The Brand does backflip on PADC Awards ban
Not unexpectedly The Brand Agency has reversed their decision to boycott the PADC awards.
Their change of heart comes less than six months after the high profile and much publicised public statement from agency managing director Steve Harris that criticised local award shows – the PADC Awards and Campaign Brief Awards – for being dominated by scam, being irrelevant to clients, and setting low creative benchmarks for WA agencies.
Harris (left) said at the time (Feb, 2012): “We feel quite strongly that some awards have become too much about ego, and not enough about results. The world has changed and the ad industry hasn’t. Agencies need to recalibrate their thinking.The reality is that the local awards have become dominated by scam, and an agency can be very successful at awards shows if it undertakes a conscious strategy to win awards. This comes at a price, and the price is shifting your focus off what actually counts for your clients. We’ve analysed the local awards and in most years of the past decade over half of all winners have been either from scam or not-for-profit clients. Given this it’s no wonder clients looking for a commercial outcome don’t give them much credence. Unless and until that situation changes, we see no value for The Brand Agency in participating in the local awards.”
Forgetting the undeniable fact that Perth has the least “scammiest” industry in the Asia Pacific region, if not the world, the relatively inexperienced PADC committee panicked at the prospect of losing entries from one of Perth’s largest agencies and issued an over-the-top anti scam statement with their recent call for entries.
It states: If a piece of work has NOT been commissioned by a client or is NOT part of a paid media schedule, intentionally sets out to mislead the judges and is entered purely for the purpose of winning an award, the PADC will act accordingly. This will entail the immediate withdrawal of all entries submitted by that company or individual, with NO REFUND. The individual or individuals will have their PADC membership revoked and they will be unable to enter the following year.
Harris told Campaign Brief that his change of heart on the awards is due to the PADC addressing his concerns.
“I had discussions with Spencer Batista (PADC President) at the time of making our decision and he asked me to leave the door open to further discussions down the track,” said Harris. “The PADC has acted on my concerns and I’m really happy with the changes the club has made.”
Harris said his major problem with the awards in the past has been over scam ads. In his eyes a lot of one-off ads that run as a result of discounted or free media deals end up winning at local award shows and this, he believes, devalues the awards.
Harris conceded that his agency has been guilty of this in the past, but he has been reassured by the PADC strong stance and will be watching this year’s results with close interest.
Campaign Brief believes the PADC has now painted themselves into a corner by making these changes to appease Harris. Most ambient, public service and charity ads – plus ads created for The West Australian Caxton Competition are now not eligible for entry to the PADC Awards. Quite a ludicrous situation when you consider that these ads can quite legitimately be entered into the big worldwide shows like Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Clio and Australia’s premier award show, AWARD.
The PADC Awards night on Friday November 2nd is going to be an interesting night!
14 Comments
It takes a big man to admit he’s wrong. Well done, Steve!
Other major shows have similar policies, i’m glad they’re there and that Brand are back supporting the local industry. Kicking out scams will make the whole system fairer in my opinion.
Isn’t the West Australian a client commissioning a piece of work (Caxton entry) from a prospective client that will ultimately get paid for?
first casualty- that nice adimpact press for the opera that won the community newspaper comp.
As a postscript to this, can we please feature a picture of Steve outside the agency, smiting the PADC awards for Enjo, Watercorp Dab and Toyota with a mighty hammer. The hammer can then hang over the entrance to the awards, celebrating this Entente Cordiale and signalling an end to the Great Perth Scam Wars? Thanks in advance.
Its all about timing .
Aren’t the awards due?
Midalia’s annual full-pager will be lost for all time!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!
Nice back flip Mr Harris.
You should’ve been in the Olympics!
Don’t think Steve would like his photo a bit double chinny
what a shame about that nice opera ad for midalia that has according to the new PADC regulation, SCAM, written all over it.
I can’t believe Steve Harris has the cheek to comment about scam ads after Craig Buchanan took out Photographer of the year
Myself I think this is good news on the whole.
Firstly, kudos to Steve for being honest – I think a few people inadvertently missed a key admission…
QUOTE:
“Harris conceded that his agency has been guilty of this (**i.e Scams**) in the past, but he has been reassured by the PADC strong stance and will be watching this year’s results with close interest.”
END QUOTE
To my memory, this is the first time the head of *any* of Perth’s largest agencies has publicly admitted that scamming has occurred under their roof.
(…no mention of *who* approved it or *when* it happened I note – but all things considered, maybe that’s a thought not worth pursuing…)
Secondly, by endorsing the awards, one of Perth’s largest employers of young creatives is reconnecting with arguably the best conduit those young creatives have to rapid career progression. This is hardly a bad thing.
Thirdly and most importantly, CB are absolutely right – this definition of “Scam” ads excludes far too many pieces of legitimate work that would be perfectly acceptable in other award shows.
Given however that both the PADC and Perth agencies (or The Brand at least) have shown a willingness to discuss and actively address this issue, surely new definitions can now be drawn up to address the eligibility gap?
It’s a shame that legitimate work that’s worthy of merit probably wasn’t entered – the club needs the entry fees and its members need the recognition. That being said, there must a be a middle ground here somewhere – a PADC “Top Drawer” awards BBQ perhaps?
If you really want to uncover talent and showcase everything Perth creatives can achieve to prospective clients, comparing the ads that actually ran to “What could have been” may be an effective way to do it.
Brand commenting about SCAM is like PW Botha slamming apartheid. Give me a break. On your watch brother.
It would be hilarious if Craig and the judges chose not to award gold in most categories – as they have the discretion to do. For too long WA agencies have been happy to produce so-so work for legitimate clints while wow-ing the judges with party pieces. Midalia is a great example but by no means the only one. Brand have been among the guilty parties. You can count the genuine paid-for campaigns on the fingers of one hand (and most are recognised as such at the CB Awards)