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Chief
They matter. They open doors, fast-track careers, and give you job security. Saying they don’t matter is like a chef calling Michelin stars fancy dinnerware.
I am CONSTANTLY looking for talented creatives who haven’t won big awards yet, because they’re at a discount, they’re hungry, and I can help shape them. Sometimes (not all) the award winning creatives I hire do a lil’ bit of coasting - and at a premium cost.
You have a gift. Scouting potential talent very easy.
Because award winners usually struggle to cope with real briefs for real business problems in the real world.
You’re so wrong, ED.
Because no one wants to appear that shallow.
Rising Star
Because it definitely is not the only thing senior creatives care about when looking at portfolios?
I think awards have ruined this business. Instead of focusing on moving the needle for our clients we focus on wining them and certain CMO’s only care about them as well. We spend million dollars on entry fees, a million dollars in non billable hours and then 100-200k sending c suite to Cannes.
All because of the fragile egos that run these agencies need validation from their peers. Yes it gets business, but the wrong kind of business from trophy-hunting CMOs who get canned after two years.
Then we wonder why budgets shrink? Because CEOs see this circle jerk and wonder where the value in marketing even is? You can tell when an ad is crafted to win a trophy. Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t we here to sell product? Does the public really give a shit that some never before seen tech was used or are they looking for something eye catching? It can be one and the same but it’s often not. The real test should be on metrics after an ad is placed, sales when ads run, vitality, etc. not a fucking lion.
Like those award winners in recent years, wonder how many times I heard non ad people mention them? Zero.
And let’s not forget how many layoffs happen each year but you’ll NEVER see that Cannes $ shrink.
It’s pretty pathetic.
Rising Star
👆 many of the same accounts that ask about recent awards when pitching, hate that we’re chasing them once we have the account. Double edged sword. In my experience, most clients loathe that part of our business, unless you’re taking them on the boat every year. Give them long enough and they’ll use that against you too.
The only people who act like that are the people who can't win them.
I only started pretending they don’t matter after I won them all and was making lots of money
Rising Star
Same, except the “pretend” part. By not worrying about them I ended up winning them.
Everyone knows they mean nothing but opening doors, but everyone also knows they don’t actually do the real job of rewarding ads that sell and are actually a result of who you know.
Rising Star
We’re a bit far off topic - but I would confidently argue that a majority of Cannes winning work wasn’t particularly effective in the eyes of consumers. If it were, we wouldn’t have to search for proof. It would be very obvious, and our chasing of award winning work wouldn’t have the stigma it does with a majority of clients.
None of this changes the correctness of pursuing strategically creative and unexpected work.
Rising Star
Hype helps. There are plenty of Cannes winners who can’t land a job because of no recent wins.
Awards are like NFTs or meme coins. They lose their value almost immediately.
It’s part of the only thing that matters in this career. Results.
Pro
“In this industry” is too broad. They matter to creative department and, to a lesser degree, accounts, because people hiring those positions consider awards important. For every other department “in this industry” they don’t matter at all, because no one hiring in those departments gives a shit about them.