As an industry, I believe advertising/marketing has the most agency awards of any industry vertical. After working in the US, and having knowledge of the UK market, per capita we would seem to have the most advertising awards of any country in the world.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-awards, in fact I’m a fan and was the chairman of the MFA Awards Committee for several years plus I still judge multiple awards now. My question is do CMOs care?
The simple answer is … it depends, it depends on the CMO and the award.
As an example, if it’s about the work, how effective it is, and did it drive results such as the EFFIES then the client cares and would support the award and celebrate its success.
However, do we have too many awards that play to or feed people’s egos, if it’s all about trophies and including in our sizzle reel verse creating great work that drives business growth?
Increasingly people, diversity, and culture awards are important and these awards should be applauded. They provide valuable proof points and evidence that the agency is investing in its talent and striving for a diverse workplace. The important point here is the consistency of success and these aren’t one-off award entries but show a long-term commitment to being the best place to work or have the best people and culture.
Some CMOs want to be famous and deliver innovation/creativity that is recognised. Once again this should be applauded as long as it is still linked to business success, breaking category norms but still delivering results.
Watch for an agency awards obsession
As long as an agency isn’t obsessed with awards and in that crazy relentless pursuit of award success, it doesn’t forget what the client really wants and needs.
In a past life, our global agency HQs wanted us to enter every award going to improve our global ranking for the then Gunn Report. WARC has improved the methodology and added an Advisory Board to ensure the benchmarks are more rigorous. These rankings have their place, particularly for global clients looking to celebrate creative excellence and effectiveness across multiple regions.
The big holding companies also love to tout their success at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and other Festivals. Why not – success should be celebrated as long as you are reinvesting back into your talent base and ensuring your diverse people thrive.
Many CMOs want to work with agencies that are successful, hot, have momentum, and are winning.
This helps attract and retain the best talent and our business is a people business, and the best people normally produce the best work. Do we have too many award shows, probably yes. However, if we are improving the effectiveness of the work, celebrating creativity that delivers business growth, driving innovation, and most importantly having a positive impact on talent diversity then awards have a very positive impact – bring them on!
Read other Sparrow’s Nest columns from Greg Graham here.
Speaking of award-winning. Did you follow Sparrow at SXSW in Austin, Texas last month?
Read his wrap of the conference here and find links to his incisive daily reports for Mediaweek.
