Loeries 2004: Post Mortem

Bizcommunity.com supports transformation in this industry 100 percent and the MFSA and ACA's industry transformation objectives towards a balanced BEE Scorecard for the entire Media & Communications sector. However, the current spat between the MFSA and the industry is extremely damaging and according to key corporate players, is bringing the industry into disrepute.

While the objective of the MFSA to try unite the industry in one three-day marketing festival, incorporating the traditional Loerie Advertising Awards and all the other marketing industry awards - such as the old Assegai's, now the Direct & Effectiveness Awards; the old Raptor's, now the Design, Integrated & Sponsorship Awards; and the Marketing Excellence Awards - and add an educational element through the conferencing, is admirable, has it gone far enough?

There was no magic this weekend. Loeries is also about pomp and ceremony, about the over-dressed and under-dressed, about the over-the-top antics of the winners, about the rowdy students who catcall from the gallery (where were they this year?), about being seen, about networking, after parties, borderline behaviour and above all, a celebration of creativity.

Protect the Loeries

Loeries are the Oscars of our industry and should be protected as such, before they are endangered.

Transformation is inevitable, deal with it. What needs to be discussed in open industry forums, is how this annual showcase event can best serve the entire industry - from the bottom, up. Advertising doesn't operate in isolation from marketing, nor media, so the principle of the Loeries Festival makes sense - possibly it needs to be hosted differently?

For an industry that is about marketing & communications, it seems to have forgotten how to communicate or maintain its own brand. Because what comes across to the observer - and as media we fulfill that role - is an industry in extreme disarray, unwilling to transform, and happy to maintain a "fat cat" image.

Forget the golf and the superbowl - let's bring the Loeries to the rest of the industry - let's spread that magic. Transformation isn't only about change at the top, but it is about investment in our industry and that starts with the schools, with students, with outreach programs, with education and communication.

The fact is, that in its current format, no one is happy anyway - the old guard want their Sunday night and their golf and don't want the marketing awards, and they were conspicuous in their absence. The marketers feel that their awards are being overshadowed by the rest of the industry, and the rest of the industry feels left out - which is why the media are being approached by players in the industry to sponsor and give publicity to other industry awards by sectors that feel they are being overlooked.

Move the Loeries from Sun City?

The festival is a great idea in theory, but by holding it away from the hub of the industry in a largely inaccessible and expensive venue like Sun City, it is putting it out of reach of the very industry that it seeks to reach: students and young creatives, designers, scholars, SMMEs, etc.

And it becomes a logistical nightmare - the conferences were poorly attended, international speakers embarrassed, the expo displaying brilliant creative work empty and most of the media ignoring everything but the main events.

Even without the current disarray the MFSA is in, I doubt the staff could have coped with a three-day event that most specialized event companies would balk at. All that it's done is alienated large sectors of the industry through lack of communication, including the media, which were largely sidelined through a lack of professional conferencing facilities or back up.

Bizcommunity.com is a B2B media - festivals like this are a wonderful opportunity to showcase our brand as well, while supporting and celebrating the industry and providing our readers with excellent copy and information. We fielded a whole team up at Loeries, investing time and cold cash - so we are throwing open the debate:
1. Should Loeries be moved from Sun City to a more accessible venue?
2. Should Loeries remain in its current format, incorporating all industry awards, or should each sector manage its own awards, ie, the MFSA: marketing / the ACA & Creatives, the Loerie Advertising Awards.

Please post your comment below, or email: . We undertake to make the MFSA aware of your comments.

This is the view of Bizcommunity.com - informed by our team's experience in the industry and insider comments:
1. Move Loeries from the exclusive, expensive and inaccessible Sun City - to Jo'burg or alternate between the three major centres: Jo'burg / Cape Town / Durban. All have excellent convention centres.
2. Go back to the idea of an African Marketing Festival and mount an expo open to the public to showcase creative work, with conferences run by professional events & conferencing companies; showreels running continuously of all finalists work; and educational streams for students, schools and the industry, to encourage global information sharing and transformation.
3. Involve the mainstream media, as well as the B2B trade media in this sector, as this will increase media coverage, lending impetus to events and more exposure for sponsors - thereby increasing the potential sponsorship pool.
4. Make sure the main event - the advertising Loeries, continue in all their splendor, with full red carpet treatment, TV coverage, and entertainment, as we also need some levity and some glitter to offset the serious business of the day. With some creative thinking, they could be the social event of any calendar, not just the ad industry's, and involve other influential business sectors, thereby increasing the profile of this industry as a main contributor to the economy.