Vinny Warren from New York just told me about the most depressing thing I’ve heard in ages: The Gunn Report.
A book quantifying every agency’s creative ranking by the number of awards they’ve won.
David Abbott and I once proposed opposite motions to an EGM of D&AD.
I wanted account men to be credited in the D&AD annual, alongside creatives.
I thought this would give account men a lot more reason to care about making good work run.
David disagreed.
He said if we opened awards up for everyone they would become merely a new business tool.
Time has proved him right.
It didn’t occur to me that all anyone would begin to care about was winning awards.
Not the quality of the work.
This is the thrust of The Gunn Report.
If you win awards you’re creative.
If you don’t you’re not.
The book-keeper’s answer to understanding creativity.
I think you can judge the worth of awards by The Oscars.
For years Steven Spielberg didn’t win a single one.
He was the most successful director in the history of cinema.
And The Oscars continually ignored him
Eventually it became obvious that this was making The Oscars a laughing stock.
So, to save face, at the next ceremony they gave him 8 awards.
Just to grab onto his coat tails and save themselves from ridicule.
Spielberg was bigger than the awards.
Truly creartive people are.
D&AD’s motto used to be STIMULATION NOT CONGRATULATION.
Not any more.
Now D&AD is big business.
But in truth, awards are still what they’ve always been: either an honest bit of fun, or the other thing.
The most honest awards I’ve heard of was when Ian Hutton, an Irishman himself, chaired the Kinsale awards.
He stood up to address the jury, prior to judging.
Everyone expected the usual pompous chairman’s address on maintaining high standards, creative excellence, etc.
Ian simply said,
“Right, you all know the rules: vote for your mates.”
And sat down.
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Cronyism in the creative industry too? I don’t believe it!
Uh oh, I predict a Scamp’s rant as soon as he’s back from NY.
I do find it hard to believe that grown men actually care about awards. Your Oscars example is a good one, but there’s also the Brits, the Booker Prize and numerous others. They always - always - get it wrong!
And the fact that Scamp and his pals spend so much time and energy writing about, worrying about and working towards awards is completely depressing.
dave,
well i’m truly hono(u)red to have sparked a post. and am in complete agreement. it is depressing.
ad awards are the product of a committee. hmm…what could go wrong?
love the dave abbott story btw. i remember meeting him once via Ed. he all but had a halo!
Hi Vinny. Yeah it’s a funny comparison.
I went to a speech once where David followed Ed.
David started, “Well, first Dustin Hoffman, now Robert Redford.”
He was actually very good at not taking himself too seriously.
While still at university I went to an interview at JWT to work on Andrex on the TV buying side.
“So, studenty, what are your views on creativity in advertising” said the suit.
“To be honest, I don’t care whether John Hegarty likes our ads, but all I’d be concerned about is that he wipes his backside with the product and does it more often. Him and the rest of the target market.”
I worked elsewhere.
I think that unpalatable it sounds, more people in the industry would be better off reading and learning from the work and thoughts of Simon Broadbent than that of Simon Veksner. Apologies to Scamp but it’s like learning to build a cake from the icing down, instead of from the sponge up. That’s not to say that the two ingredients can be brought together. (and I had to work for SB. A great man, but an utter martinet)
My goal in life is to win a Black Pencil.
I’m human like everyone else, so I can’t deny there’s an element of vanity to my aim.
But putting aside all the ego-stroking and self-congratulation, there’s one main reason for my goal.
I see D&AD as a benchmark – and I want to achieve the excellence that it represents.
I’m part of a generation that grew up on D&AD and One Show annuals.
I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life reading them and being blown away.
My CD would come in and say to us: “Ever wondered how men would carry on if they had periods?” and expect us to reply “Barbara Nokes and John Hegarty. BBH for Dr Whites. Silver pencil, ‘86″. There’s a whole generation of us who kind of studied that stuff in lieu of a ‘proper’ education. And I know it seems geeky, but knowing those campaigns and seeking out the other work these greats went on to do was massively inspiring. It’s what made me start to see that advertising was something worthy of spending a lifetime doing.
(In contrast, I was working with some younger creatives the other day and mentioned that I liked a particular idea because it reminded me of ‘Snowplough’. I looked up to see completely blank faces - they didn’t know what I was on about. Which in a way is really sad, but I dunno, I found it a little bit refreshing too. I’ve spent the larger part of my life trying to do something as good as ‘Snowplough’. Maybe it’s kind of liberating to not have those kind of benchmarks in your mind.)
I know what you’re saying Ant.
But you know in winter when it floods everywhere?
And all the football games all over the country have to be called off?
But everyone still wants to check their football pools coupon.
So they get a panel if judges to predict what they think would have happened if the teams had actually played.
