Print adverts again miss out on the awards

By DITA DE BONI

About the same time the gold glitter was being brushed off the stage, and Michael Hurst was hanging up his genie suit, creative directors in the advertising industry were nursing hangovers and wondering in unison why print ads had done so dismally at this year's Axis awards.

Of a total of just over 100 bronze, silver and gold awards dished out on Monday night, only seven of those went to pure print advertising campaigns. Five of that seven were confined to one category - food, beverage and lifestyle ads in magazines; one went to business publication positioning and one to a magazine campaign.

Newspapers won no medals, and claimed only one highly commended in the nine categories. Of the awards for print ads, none were gold.

Some in the industry say it is a case of simple TV versus print snobbery by the judges; others say print ads in New Zealand are simply not up to par. The fact remains that in 20 years of Axis awards, print attempts have almost never done well in the final round of judging.

Creative director at Mojo Partners, Lachlan McPherson, says there is some truth to the idea that print is the "poor cousin" of television advertising.

"Creative people often overlook print in the clamour for TV fame - it's that, `Look, Mum, I'm on tele' factor," he says.

Mojo entered print work on behalf of clients Coca-Cola and Warner Music. Mr McPherson says despite the fact his agency would have liked some higher form of recognition, "we live by these kinds of decisions."

"Our Coca-Cola [print work] did well in Australia so it's really a case of different judging criteria, perhaps.

"I would also say that last year, branding tended to be left to television while print ads concentrated more on retail messages, which are much harder to keep `clean'.

"You need to fit an expanded story and lots of offers in [retail messages], whereas the ads that do the best in shows tend to be very simple in concept."

James Mok, joint creative director at Generator, says it is hard to comment on the print awards at Axis without it sounding like a case of sour grapes, but says his observation would be that the judges were far too tough on print and far too easy on television.

"I was surprised at the degree to which print awards were ignored - they didn't honour any. There were in fact more awards given in the soundtrack category than all of print put together - it's bizarre."

Generator entered print awards from clients BMW, Sony and Red Bull. Mr Mok says he was disappointed the agency did not garner some metal.

"Everyone feels like it's a kick up the bum. But people who work in print shouldn't feel bad.

"Yes, it's nice if your peers agree that you did great work but at the end of the day, we're all striving to do effective ads, and the Axis doesn't necessarily recognise effectiveness."

He says it could be that clients are giving creative directors increasingly complex propositions.

Meares Taine's Roy Meares, who is also the convener of judges for Axis, proffers the view that New Zealand's creative strength is in television. .

"New Zealand was one of the first countries to get complete coverage of television, and as a consequence, television is used by almost all clients from large ones to small.

"It's the magic medium and we do well in it."

Again, the issue of the glamour television is strong.

Creative types tended to gravitate towards TV projects because it was like making a movie.

"Print has always been an incredibly weak category. New Zealand is on the map for world class creative, certainly, but those campaigns tend to be television ones - Bugger, Dear John and Crunchie and the like."

What does Mr Meares suggest would help the situation?

He offers the example of a "brilliant" typographer, Len Cheeseman, who was hired at great expense by Saatchi Wellington to improve the agency's abysmal print work.

"Len really lifted Saatchi's print offering by about 800 per cent, and I would suggest maybe agencies should do everything they can to attract top talent to their agencies."

In fact, Saatchi Wellington did not win an award this year for print either (it did win a highly commended for its New Zealand Post and Brasserie Flip print ads).

But Mr Cheeseman did use his skills to win the agency a gold for typography for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's edgy electronic offering, The Riot of Spring.

"My message to print creatives would be `don't be discouraged'. If they really lift the game and produce great print it will stand out ... well ... like doggies' testicles."