Benchmarking your creative work and awards

Of course, at times these ads may make you question your worth as a creative while, at other times, they may serve to stimulate and inspire you to reach greater heights.

Stay focused

I have, however, come to the realisation that there are instances when creatives do go off on a tangent.

We know that our peers judge all our work and we consider every brief as an opportunity to add to our portfolios. We all want to produce award-winning work because silverware in your trophy cabinet is ideal ammunition whenever you want to be a straight shooter with your boss about a salary increase.

Silverware is also a means to reassure yourself that you do have talent and you did select the right career after all.

My problem lies with the fact that there are some ads out there which may be beautifully produced and potential ‘award-winners', but completely alienate the consumers that they were meant to appeal to.

In the advertising fraternity we tend to circulate any communication that we deem amazing. Once proud creative directors post ads on a site, fellow creatives prove whether they agree or disagree with how great the ad is by sharing it with others. Of course, I personally have looked at some of these ads and only after five minutes of careful study, get it!

Who are you catering for?

This to me defeats the whole purpose of creating work for a client. Sure, you want to capture your audience with clever visuals and cunning copy, but all of this is in vain if the consumer take out is off brief. I get a sense with some ads that they have been created in an effort to push the envelope, but to such an extent that it seems as though complex origami strategies have been used.

Sometimes the most obvious approach is the smartest. You can take your single-minded message and creatively execute it so that it is groundbreaking work, but some ads break the ground so hard that the reader is left floating in the air, unable to find their feet in all your clever communication.

So with all the ad agencies out there, how do you stand out? With the injection of new blood into the industry every year, more and more thinking is further and further away from the box.

Campaigns also need to consider that there is more power in a fully integrated campaign, in terms of yielding results for a brand, than there is in a single piece of advertising that wins multiple awards for its brilliance. Many newly formed companies are having less and less faith in advertising, as they believe it's just self-indulgent creatives charging exorbitant fees to play around all day.

But I'm in retail

Some might say that my opinions stem from one who has been in retail, so “he could not possibly understand the pressure”.

Of course we are expected to be creative in retail; otherwise, why are we being hired? In fact, I believe in some ways we have to be far more creative as we are given greater restrictions. These restrictions, however, do allow us to remain more focused on our communication's primary objective.

At times the same restrictions are the breeding ground for some interesting solutions to communication problems. One great example that will never get old as a point of reference is when PEP launched its new positioning through Generations. The statistics plus media coverage was proof enough that sometimes a simple solution is best.

First and foremost, remember who you are speaking to in order to avoid going off on a tangent.

Don't get me wrong. Awards are great

The need to collect awards is great because many charities gain from free advertising. If you work at an agency where the clients you have give you little room to create great work, you look towards doing pro bono work. These ads do well year after year at award shows such as the Loeries, but the charities benefit too from the free publicity. I believe it is important to collect silverware, but it should never be at any cost. Especially not at the client's cost!