The Marketing Agencies Association with The Guardian

BEST AWARDS 2012

Where the people who buy it judge it

This is the second year I have judged at the MAA Best Awards and, to be honest. only the second year they have been on my radar. As an advertising native moving into the world of integrated direct marketing, they revealed a whole new hierarchy of innovative creativity.

The judging structure is interesting in itself with a creative and client jury judging different categories. This leads to very different kinds of work being rewarded. Maybe in future years they should experiment with combining the juries. Or maybe they're wise not to. I'm sure the already passionate debate would escalate to new levels as creatives and clients wrestle with their own definitions of 'best'.

Tension

That tension fuelled this year's theme, The Great Idea Escape, which we created at DraftFCB London to advertise the Best Awards 2012. It brought to life the insight that getting great work out of an agency can feel like breaking out of a prison, with so many barriers standing in your way. By bringing these issues out into the open, my hope was that agencies could build more frank relationships with their clients and better work can come from this.

The evidence this year, in the toughest of economic times, was that more agencies and clients had found this level of trust to produce the best work. Iris were deserving winners of MAA Agency of the Year with a significant number of very diverse entries picking up awards.

Out of the work which the creative jury judged, six pieces have stayed with me for various reasons. But isn't that the ultimate test - work that lodges itself inescapably in your mind?

Bulmers "Experimenters wanted" (Best integrated campaign) was a polished campaign built around a brave insight.

Frijj, "You LOL you lose!" (Best digital innovation) knew its audience so well and crafted technology and entertainment seamlessly.

Coca-Cola, "Pants or Prizes" (Best sales promotion) showed how successful a cheeky idea could become.

Coppafeel's "Bangbabes hi-jack" (Best small budget campaign) subverted its audience in the most unexpectedly successful way.

Saving London Bees (Best art direction) charmed the jury with its beautiful simplicity.

Finally and shamelessly, because it's from our agency, Sported's 'Cross the Line' (Best writing) proved that in a digital age, brilliant long copy is not dead.

Overall

So how does the quality of work entered into the Best Awards compare with other award schemes? Again I can only comment on the work which the creative jury judged but, as a measure, the last two campaigns I referenced have just earned their places in this years D&AD annual and, historically, that's always been my own personal measure of the best.

Overall, the work the creative jury judged this year felt less self-indulgent than that I have seen at some awards schemes. Areas of improvement though, could be the depth of entries in the craft sections. Where budgets were tight though, agencies seemed to have responded with expensive thinking, which is indicative of the future we all face.

As a creative director it was fascinating to see which work was pushing the buttons with the client jury. The creativity was more evident in some categories than others, but it would be foolish not to examine the merits of all these campaigns. To my earlier point – agencies can only do great work if clients buy it. The Best Awards are one of the few schemes with a client jury and this might be why marketing directors and agencies seem to value them equally.

Insight

The awards evening itself was compèred by Russell Kane. Many a famous comedian compère has drowned in the indifference of an advertising audience. Kane, though, being an ex-Billington Cartmell copywriter, owned the audience with great comedy insight into the industry. It was a brilliant example to all present of creativity and effectiveness in action.

If they continue in this vein, the Best Awards should have a very healthy future, worthy of their lofty billing. Anyone who has met Scott Knox, the passionate, innovative and driven MAA managing director, will have little doubt that this will be the case.

ALISTAIR ROSS
HEAD OF CREATIVE, DraftFCB LONDON.
Chairman, Creative jury. MAA Best Awards 2012.