Sunday, December 22, 2013

Bah Humbug. (A disquisition on award proliferation.)

Throughout the various news feeds that touch my life, friends and colleagues in vaunted positions in vaunted agencies are spewing out PR about the success of their agencies and their networks in 2013.

A typical one reads, "we won 175 awards in 2013 and were shortlisted for 311 more." Another trumpets "214 global award wins in 2013."

I have been around the business a long time.

Those who know me on a personal level may remember that I grew up in the business, and have been paying attention to advertising virtually my whole life.

In all that time, I'm not sure I've seen that many great ads.

Certainly in 2013, I'm pretty sure I did not see 100+ marketing communications that prompted me to say "I wish I did that."

What's happening is clear.

We live in a Little League culture, where you get a shiny trophy for ripping a loud fart.

There weren't 100 award-worthy ads in 2013. Not 200. Not 300.

We're giving awards for awards' sake.

Cut the crap.


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