That’s what awards are like for me.
I can tell you pretty much every ad in every annual (British and American) but I couldn’t tell you a single award.
Ha, it’s funny you should say that, Dave. I remember back to those days, I’d often get a detail wrong and my CD would berate me with, “Saatchis? Don’t be soft, BMP did the Hellmans work!” or “Malcolm Duffy? Don’t be a moron, Frank Budgen wrote that Fisher Price ad!” But he’d never pick you up on mistaking a silver for a gold or whatever. I always used to think it wasn’t the end of the world not having a Pencil, but having my work appear in the Annual was a must. I want turn to the page/s and show my grandkids one day.
By the way Dave (and others), it’d be great to know what some of your favourite ads are.
Sure Ant.
At the moment Droga 5’s Net 10 ads are my favourite.
The ‘league of evil’ cartoons.
They make all the product points in a powerful, intrusive, entertaining, memorable way.
I wish I’d done them.
Yeah, me too. I think “I love you, Uni-Monkey!” is a phrase that’s going to live on in peoples’ minds for as long as “Waaassuuup”.
My how weird this all sounds.
This argument is archaic.
Study after study documents that creativity (as measured by awards success) correlates strongly with effectiveness.
If you really want to have this argument, get in a time machine, go back to 1959, hop out, and have the argument.
P.S. Your Spielberg facts are typically conflated.
You write “the Oscars continually ignored him.” I don’t think so.
His second-ever theatrical release (Jaws) won 3 Oscars. His subsequent films, many more.
He personally was nominated for Best Director 3 times, before winning it in 1994.
If what you’re wanting to say is that awards are wack, because the guy who makes the biggest box-office films doesn’t get them, then you may want to mount a campaign for the Academy to start recognising Adam Sandler in the best actor category…
Hi Scamp.
Apparently the phrase, “Money is the root of all evil ” is a misquote.
The actual quote is, “THE LOVE OF money is the root of all evil.”
I have no problem with awards, just the worship of them.
You say my facts are conflated.
I agree, as my dictionary defines conflate as, “to fuse or combine into a whole”.
Spielberg’s movies won awards for sound effects and cinematography.
No best pictures, no best directors.
He was nominated, but never won before 1994.
Being nominated is like getting to the final and losing.
Ask Chelsea fans if they feel like European Cup winners.
Spielberg himself, in his 1994 acceptance speech said, “This is the biggest drink of cold water after the longest drought.”
In the year ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’ was released ‘Reds’ won the Oscar for best picture.
Does that make it a better film?
Sometimes the most creative stuff wins.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
Awards is an opinion not a formula.
And your last line’s a bit Alf Garnett, “If you don’t like it here why don’t you go back to 1959 where you came from.”
Dave, I know your whole point is that awards are subjective, but I don’t think the 1991 Oscars example is a good one. ‘Reds’ is one of the creative highpoints in the history of cinema, a film about the power of ideas to change the world – that itself inspires viewers to change the world. Warren Beatty co-wrote, directed and starred in it, but probably most amazing of all, he got a studio to front up the cash for a three and a half hour long historical epic. ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ was basically a really good fun adventure blockbuster. Not in the same league creatively. Mind you, I guess you’re saying it wasn’t the Oscar that made ‘Reds’ a better film, right?
My take on the awards thing is that I agree with you in principle, but I work at a big agency and, like Avon Barksdale always says on The Wire, “The game is the f**kin’ game.” It’s difficult to build a career outside of that game.
Absolutely Ant, the game is the game.
But you can play the game, and win the game, without believing the game.
I’m just against lazy thinking.
It’s never as easy as awards = creative.
Anymore than sales = creative.
You can’t turn your brain off and let someone else do your thinking for you.
That’s fundamentalism.
But if I’m playing a game of course I want to win.
We are the rebels, the ones who wear t-shirts at the office, the ones who mock suits, bankers and IT geeks for having less exciting jobs. We hate numbers, spread sheets and boring shit but take that Gunn Report thing, isn’t that the closer you can get to a business performance chart? fucking boring and still I know creative directors who spend hours calculating how many awards/points would it take to go up the chart 2 or 3 places. Pathetic.
Yeah Dave, I totally agree. I think that’s the Omar Little (from The Wire) take on things. He knows the game’s bullshit, he doesn’t buy it or believe in it, but he’s in it – and he’s in it to win. To me, awards = potential shortcut to a better agency = more chance to do better work. (Plus, of course, more money.) The game’s ridiculous, but I still want to win.
J - that 2 or 3 points probably = £20k or £30k on their bonus. I’m not saying that’s right, I’m just saying I understand why they’re so obsessed with it.
