The advertising award season is here. First off the block is the one conducted by the advertising club here in Bangalore. Our agency didn?t participate this year. Though we?d like people to believe that we are (ha, ha) now above all this fuss, the fact is that we didn?t have much work that would have won. I did see some of the awarded entries. Well, what can I say? There was a time when winning entries did inspire awe. Like in the nineties, when the scourge of scams had not hit India. Successful mainstream work was celebrated. Public loved it first. Then the jury gives it metal.
This had interesting side effects.
For one, the award ceremony attracted stalwarts from other fields. Like in 1994 when Mudra won the Big Bang in Bangalore, who do you think was the chief guest? Would you believe it, Khushwant Singh! That?s right, the first citizen of Indian penmanship actually addressed a regional Adclub event. Another time in Mumbai, in 1998, Kamal Hassan, someone who still refuses to endorse a commercial product, gave away the prizes. That was the draw this industry had when its creativity was directed at the public.
The other positive consequence of advertising awards in the nineties was the magic it cast on the talent space. Young people from all fields of education after salivating on the work in mainstream media would line up outside agencies wishing for a break. Campaigns that won awards would be dissected, and imitated, all in the hope that it would give them a foot in the door.
Of course, back then, clients loved turning up for ad award shows. When they saw successful campaigns being celebrated they made mental notes to strive to be in the limelight the next year.
Instead, what do we have now? A huge industry that pats its own back for work that is mostly self-indulgent and sometimes unlikely to have been initiated by a client. Ironically, work that is lauded for creativity actually conforms to a jury friendly formula. Yes, this is originality that is predictable. Moreover, the most memorable part of the event is not the work that wins, but that one that causes the year?s scandal.
Small wonder then that clients don?t mind giving these events the pass. Young graduates who could have joined advertising to break the mould, are happier writing movie scripts, opening restaurants or experimenting with music. And the chief guests for ad award events, ah, I forget their names.
The author is chairman and national creative director of Orchard Advertising.