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

“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.”

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?

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.

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.