Mad about Awards - Exclusive

Mad about Awards - Exclusive

Donald Gunn, author of The Gunn Report, the most respected world’s league table for advertising agency creative awards, recently announced the 2006 worldwide creative rankings. The 8th edition of the Gunn Report “Bible,” in book form and sponsored by P&G, is available for purchase. Campaign Brief Asia’s, editor Kim Shaw, teased and held Asia’s creatives in suspense, for the latest Asia Creative Rankings. He finally shared his precious findings at the recent AdFest.


Both the worldwide rankings and the Asia rankings measure, identify and celebrate the best creative people in the advertising world, from a base of thousands of names and thousand of awards won in the major award shows. Statistically and laboriously put together from the results of major international, regional and local advertising awards shows like Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Clio, Media Spikes, AdFest Lotus, and some local shows.

Creative awards to many young creatives are a measure of success. Winning a Cannes Lion or a One Show Pencil can get them into the best agencies and get them a huge pay rise. They crave and hunger for the recognition. Awards motivate. Creative recognition gives validation that the work you and your ad agency have produced are great, world class ideas. And guess what, many are for real clients and many are market successes. Some scams get through the cracks, but the awards shows have matured, and more positively, most creative directors have as well. The judges of the awards are a wiser and more exposed lot.

Heads of global agency networks put awards as a key performance measure. The mantras and work philosophy of great agencies have the creation of great ads from great ideas as the way to do business. And the awards will follow. As Piyush Pandey, National Executive Creative Director of O&M India and Asia’s first jury president at Cannes, candidly put it, “I think those who debate about winning awards over growing the business, is trying to save his ass. They go hand in hand. I believe there is a cake and there icing on the cake. The cake has to be intact so the icing is meaningful, and interesting.”

Miles Young, Chairman of O&M Asia Pacific, measures the network’s performance in terms of “growth and our product.” The products, the ads, that win awards are proof of success.
Is obsessing about awards a bad thing? Let us hear from what young creatives and the world’s leading creative think of awards.

David Droga, Droga5,
New York, “World’s Best Creative”

(On being called the “World’s Best Creative Director) It is flattering but it is a subjective thing. There are people that I think are the world’s best creatives. I have enormous respect for people like Dan Wieden and Jeff Goodby. I am always intimidated by their success. But we are an industry that loves to give awards and loves to give people titles. And is it a nice thing to be called that? Absolutely. It means you have to constantly prove it. For me, it is not just about awards, it is about the cultures I have built, and people I have helped influence and have brought up.

(On winning 50 Lions, three Grand Prixes). It is not my be all and end all. If you are going to compete (in awards shows), you compete to win. I had the luxury of having won so much, I can feel I can do much more and it is not a definition of who I am. Awards are a great benchmark. It is great incentive I always want my team to be motivated but it is not the end point. When it becomes your focal point when you do anything than it becomes dangerous. I would rather be known as the producer of the work than the award it has won.
The two most important shows are Cannes, because it is the biggest competition against everyone, and, D&AD, because it is the toughest.

John Hunt, Worldwide Creative Director,
TBWA\ Worlwide
I am after people who want to have great ideas that will probably convert into awards. This whole thing about your value is only awards driven is wrong. At the same time not an excuse not to do a great idea.

Graham Kelly, Creative Integrator,
TBWA & Tequila Singapore
It depends on the category. Cannes would still be a big draw for traditional advertising. For Interactive, I would rate the One Show highly. It is difficult to choose which show is important, it depends in which context it is. I do not look at one. For Direct Marketing, the John Capels awards is important, we got the Grand Prix last year.

Tin Sanchez, Senior Copywriter, JWT Manila
It will be Cannes. It is a bigger picture. More people involved and more ads involved.

Manny Del Rosario, Creative Director, O&M Manila
Cannes is the most important. It is a world stage. I do have a little nick-nack from that show. I think I still want a D&AD and a Clio. We have some unfinished business for that show. The One Show pencil has the best looking trophy in town and it is an ergonomically design!

Thirasak Thanpatanakul
Executive Creative Director,
Creative Juice\G1
It would great to win the Cannes Grand Prix, however I think is reserved for big brands like Guinness, Carlton Beer, Sony but not for Bangkok Insurance. The Bangkok Insurance TV campaign had five votes for Grand Prix at Cannes last year, which is good, but we needed 11 votes to make it.

Brandie Tan, Creative Director,
JWT Manila
As an art director, D&AD and One Show are important because the work is recognized and are more mature in art direction than in other shows. In AdFest you still have allot of visual puns, visually directed ads but not type styled ads.

Piyush Pandey,
National Executive
Creative Director, O&M India
Juries, including ourselves, are subjective and there are different juries everywhere. I think the biggest achievement is when one campaign or a piece of communication wins at more places than one. To me that is more important. I achieved this with the Anti-Smoking Marlboro Man and Fevicol.
Creative rankings matter but how much it matters is the point. You can look at it from India’s perspective Cannes is the show. For creative people independently, it is D&AD. Awards show are a very good thing. They give awards in the Army to motivate soldiers to be courageous. I do not have to convince myself that the ads work, what we have been produced in India have won effectiveness awards. Clients enjoys it.

Tony Sarmiento, Executive
Creative Director, Proximity
Philippines
D&AD and Cannes. It is the arena everybody should be playing. It is the world stage. It is so hard to be in it and so hard to stay in. You have to be there not once, not a fluke.