If there is a source that can be relied upon to supply news, even if as a page filling exercise, all year round, it’s the award shows. Someone, somewhere is always winning an award these days, be it films, television, advertising, the corporate world or some government award for that matter. It is possibly the excessive pervasiveness of these shows that prompts the question: is there a point?
There most definitely is. And it is certainly not to award or recognise excellence. It is more of a I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine kinds and everyone’s playing. Case in point: at the recently concluded, Lowe Lintas’ internal awards event, The True Show, one of the attendees was overheard saying, “This evening is all about us talking about ourselves.” A point that was incidentally highlighted by clients speaking at the more encompassing annual advertising event Goafest earlier this year, with flags being raised about the legitimacy of creators awarding their own creativity.
Picking out the pieces of the carcasses of the several award shows would be a laborious task. Let’s restrict the conversation to ‘The True Show’ for sanity’s sake. Lowe walked out of Goafest over a decade ago, citing ineffectiveness of the event in judging work. Post the scam ad controversies that raged in the wake of Goafest this year, their decision seems more than wise. But have they done a better job themselves? Hardly.
That they hold the show intermittently as and when they deem fit should, to use a cliche, nip all discussion in the bud. A blatant declaration of subjectivity, making the whole exercise farcical and that is as honest as the ‘True Show’ gets.
The event was the exact same menagerie of alcohol and high spirits with a familiar self congratulatory tone, that is seemingly despised by the heads at Lowe and quoted as one of the reasons why the agency doesn’t take Goafest seriously. There was neither any direction to the evening nor any visible interest among the audience. The event started about an hour and a half late, with guests sauntering in for a walk through the show. That the noise was restricted to the area surrounding the bar is hardly a surprise. But for this to happen in the same room as the one where the ‘ceremony’ is in progress is slightly, to put it lightly, disrespectful, bordering on crass. But, of course nobody seemed to care. Everyone was in on the farce.
Speak to any human resources guy and the standard response to why are awards important would be to boost the morale of the team. The team in this case can hardly include seniors with at least a decade worth of experience behind them. At least that is what the overall age profile of those present at the event looked like, unless Lowe hires really old looking people. The younger talent at the agency was conspicuous in its absence. With or without the high spirits, it would have been a proud moment for them to see their work applauded by agency as well as industry seniors.
Another oddity that is sure to strike one were the fairly direct remarks on the rubbish that Goafest and Abbies are and hence the need for a ‘true show.’ All, in the presence of competitor agencies’ creative heads. Some, even those whose work faced the heat on the scam ad front. And yet, all was good and well within the family.
All of this does not negate the fact that some of the work displayed was indeed sparkling. But what was the purpose? Why bother with the shenanigans? Is it it not a more truthful approach to simply invite clients and teams and industry friends and foes, if needed and display the work the agency feels proud of via a hour-long audio visual presentation? It could be a far more effective business pitch too after all.
