In a world where validation matters a lot, a key question that has haunted the advertising industry is what is the role of awards and why is it important to win? The advertising industry currently has a host of international and national awards. While Cannes Lions, D&AD (Pencils), The One Show with its golden pencil, Effie besides the Clio Awards, among others, are internationally acclaimed marketing awards, at home, there are the ABBYs, Kyoorius Creative Awards, Effie India, to name a few. Not to mention, several publications too have their awards. Industry stakeholders believe that despite consuming most of the marketing budgets, awards do matter. “One way of looking at it is how they inspire. How are there platforms that celebrate the industry’s work? I think it’s important to step back and acknowledge the best works of the industry, in a given year. If you look back, D&AD has been in existence for more than 60 years, add to that our archives, and I believe it’s almost a time stamp of where the creative industry used to be at a particular point. It’s also a historical reference point for people, for them to be able to navigate around where they want to go in the future,” Paul Drake, director, D&AD, told BrandWagon Online.
The sentiment factor
Industry observers believe that awards play a critical role when it comes to upping the emotional factor. For advertising agencies that are full of young talent, from time to time, a pat on the back is a much-needed action to boost morale. Not to mention, these awards not only help in boosting morale but also help young talent build a portfolio of work. From an agency standpoint, validation is only one part of it. Awards spur innovative thinking, which is why people pursue them, along with encouraging creativity and recognising work that has made an impact. “Our clients also appreciate this recognition. The era of fake awards is over; now, it’s about genuine work that moves the needle. This recognition motivates new talent in the industry, showing them that good work will be acknowledged,” Parthasarathy Mandayam (Maps), chief strategy officer, GroupM South Asia, explained.
To be sure, fake creative works have been a long-time concern of the advertising industry. Historically, there had been instances when agencies created award-worthy creatives, which would then be published on one or two platforms. These platforms were either magazines, websites, or newspapers, which need not be national daily channels, among others. For industry stakeholders, awards are also considered a way to gauge and understand sectoral trends. For instance, from what is understood, there is currently an ongoing conversation about the role artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play in the creative industry.
In fact, technology players such as Meta and Google have already deployed AI for the bulk creation of creatives, besides driving the impact of performance marketing. “Awards allow us to have conversations about things, such as the role of the industry in climate change or what’s the role of the industry around AI and how we should respond to it. Moreover, we direct efforts towards developing our master classes, our student program, and our night school for people who haven’t received higher education in a creative subject, and we try to use our insights from our awards to develop our curriculum, which reflects on what’s happening today along with the conversations that we have in the judging rooms about where we want to be in the future,” Drake explained.
Awards = ROI
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch,” Milton Friedman once said. Friedman could not have been more right. Typically, all awards charge an entry fee. For instance, the cost of entering Kyoorius Creative Awards and ABBYs ranges between Rs 10,000-15,000, for each category. Interestingly, Kyoorius Creative Awards claims to have returned 50% of the award fee to those entries that did not make it to the first round. Now add to this a series of marketing and creative awards that are run by publishing companies including Times Internet Ltd, Indian Express Online, E4M, and Afaqs, among others. The cost of entering these awards too ranges between Rs 12,000-20,000. The price varies for each category. “The Kyoorius Design Awards had achieved credibility and recognition for its winners, with the help of our partner D&AD at the time. From design, our evolutionary step was to recognise and award creative excellence that lead to the Kyoorius Creative Awards. Today, there are critic awards and legacy awards that both hold their own place and standing in both industries,” Rajesh Kejriwal, founder and CEO, Kyoorius, said.
Touted as one of the most expensive awards, the lowest cost of entering Cannes Lions this year is €650 (Rs 58,475), per entry and it goes up to as much as €2680 (Rs 2,41,097), as per its website. The cost of entering varies for each category. Similarly, the cost of entering The One Show ranges between $550 (Rs 45,959) to $1300 (Rs 1,08,632). Once again, the category is priced differently. Interestingly, agency heads believe there has been a shift, with agencies now investing only in those that matter. “There’s a shift towards awards that matter—those that deliver creative recognition for big brands and impact business. The days of creating work solely for awards are over. Now, agencies and clients value awards for real business achievements. The best work wins awards for both creativity and effectiveness. For example, a campaign that wins a Gold at the Effies for effectiveness may also win a Gold at Cannes for creativity. This is the new model for the industry,” Dheeraj Sinha, Group CEO – India and South Asia, FCB Group, said.
Disclaimer: Financialexpress.com, part of Indian Express Online, runs BrandWagon ACE Awards – a marketing award – that has no bearing on the story.