Dave you’ve done it again! When I said “go back to 1959″ I meant your argument was antiquated. That’s completely different from Alf Garnett suggesting West Indian immigrants to the UK should “go back.” It’s another conflation. You’ve fused two things together that really are not the same at all.
Re: your caution about awards. Yes, sometimes, with hindsight, awards juries get things wrong. So do murder juries. But that doesn’t mean we scrap the jury system. It’s the best we have.
Yes sometimes there may be a bit of corruption (but not much). But why diss the whole system? The guys on these juries are the acknowledged industry leaders and 98% of the time have the best of motives.
We’re all obsessed with creativity. That much we can agree on. But if we don’t accept the validity of awards as arbiters of creative standards, then what does determine creative quality? Is it what you say is creative? What I say?
Hiya Scamp.
re. your comment 19:
You know what you always say about irony (jokes) not working on blogs:?
I see what you mean.
re. your comment 20:
I definitely absolutely do not want to do away with awards.
I want to do away with slavish subjegation to awards as the ultimate truth.
And I absolutely do not accepts they are ‘arbiters of creative standards’.
I am suspicious of anything that sets itself up as arbiters of anything on everyone else’s behalf.
This is how Rousseau’s corruption of Hobbe’s social contract led to the French Revolution.
It is more difficult to think for yourself.
That’s why we don’t like doing it and look for someone to do our thinking for us.
Sometime’s great work wins awards, sometimes it doesn’t.
That doesn’t mean it’s not great work.
But I appreciate the quality of your argument.
As A.N.Whitehead said, “Sometimes the opposite of a great truth is another great truth.”
Dave, I’m reading the legendary Japanese writer, Murakami’s memoir/book about his obsession with running. Came across this quote, which makes a lot of sense:
“In the novelist’s profession, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as winning and losing. Maybe numbers of copies sold, awards won, and critics’ praise serve as outward standards of accomplishment in literature, but nine of them really matter. What’s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you’ve set for yourself. Failure to reach that bar is not something you can easily explain away. When it comes to other people, you can always come up with a reasonable explanation, but you can’t fool yourself. In this sense, writing novels and running marathons are very much alike. Basically, a writer has a quiet, inner motivation, and doesn’t seek validation in the outwardly visible.”
Hi Ant, I love that quote.
I heard a similar one at my son’s graduation the other day:
“Forget jealousy, it’ll drag you down.
Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind.
The race is long, and it’s only with yourself.”
Kurt Vonnegut
“My how weird this all sounds.
This argument is archaic.
Study after study documents that creativity (as measured by awards success) correlates strongly with effectiveness.
If you really want to have this argument, get in a time machine, go back to 1959, hop out, and have the argument.” Scamp
Scamp, I don’t think anyone’s saying that creativity DOESN’T correlate to effectiveness, in fact I think quite the opposite - using creativity to make effective advertising is absolutely the thing that many of us passionately believe in. Creativity as a means to creating effective advertising - that’s the business we’re in.
The bit that’s being constantly questioned is the bit in your brackets - how good are modern creative awards at being the measure of what is good/creative advertising?
You think the argument is archaic, but is it because you just accept that the current awards system is an adequate way of judging excellence in advertising? You seem to scoff even at the idea that that might not be the case.
I think creative people should always question conventions, and that’s we are doing here.
Also, I think looking back through all the annuals and awards winners historically, that there certainly was time when the creative awards more closely reflected excellence in creative advertising and not just ‘creativity’. But what I and some others I’ve spoken to are concerned with is the current state of the awards system, and the negative effect it’s having on the creatives coming in to the business and skewing their understanding of what’s important, and what their job is. And the long-term negative effect it’s having on the status and influence of creative people in the industry.
Why do you think planners are becoming the trusted person in the advertising process, with the most respected opinions, and creatives are being increasingly portrayed merely as dilettantes?
Can you not see the spiral of awarded work, and juries towards almost a ‘type’ of work that wins awards?
I’ve won a few awards here and there, and I look at the ones that got awards and I think ‘hmmm what made those any better than the others?’ There’s no rhyme or reason to it other than the opinion of a few people, some of which that I would never work for or would have work for me.
It’s true there’s nothing inherently wrong with a bit of arbitrary panel judging. Apart from the fact that loads of people are basing their entire careers, their own work, and their future creative judgment on those judgements.
It’s an argument that has never been more relevant.
(BTW, if I had a time machine and could get out in ‘59, I certainly would, pop into DDB, where they were using creativity to make fantastic, effective advertising. That would be lovely. and I don’t think there’d be any difference of opinion about what constituted great work.)
Related thoughts: http://sellsellblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/in-ghetto-creative-ghetto-that-is.html