Levelwing: Creative Awards in the Ad Industry are a Sham - Steve Parker Jr

Come on you know it I know it and everyone else knows it too Let39s just be honest and call a spade a spadeCreative Awards in the ad industry lack true accountability credibility and fail to prove they have provided any success in the media or placement for which they were intended Come on you know it I know it and everyone else knows it too Let39s just be honest and call a spade a spade In case you missed it a prime example is Kia Motors the automaker they won a Silver Press Lion Award at Cannes recently So congrats to Kia and their agency for such stunningly subjective creative and the Cannes Judging Panel for failing the entire industry of advertising by leaving morality ethics and selfrespect on the curb in the process Yes I39m throwing you all under the bus and I hope it hurts The Business Insider is calling this ad quotthe selling of pedophiliaquot and others like the blog Copyranter quotthe sleaziest car ad everquotIt39s not that I am against beautiful and stunning creative but I could put a half naked model on a toilet applying lipstick and call it creative to win an award The fact is I love creativity amp8211 I live in a creative household my wife was a professional ballerina with New York City Ballet for Christ sake I work in the creative industry I grew up in Nashville amp8211 Music City USA surrounded by artists of all sorts and I own an ad agency Some of my best friends are creative people I am even a lead investor in a music publishing and licensing startup called Jingle Punks I truly do love creativity Yet I believe the process of awarding creative in the ad industry is still a shamKia Cannes and all the involved cohorts in this situation are not alone in shouldering blame for lowering the bar in the advertising industry by the way so they don39t need to feel the burden to themselves Many others are at equal fault this is only one glaring example Agencies by the hundreds will pitch bright lights and sex appeal of their creative as well as amazing activations UI user interface and experiences but they rarely not never rarely ever measure the true effect of that creative on the business objectives or whether their measurement was skewed toward what they wanted to see or hear happened as a resultsome agencies will measure success based on the merits of their work but the vast majority fail at closing this loopThe ad industry for those that hadn39t noticed is changing Yes there are still folks that believe that creative is all that matters amp8211 a la quotThe Big Ideaquot The failure is to not realize that many if not all the assets resources and data needed to effectively measure success in this industry quotThe True Big Ideaquot already exist Read What comes first in a Digital Economy Creative or DataIn the instance of Kia I39ll assume that like most brands and creative agencies those involved didn39t test their creative or run it past any impartial individuals or third party research for honest measurable and meaningful feedback On the agency side many rely on their quotcreative processquot insert cute name for it here with utter disregard for the merits of true empirical evidence andor critiqueIf you are a CMO VP Director or Manager of Marketing you39ve probably heard a pitch with the tune quotWhat makes us different is our creative processquot Next time ask someone to prove that No no noamp8230not with an award but with true evidence If you want an award as proof we39ll send you a basketful to look pretty on your office shelf we have a few to spare That said measurement and metrics for success are bending the creative industry at its knees and with precise calculations effectively placing value on the creative being produced It should be this way amp8211 it is called moving the industry forward Let me be clear amp8211 I am NOT saying all creative is bad It is not amp8211 but it needs more accountabilityLet me use an example from ballet amp8211 an industry and art form with a deep history of creativity I39ll argue that it is reasonable to get any decent 18 yearold dancer in the world to win or place at a competition and get an award however she is still not dancing for New York City Ballet or The Royal Ballet So I have to ask is that 18 yearold really a worldclass performer Or just an award winnerBack to the shameful Kia ad that won a Silver Press Lion Award at Cannes Yes this ad won an award but at what cost The continued proof that most award creative is fully subjective to the likes and dislikes of a panel of judges An award does not equal increased sales awareness purchase intent or any other meaningful measure and I39ll bet this ad not only did not sell cars but that in the process actually damaged a solid brandIf you39ve ever seen the movie Tommy Boy starring Chris Farley Tommy you may remember a scene in which he is trying to sell a customer Ted Ted says to Tommy something to the effect that he uses the competitor39s product because there is a quotguaranteequot Hence the following conversationamp8230TOMMY Let39s think about this for a sec Ted Why would somebody put a guarantee on a box Hmmm very interestingTED Go on I39m listeningTOMMY Here39s the way I see it Ted Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box 39cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty insideTED Yeah makes a man feel goodTOMMY 39Course it does Why shouldn39t it Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter am I right TedTED What39s your pointTOMMY The point is how do you know the fairy isn39t a crazy glue sniffer quotBuilding model airplanesquot says the little fairy well we39re not buying it He sneaks into your house once that39s all it takes The next thing you know there39s money missing off the dresser and your daughter39s knocked up I seen it a hundred timesTED But why do they put a guarantee on the boxTOMMY Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit That39s all it is isn39t it Hey if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed I will I got spare time But for now for your customer39s sake for your daughter39s sake ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from meTED Okay I39ll buy from youHooray Tommy So the point is Awards don39t mean a quotguaranteequot of success In the advertising industry judging Creative for its Creative merits alone is a mistake because it is purely subjective just a fancy art party and nothing more than an excuse for a third party organization to throw a party create a new line of revenue ie it costs to submit for these awards and have a group of onlookers revel at what you have created Don39t get me wrong it39s always a fun time I39ll admit amp8211 but as Tommy would say it was quota guaranteed piece of shitquotThat39s my 6 cents worth on creative I39d enjoy your comments and feedbackFollow me on Twitter sparkerjrSteve Parker Jr is a CoFounder and Managing Partner of Levelwing a digital advertising agency that provides datadriven marketing solutions Steve can be reached at sparkerlevelwingcomRead all Steve39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at AskingSmarterQuestionscomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Levelwing: Creative Awards in the Ad Industry are a Sham - Steve Parker Jr

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