The Trouble with Advertising Awards

It’s awards season. That time of year when all the hard work that goes into an ad campaign, a website or a TV spot gets reduced to “winner”or “loser”.

Don’t get me wrong – I love awards. I grew up sprinting, shooting and writing for blue ribbons and gold hardware. (According to my mother, if she’d given out trophies for housework we’d have had the cleanest house in the world.) And, of course, I want our work at Balcom recognized. Year in and year out, B Teamers make amazing things happen for our clients, so they deserve all the credit in the world. And that’s the problem.

Every year some great work doesn’t win awards.

The TV spot produced on a shoestring budget that drove record sales. The beautiful website with an equally attractive conversion rate.The campaign for an obscure medical technology that inspired people to start living again. And that’s just here at Balcom. I’m sure other agencies have their own beautiful “losers”.

I’m just not willing to label work that didn’t get into an awards show as a loser.

I’m not using that word with the account executive who emailed me a better take on the campaign strategy at four in the morning. Or the art director who came in on a Monday excited about a movie he saw that inspired a new visual approach for the campaign. Or the writer who kept working on headlines after her kids went to bed because she wanted to get it just right. Or the brand manager who fought for the great campaign all the way up to the C-suite, convinced the sales team to believe in it, and then saw sales blow past projections. I’m not telling those people their campaign is a loser. Because it’s not.

Doing great work is hard work. I salute everyone who decided this past year that “good enough” simply wasn’t. Everyone who made the tough call, the painful edit, the bold stroke. Everyone who slept a little less – and cared a little more – to make great things happen. You know who you are.And so do your clients.

Let’s be proud of all the great work done last year – whether it won an award or not.