Advertising awards: Not the only barometer of campaign success

Carl Louw: Winning awards should never be the end goal.

Advertising awards are important to the advertising industry because they provide a platform for review and inspiration, an opportunity to analyse what has worked and to identify trends. When viewed from this standpoint, one might argue advertising awards are essential because they become the impetus to better work.

If we look at advertising awards, the entries themselves are usually quite expensive and a large amount of agency time is invested in creating these entries. Some agencies even create unpaid-for-work with the sole purpose of winning awards. To those outside of the industry, the fanfare around results can seem a little self-indulgent and they take the focus away from what really matters - the client's objectives and bottom line.

What the goal should not be... and should be

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Winning awards should never be the end goal; it should be creating hard-working campaigns that build brands. Delivering work that helps solve the client's real-world issues and helps grow their business by putting their brand top of mind is the goal. This requires a clever mix of the creative ingenuity that wins awards and the business acumen that moves brands forward.

The 1st for Women "Why we insure women" campaign, created by creative agency Black River FC, recently won two silvers and a bronze at the Loeries, and a silver Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The provocative series of adverts consists of print, television and radio adverts showing men in various predicaments fuelled by bravado and testosterone-driven curiosity.

Price competitive

Insurance is a price-competitive market and we've always wanted to connect with our audience beyond price. The ads speak to the essence of the brand, and they help us clearly convey what our business stands for, one that supports and understands women. We launched this new approach in 2005 and through the years, it has drawn substantial attention and resulted in a significant increase in the number of leads generated. These ads have that clever mix.

Our agencies understand and buy in to what we are trying to achieve. Their efforts complement ours and they have contributed positively to our efforts at growing the brand.

Creative excellence is just as important as strategic excellence and the systematic delivery of bottom line results.

This is less sexy than glittering awards but it's the main purpose of advertising. Agencies that can understand the public and deliver exceptional results for their clients will always win the awards in the end.