For too long the ad industry has been responsible for running scam ads like some little art school purely for awards. We know it happens and its time that it ended. We're in this industry to be creative. That creativity, entails creating commercials that grab people attention via exciting art direction, engaging copy, be for a real client, and on budget and run regularily in mainstream press or similar. That is great creativity and something awards shows should be all making us aspire to.
Finally the Awards Show industry and agencies that pander to them have been revealed via the very medium that has made them 'so great'. An ad that ran once in a small Sao Paulo newspaper months ago has come back to haunt DDB Brasil and its conservation client, the WWF in Brazil. Granted it's beautifully art directed and already an award winner at the One show. It now turns out to have run once in some local paper purely for awards shows. The ad ricocheted around the
blogosphere, getting horrified and often vicious posts, tweets and comments, and it landed the agency on Keith Olbermann's
MSNBC show as the villain of his "Worst Person in the World" segment.
There's no way DDB did not know about this ad. Its beautifully art directed and produced, with amazing CGI and special effects. The campaign even includes a
TV commercial probably so it can be entered into numerous awards sectors) DDB knew, but they just got caught. They are not the only agency that is responsible for this sort of thing. Believe me I have worked at a number of agencies in the past where this sort of thing was rife! Its time it stopped. We should stop CHEATERS from dominating our industry with NON ADS. Cannes, the Clios, the One Show, the D&ADs, the Andys and every other award show out there, as well as the agencies, get real.
This needs to be a watershed moment for the industry. Clean up your shows.
What do you think?
