I felt a few things during the Effie awards were unbecoming of an advertising function.
To begin with too much of appreciation was showered on the chief guest’s efforts of flying down from New York without however concealing the fact that had an India darshan agenda. Our advertising industry is good enough to draw people from the corners of the world. Or are we still being haunted by our colonial past. After all how many senior advertising professionals feel privileged to fly down to Cannes for the awards every year. Do people hosting Cannes eulogize them for enduring the jet lag? Let’s appreciate the man for his accomplishments but not for doing us a flying favor.
The entertainment was indeed like a dose of some bitter pill. To have the woman hurling stale jokes at us was nothing short of Chinese torture. Where in the world the Ad Club guys discover this talent.
Creativity is all about doing things fresh, new and for the first time. It is also about building in some clutter breaking power. So how was this done? Make the awarding method creative. For instance in some of the categories the jury decided that there should be only a broze and a silver for nobody deserved a gold. And in another, the jury was too tired to rank the work. They liked it all, like a child loves both his parents equally. Hence they decided to award 3 gold in one such category. There was one BIG award for O&M and an equally big one for Lowe. The balancing act done to perfection.
Advertising guys always fail to meet deadlines. This was aptly demonstrated in the organizers’ time management. The band was all raring to go. At 9.50 pm, the announcement was made to start the party followed by another to pull the plug at 10pm. One more announcement at this stage ensured that play had to be called off without a ball being bowled
