Mark Irving: Is the advertising awards culture getting in the way ?

Mark Irving, advertising company director, looks at how the 'awards culture' is affecting advertising.

As the annual Cannes Advertising awards in France are drawing to the business end, I thought it was an opportune time to look at how the awards culture is affecting advertising.

This isn't a new question being raised; in fact many before me have tackled this. I personally think it's not an altogether straightforward issue.

Cannes for those who are unaware, are the equivalent of the Oscars of the Advertising World as opposed to Golden Globes or even the Tonys. It's big, it's very big and I'm not just talking about the egos either. Cannes celebrates creativity in advertising. There's nothing wrong with this as creativity is used to create memorable and effective advertising.

But with a big number of local and international awards all vying for significant registration fees, how much is too much and how much damage is it doing to the industry in the eyes of clients and consumers? And are copywriters, designers and art directors going a bit far in pursuit of "creative excellence" and losing touch with what they're there for - to sell products and services and build brands.

It also raises the question of what exactly is creativity? Yes advertising is a creative business and requires creative thinking to sell client's products. But compared to other people who make music, paint and write novels, advertising in my opinion is near the bottom of the scale. We are after all salespeople for our clients.

From an agency's point of view there are publicity benefits of winning a major award, as long as the agency is getting most of the accolades rather than the individuals. Big wins have done wonders for agencies, as some clients will want to align themselves with a winning agency.

But like the World Wife Carrying Championships, there can only be one winner. And with expensive entry fees and the fact that thousands are now entering, advertising awards have become an entire industry. The D&AD awards which is like the British equivalent of Cannes has entry fees for a print campaign starting at approximately $NZ850.

Added to that time spent entering and then often flying winners and agency top brass to Europe, it represents very big bucks indeed.

In my opinion, a good example of how creativity can get in the way of a powerful sales message was highlighted on an Australian advertising website. It was for a well-known fast food chain, advertising free internet Wi-Fi. A poster was created using four French fries to create the Wi-Fi symbol. And in very small, hard to read writing at the bottom of the page were the words - "love free wi-fi".

This was a very clever and beautiful concept. But to me, creativity had got in the way of selling what is a very good offer. A far better and more direct message would have been in big bold writing - "Free Wi-Fi Access." Some would argue, that by "dumbing" down the ad it detracts from the brand. But advertising is just one part of the brand, particularly for a restaurant, where food quality, customer service, price and cleanliness all play a major part.

Sometimes I think people in advertising are doing more to impress their peers and win awards than trying to do what's best for the client. This isn't the individuals fault, it's more how the pursuit of awards throughout the advertising world has such a big influence over what sort of advertising is produced.

Mark Irving is the Director of Range Advertising and Communications.