Its that time of the year again. Call it a popularity contest or call it a respectable recognition of achievements of significance where the big guns are ready for battle with their most artful creations and victories are most cherished and often boasted off. Yes, its awards time.
However, all glitz and glitter aside, these awards serve well for the industry, though their potency could be exponentially increased with more transparency and clearly defined eligibility criterion.
After all, the harder a participant works to achieve an award, the more valuable the award becomes. This in turn leads to more effort. This will serve well for the industry.
If the rewarding process is objective, with no other pressures on the process besides the requirement of being fair, the consumption can be justified and motivate the participant to achieve and be awarded with something more difficult to obtain through purchase.
One of the most important rewards for a job well done is acknowledgement from one's peers, supervisors, family, and friends. This social reinforcement comes from others knowing about the good performance. The awards ceremony and the subsequent boasting rights serve this purpose well. This encourages competition in the advertising industry as well as benefits the marketers through more creative exposure.
These trophies serve as a reminder to the participant firms about their performance every time it is watched and is a constant motivation to outdo themselves and create more powerful and creative campaigns. The inspiration comes through constant reinforcement.
The awards ceremony promotes evolution in the industry as well. New technologies, more innovative ways to reach the masses, more capable employees behind the ideas and collaboration through interaction are rewarded.
Furthermore, it also promulgates industry regulation. A self-appointed industry watchdog which encourages maintenance of ethical standards through shunning or not recognising campaigns which breach the line.
However there are drawbacks as well
In a bid to be recognised the advertising agencies might become too concerned with being "creative" -- meaning ads that are memorable, shocking, produce a new catchphrase, win advertising awards... all properties that have nothing to do with sales effectiveness. This will negative affect the merketers. As the quote below illustrates:
"In the past, we have had a strategy, but our agencies didn't stick to it. But they did make good campaigns and they did win awards. This may surprise you, though. I don't care about awards; I want to sell product."
-- James W. Harralson, CEO of Royal Crown Cola Company, quoted in Philip Dougherty, "Advertising," The New York Times, April 5, 1988, p. D23.
If the selection process is not fair with undue pressures on nominations and winners, it might be discouraging to industry participants who 'lose out' and will nullify all advantages mentioned above.
To ensure that the awards ceremony is not just a formality, a feedback loop has to be established between the advertisers, marketers and the masses to make the awards more meaningful and significant.
To maintain effectiveness of the awards, dispersion has to be avoided. As single recognised and widely accepted award ceremony is relatively better than multiple bodies engaging in the same practice. As the quote below illustrates:
"Hollywood has its Oscars. Television has its Emmys. Broadway has its Tonys. And advertising has its Clios. And its Andys, Addys, Effies and Obies. And 117 other assorted awards. And those are just the big ones."
- Joanne Lipman (1987), quoted in Stephen Donadio, The New York Public Library: Book of Twentieth-Century American Quotations, 1992, New York: Stonesong Press, p. 70.
On a related note, the PAA has been recognising achievements and have been crowning winners for many years now. Through its awards ceremony it has been promoting creativity, fostering competition and facilitating industry evolution. The coveted awards are an inspiration for all to deliver the best and create more powerful campaigns which benefit the marketers and the masses, and as such the PAA's contribution to service in the industry is unparalleled.
So, lets bring them on. Another event of glitter and glitz and may the best are win.
Mahmood Parekh is the Chief Executive of MCM Advertising and V. Chairman of International Advertising Association - Pakistan Chapter and can be reached at [email protected]
(The writer is Mahmood Parekh Chief Executive MCM Advertising.)
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