Why did SA perform so badly at Cannes?

While the country has done well at the Clios, D&AD and other global but not-in-the-same-league-as-Cannes ad festivals, it has not performed at the French event.

Cannes made a killing.

And like FIFA, which has profited most from the soccer world cup in South Africa, the organisers at Cannes have profited most from SA's R2.9 million spent on the record number of almost 800 entries.

Having said that, SA still remains in the top ten at the Cannes awards behind the US, UK, Germany , Brazil, Sweden Australia, France , Spain, and tied in ninth place with Japan and New Zealand, which has entered the top 10 for the first time, according to Campaign Brief.

But, if one takes out the now travel-weary "Trillion Dollar" campaign that has won just about every award in the ad industry, SA's overall results this year look even more than just a little tired.

We're still punching

However, given the size of our ad industry and our total disposable adspend, SA is still punching above its weight. Trouble is that, in years gone by, it punched so far above its weight that knockout blows resulted in the cornucopia of awards, whereas these days the country is having to go the full 15 rounds, scratching and scraping points along the way.

So, why the below-par performance?

Well, there could be a number of reasons. The first of which is that all these advertising awards are extremely subjective and not really based on any scientific judging criteria. One only has to hark back to the much-vaunted Budweiser "wassup" campaign, as well as some others, that achieved top accolades for no other reason than peer pressure, flavour-of-the-month syndromes or, as has happened every now and then, ads that have been rewarded simply because the judges did not understand them but didn't want to look stupid.

But, there has been a definite trend among big SA brands to look far more closely at return on investment, measureable campaigns and getting more bang for their buck, rather than taking chances on big ideas alone and giving their agencies free rein to garner awards.

Pushing envelopes

On top of which there is also the premise that in order to win awards, ads need to push all sorts of envelopes. Bearing in mind that peer-judgment is common to all these awards, it is only natural to assume that to get the attention of one's creative peers, one has to be seen to be either extremely clever or seriously pushing boundaries.

I still believe that something that has impacted on SA's award winning potential is the fact that the industry's watchdog body, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has for some years now been taking a far less tolerant approach. Although things are not as bad as they were five or six years ago when any Tom, Dick or Thabo could lodge the most fatuous of complaints and get some sort of satisfaction.

The ASA is nonetheless still inhibiting SA creativity and something else that has made our advertising creatives a lot more careful and conservative is that more and more clients are making their agencies foot the bill in the event of campaigns or ads being banned by the ASA.

High rate of media inflation

The high rate of media inflation over the past decade and a half has also had considerable impact. As a result of media inflation, marketing in this country has become extremely expensive, relatively speaking, and as such there is simply far less money available to be spent on creating ads.

I am not holding my breath about SA's capacity to remain in the Cannes top 10 next year. I have the feeling that there is a certain disconnect within our ad industry with regard to what the consumer expects from advertising. And the more that disconnect is analysed and fixes put in place, it is inevitable that the resultant advertising will not be the sort of stuff that judges at Cannes will see as winners.

Successful marketing is not necessarily based on award-winning advertising. Sometimes it's the exact opposite. Just ask the washing detergent industry, for starters.

I have the feeling that advertising awards are fast losing their relevance in the cold grey dawn of post-depression economies, where big brands are looking toward containing costs and increasing efficiency and return on investment and funds employed.

Putting as much store

Given that most advertising awards have nothing to do with performance or success, I am not sure that as many big brands are putting as much store in winning awards as they did before.

I cannot remember when last I assisted any company with its selection of an advertising agency where awards played any role whatsoever in the process.

Having said that, one cannot deny that in the tough thankless world that is advertising, winning awards is massive motivation for ad agency staff. Often it is the unholy thing that keeps them going. And for that alone it's probably worth the effort.

South Africa Lions, sorted alphabetically by agency name

For the full list of winners, winning work and credits, go to:

• Direct Lions
  
• Promo & Activation Lions
  
• PR Lions
  
• Press Lions
  
• Cyber Lions
  
• Design Lions
  
• Outdoor Lions
  
• Media Lions
  
• Radio Lions
  
• Film Lions
  
• Titanium and Integrated Lions
  
• Film Craft Lions
  
• Grand Prix for Good
  
• Special Awards
  
• Young Lions

For more:

• Bizcommunity Poll: [Has South Africa been performing well or badly at Cannes Lions?
  
• Bizcommunity Search: Cannes Lions
  
• Bizcommunity Blog: Damon Stapleton - blogging live from Cannes
  
• Bizcommunity Twitterfall: South Africans at Cannes Lions 2010
  
• Bizcommunity Twitter list: South Africans at Cannes Lions 2010
  
• Official site: www.canneslions.com
  
• Google News Search: Cannes Lions
  
• Twitter Search: cannes_lions OR canneslions OR Cannes Lions
  
• Facebook: Cannes Lions page
  
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