How to Get to the Grosvenor House Hotel ...or not!

This last week I was judging the DMA awards. As ever really well organised and a good chance to catch up with people and debate what is pushing our industry forward. If you want to see what I said about the categories I was judging it’s to be read on the Marketing Direct section of Brand Republic - here.

I was judging ECRM, Campaign Websites, New Technology and just for good measure Door Drops. Now the last one you may think slightly old skool in comparison but actually there were really strong candidates in there and I am glad that I had it in the mix with the digital ones. However my message today goes out to those who put a lot of time in filling those darned entry forms – whether for on- or offline categories: you still have got a lot of work to do! Not a very motivational thought so maybe I should explain:

Having done them myself, I know that it is a thankless task and is another “cobblers’ shoes” activity along with the likes of the agency website and the client Christmas party. Nevertheless, if you are going spend £150 a shot on these things and a good deal of time putting them together, then you are throwing away a good deal of money if you get it wrong. As I saw a number of agencies this week still getting it wrong, I have some quick thoughts that may help you for the next batch:

1) Obvious stuff but put yourself in the shoes of the judges. They may have max. 5 minutes per entry including engaging with the work and therefore your succinctness is critical. Remember that yours might the first one they pick up in the first category they are judging and they might be just getting their heads around the whole process. If you can make it easier for them, the better the chances you have of gaining the right attention for your work.

2) A bit like in pitches, confident storytelling is a sign of a rigorously thought-out strategy. It is a bit “chicken and egg” but you have to really understand what the entry sections are asking for. I was surprised by some entries that did not go into the relevant depth of the targeting strategy or assumed that the judges would be bought off by some spurious big numbers in the results section. I know that a lot of agencies use their planners to write their entries which makes sense but that has its own time pressures and can lead to cut and paste jobs – which I saw across some category entries.

3) Then the presentation of the work – some agencies were brilliant at this, others not. I saw incomplete creative and was really frustrated by one entry which featured some quite interesting technology that all the judges tried to access through various methods – but to no avail. I think once again before you react to this and start doing your Oscar-winning demo film , you just need to bear in mind the principle of what the judges are looking for and how you can put over the right message in a pressured timeframe.

Hope this helps with the entries and ultimately winning the awards. See you at the awards bash. In the meantime, I would like to thank the DMA, Brand Republic, all my fellow judges, all my colleagues, Sony Laptops, my family, my friends, my hairdresser, my.....