somehow finds its way into every one of their conversations.
Physically, awards may only be small pieces of plastic and while you may not have deserved one in the first place that doesn’t change the fact that in an industry obsessed with materialism, an award might not be valued, but it sure as hell is valuable.
For the individual recipient opportunities can open up almost immediately. The award itself seems to act as a magic wand for salary increases. And why shouldn’t it? Agencies are embarrassingly competitive and anything that is making your agency look good in front of the wider community should be rewarded.
The danger arises when agencies and planners become award obsessed and the focus shifts from creating great work that can achieve your clients’ objectives, to creating a big idea that’s “award worthy”. Yes awards can be very beneficial to the individual and agency however both parties exist for the primary purpose of improving their clients business not their own. This is the conundrum agencies face – when does improving your own business become a priority over improving your clients business?
The answer ofcourse is never, but unfortunately for clients awards aren’t judged solely on results, and fortunately for the rest of us creativity and insight do play a role.
So whether you are polishing a shiny new toy at the end of this year’s awards season or pretending not to care about being forgotten remember this. In the real world awards mean nothing...but this isn’t the real world, its media so put your head down and start winning.