Are Awards Their Own Rewards?

We live in a competitive world. We compete for attention when we are kids. We compete in little league, high school, college, and adult sports. We compete in traffic to see who can get away from the signal first. We compete at work for the big promotion.

It’s only natural that we would compete in communications, not only in the marketplace, where we strive to stand out from other companies, but also in the area of creative excellence.

That’s why, every spring, as certain as the jacaranda blooms, marketing awards competitions and presentation dinners appear in Southwest Florida. In March, the Advertising Federation of Southwest Florida met in gala configuration to salute the winners of the 2000 ADDY Awards for excellence in advertising communications.

The event recognized outstanding work by 19 different Southwest Florida companies, as evaluated by a panel of out-of-market judges. Modesty aside, the biggest winner this year, again, was Spiro & Waites with 25 Gold and Silver ADDYs and Best of Show - Print. Right behind them was BVK with 23 ADDYs, Best of Show - Electronic and a special Judges’ Award. The People’s Choice Award, voted by the members of the Advertising Federation, went to AdvertisingWorks.

Some people are going to ask, “So What? Do awards bear any relationship to ‘real life?’ Or are they just a creative indulgence?”

Dana Nicloy, graphic designer and print coordinator at Lee County Electric Cooperative, believes awards are “...a great way to have your work looked at by your peers and to stimulate work that is new and special. People need some way to judge their value and worth, and awards help.” She also believes higher-ups in the company appreciate having the work recognized publicly.

Victoria Simmons, account executive at BVK advertising agency, observes that work turns around so quickly in the advertising business that there seldom is time to stop and tell a colleague, “Well done!” She feels that awards serve this purpose and that it is “always nice to be honored and respected by your peers.”

On another level, Chris Spiro, CEO, president and creative director of Spiro & Waites, comments, “There are many components in marketing success, including product quality, customer service, distribution, availability, price, budget, and more. Advertising is but one of those influences. Clients understand that awards are not the be-all-to-end-all, but are one way to determine how good the creative component is.”

Kerri Goldsmith, director of marketing at Worthington Communities agrees. She manages an in-house agency and feels that ADDY Awards demonstrate to her management that her in-house team has as much skill and talent as an outside advertising agency. Overall, she also thinks that awards stimulate higher quality work. “First, I make sure the ideas are on target and effective. Then I set award-winning quality as a goal. I love the ADDYs. If I had enough money I’d enter everything we do.”

Lisa Peteler, president of AdvertisingWorks, adds, “Our success as an agency is based first on results. But there is a parallel between award-winning work and results-winning work. They are not mutually exclusive,” Peteler says. “Our best work comes from our best clients. They take great pride in awards we win on their behalf.”

Mark May, director of sales and marketing at Naples Graphics, says that suppliers appreciate it when work they have been involved in wins awards. He feels that clients respond positively to everyone involved in an award-winning brochure. As an art director, May has entered and won several times individually. He thinks that work has to be strong both conceptually and graphically to win. “Every judging panel is different but good judges look at all the aspects of an ad. They only grant an award when the whole ad is superior in its ability to get attention and communicate a persuasive message.” May adds, “People are upset when they don’t win. But there is satisfaction just in being able to enter work that you feel is good enough to win.”

Mary Fuess, media rep with Carter-Pritchett Outdoor, has a media perspective that is somewhat different. “Good creativity doesn’t guarantee a successful campaign. Creativity is subjective and creative awards are based on the judges. They can choose something that doesn’t bear much relation to sales success.” Yet, when it comes to outdoor boards, Fuess agrees that her medium likes to see designs that are simple, positive, and pleasing. To the degree that this also is the criterion for winning an award, creativity can contribute to sales success, she says.

Firestone & Cimring’s president, Diann Cimring, comments that creativity and sales success are two different issues. She adds that clients aren’t always certain if a campaign is effective because there are so many other influences on success or failure. They are happy, however, when advertising that they like also wins awards. “We have won awards for work that the client didn’t think was effective. But they were happy to get the award.” Cimring also points out that other factors affect the ability to win in awards competitions. “Production values can turn a mediocre idea into an award winner. But production costs. Sometimes a great, simple idea doesn’t win because the budget wasn’t big enough for expensive production.” Cimring favors a system that allows smaller budget TV commercials to be judged apart from bigger budget spots. In years past, the ADDY Awards have had separate divisions on the local level.

Another improvement that Kevin Hawk would like to see is a separate student division. Hawk is the commercial art technology instructor at Lee County’s High Tech North. He points out that awards are important to his students, both in rewarding them for outstanding effort and showing them ways to improve their output. He points out that other competitions have special student divisions and thinks this would be good for the local competition too.

Nicloy was disappointed that this year’s ADDY Award gave out multiple Gold ADDYs, which signify both outstanding achievement and the best score in a category. “There can be only one ‘best’ and it diminishes the value of the gold when more than one entry in a category wins it. That’s what silver ADDYs are for,” says Nicloy, who would also like to see the judges’ scoring displayed so entrants can see how close they came to winning.

Michelle Anderson, executive director of the Advertising Federation of Southwest Florida, believes the ADDY Awards are a barometer of the growth in quality of advertising in our market. “Over the years,” says Anderson, “I’ve seen the work improve exponentially.” She is disappointed, however, that more local broadcast companies don’t submit their work. She feels some of it is potentially award winning and that it would support the advertising community that contributes to their revenue. “In year’s past, some of the best electronic entries came from the radio and television stations. Now, we seldom see them in the competition. It’s a shame, because it would be good for them and for their people.”

Personally, I believe awards competitions strengthen the breed. Effectiveness is a base-line requirement for all advertising. Award-winning creative work, however, builds on the simple requirement for success with ideas that also enrich a brand for years after the first sales have been realized. And, it is statistically true that there is higher incidence of marketplace success among campaigns that have won awards than among those that have not. If you want to create or inspire the kind of advertising that creates both sales and wins awards, here are some suggestions:

Know your customer. No one can effectively sell to everyone, no matter how much we may like to expand our market. Find out who your best customers are and direct your advertising at them and others like them.

Promise a benefit. As long as your list of features and attributes may be, when you figure out how they make your customer’s life better, you will convert them into benefits. That’s what people buy.

Keep it simple. The customer has 2,001 other things on his or her mind when he or she encounters your ad. Don’t make them work to find you or to figure out what’s in it for them. Use the magic of white space to stand out. Or speak softly, with respect, when addressing them in a commercial.

At the same time, don’t treat the customers as simpletons. Your customer is not an idiot. He or she is as smart as you are. Give them a little entertainment in return for their attention. And let them complete the sale in their own minds. The conclusion you draw yourself is more strongly held than one that is rammed down your throat.

If you missed this year’s ADDY Gallery Night, look for it next year. Then go see for yourself. I think you’ll agree that advertising that is good enough to win awards, is better for everyone.

William Ernest Waites is the former chairman and co-creative director of Spiro & Waites Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations. In a previous life, he held senior creative and management positions with Young & Rubicam and Oglivy Mather.