Award shows always create controversy. If they don’t, then the subject matter is too niche or the community involved has little or no passion for their pursuits.
With a record number of entries and a strong live turnout last Thursday at the Arcadian Court, there is no concern that the Promo Awards are too niche or the promo community has no passion. Put on by Strategy Magazine on behalf of CAPMA (of which I’m a member), the awards celebrate the best Canadian brand activation programs. Whether you love or hate award shows, you should never discount the value in spending two hours viewing the best work of your best competitors and the best work done by the competitors of your best clients.
So while I enjoyed my evening and celebrated our Bronze Award for Best Small Budget Campaign for work we did for Hot Wheels, I do have a tiny question and a large observation.
Okay tiny question. How did the WestJet Christmas Miracle video not win Best of Show? All I can tell you is that until the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge came along, this was the number one client reference for their desired campaign. In fact our Chief Creative Officer Graham Lee started keeping track of how many times the WestJet video came up in client briefings!
But it was a great piece of work…kudos to WestJet and Studio M, and the results were astounding. It has won every award you can imagine including a Cannes Lion. But not the Promo Award’s Best in Show. The winners were amazing programs, but I don’t think they were on the same once in a lifetime scale of the WestJet campaign.
Now onto the bigger stage. If you have a moment check out the winners gallery from this year’s awards. Notice anything?
Check again.
I have news for my industry colleagues. In a world where marketing has been transformed by digital channels, consumer interaction, community engagement, and live experiences; it’s not the below-the-line agencies that are winning. It’s the Advertising Agencies. The alleged above the line agencies. The massive behemoths that for years we mocked and predicted could never do what we do. More importantly we expected they never would or could afford to.
But if the Promo Awards are a leading indicator, they have got it figured out. Or are starting to at least.
That should concern small independent shops like us. The “advertising” agencies have deeper pockets, more creative resources, endless research, and international client assignments. They have channeled that might into digital, social, content, Experiential, PR, stunts, viral, and even brand curation.
If you don’t believe me, look at the winner’s showcase. I didn’t do the math, but I would be curious as to the winner split by agency primary discipline. It sure feels like the Mad Men have taken over.
So what’s an independent activation agency to do? My advice is to continue to do what you do best. But do it like an ad agency would. Start with Strategy. Understand your clients business better than ever. When I started out as an AE in the “fax era” (just clarifying my age), I prided myself in knowing more about our clients business than the newest ABM who showed up on the desk every ten months. Today I don’t believe our industry spends enough time learning the ins and outs of our client’s business. Partly clients are to blame. Ratcheting down fees to commodity pricing makes it impossible for agencies to dedicate billable hours to non project time. That’s a shame.
Build your entire platform on Creative. True creative thinking takes talent, time, and toughness to pursue great work. Too often our industry has sold itself on speed and price. I’m not sure that’s a sustainable model. The leading activation firms out there like the Mosaic’s and B-Street’s have creative excellence and it shows in their work.
Invest. Innovate. Invent. If we don’t invest in experimentation, trial and error, new ideas; how can we ask our clients to? We have been spoiled in the activation world. In a good economy clients utilize our services. In a bad economy, they have needed us even more so. But a healthy industry can build complacency. Today we have a threat. The advertising agencies are on to us. We need to respond.
My last advice? Sleep with the enemy. We are very fortunate to have several blue chip clients that have created excellent environments for us to work on an integrated basis with all their agency partners. I consider that to be some of the most valuable time of my week. We learn from each other. Inspire each other. At times battle with each other. But collaboration has to be more than just a client mandate. It should be a key business strategy.
I am not suggesting that winning awards is what we should be about. But at the same time I see a lot of value in them. Winning is not only good for your brand, but for galvanizing your staff, inspiring your clients, and motivating even better work. But today award shows provide much more than shiny hardware. They point a light on the path to the future.