Awards Shows: Are They Worth It?

Branding and marketing industry practitioners like nothing more than a big dinner, and an opportunity to pat each other on the back. There are awards show dinners for advertising campaigns, for specific media, for specific product categories, for marketing plans, and just about every other variant you can imagine. Plus, most of these awards shows come in civic, regional, national and international flavours. Large advertising agencies have full-time staff who do nothing but prepare entries for these things. All of which begs the question – are they worth the cost and the time it takes?

The easy answer is maybe. It depends who’s asking.

Staff at the companies who are victorious get a big rush out of winning awards. It’s great for team morale, and a smart manager will leverage the wins internally to prolong the feeling. These days, with a shaky economy still struggling to remember how to walk upright, a little morale boost from any source is a good thing.

Companies with a great track record of high profile wins attract better talent. The best people want to work for the best firms, and one way to determine who is really good at what they do is by counting up the trophies.

The recognition that awards bring can help build awareness for a company, and perhaps aid in the process of finding new clients and customers. At the very least it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of a fuss made publicly over some really great work.

And finally, there’s a case to be made that awards shows raise the bar; that celebrating the best of the best makes everyone work smarter and try harder in the year ahead.

There are those who disagree with all of the above. This crowd of naysayers base their arguments on a few different platforms. One argument is that awards juries are easily swayed, and that unscrupulous winners create work that is designed to get jury members votes, instead of results that create sales. We’ve all heard the stories of branding companies that strike deals with clients that go like this: “We’ll do this outrageous ad campaign for you for free if you agree to run it once or twice so we can enter the awards shows with it.” That’s not kosher, of course, but I question how often it really happens.

Another point often raised is that the substantial time and resources required to enter these competitions favours the biggest and best-funded companies. According to this line of thought, the little guys don’t have the time or money to enter, so are the awards really indicative of great work or just deep pockets?

So. Good or bad? My opinion is that they are good. The benefits may be soft, and not immediately recognizable on a balance sheet, but worthwhile nonetheless. Today, credibility is king, in any industry, and a few statues and trophies can help everyone feel good about working with, or for, a winner.

Air Canada Wastes Branding Opportunity

For many years I was an Air Canada loyalist. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. I did everything I could to be true to the brand, sometimes even paying a bit more than I needed to, or choosing more awkward routes to and from my destination in order to collect frequent flyer points. In return, they upgraded me, told me I was an Elite flyer, and gave me all kinds of perks that made the whole boring mess of business travel more tolerable.

Then the recession hit.

As with many business flyers, my travel was severely curtailed by the economic downturn. I had no choice. My company was forced to find ways to economize, and making do with a conference call instead of face-time with far-flung clients was a logical expense reduction.

To add insult to injury, Air Canada reacted to my decrease in travel spending like a spurned lover. They downgraded me and took away my perks. They cut me loose and removed any need to remain loyal. Our previously monogamous relationship was suddenly unimportant to them, and I was free to sleep around with whatever cheap floozy airline brand offered me the best deal, or the most direct route. At first I was angry. How dare they? After all I had done for them? After ignoring the clearly superior service, pricing and routes often offered by competitors?

Anger rapidly morphed into confusion. I can’t be the only one experiencing this rejection. There are likely thousands, if not tens of thousands of frequent flyers with long-term loyalty track records on file in a big Air Canada computer database somewhere, going through a similar break-up. What if, instead of dumping us all like cheap one-night stands, Air Canada had reacted with empathy? What if they analyzed the relationships and instead of a Dear John letter, sent out a love letter, acknowledging the global financial turmoil, and cutting us all some slack? What then?

“Dear David: We know it’s a tough time. We’ve noticed you’re not flying as much. But we’re all in this together. We’ll keep you at your current frequent flyer status level for an extra year, as our way of saying thanks for the long history of support you’ve shown to our company. Don’t worry. We still love you.”

If I’d received some variation on the above, some kind of big warm hug instead of a rude slap in the face, I’d have been a love-struck teenager for life. I’d have jumped through rings of fire to patronize Air Canada and only Air Canada forevermore. Instead, I’m pissed. And I’m sure the tens of thousands of others who receive their rejection letters from Air Canada this year will be too.

Branding Success Stories

I’ve been writing weekly One Brand Clapping posts for BCBusiness now for 38 weeks (I just counted). It’s a lot of fun, and there are a lot of things I still want to write about. But in the spirit of fair play and community-building I want to offer readers a chance to use this bully pulpit for themselves.

If you have a marketing and/or branding story to tell, this is your chance. Just send me a press release. I’ll consider all the ideas I receive, and write One Brand Clapping posts about the good ones.

How do you make sure your press release is a good one? Here are two simple things to consider before you put pen to paper:

There are much smarter people than me out there who do this professionally. PR specialists create and circulate story ideas to journalists all day. They’d scoff at my simplistic two-step vetting process above. But you’d be surprised how many press releases still get sent that are boring and self-congratulatory.

I’d really like to hear from companies who have used a combination of digital and traditional channels, with some interesting integration between the two, to accomplish objectives.

I’d be very interested in stories about new channels that you’ve discovered, or new tactics you’ve used to connect with your customers in meaningful ways.

I’m always eager to learn about marketing and branding experiments; long shots that turned out to be worth the effort.

Through BCBusiness, your story can potentially reach a lot of people. It’s worth taking the time to put your thoughts on paper and send them off to yours truly. If you click on my name up in the very top right hand corner of this page, next to my passport photo, you’ll be able to email your ideas to me directly. I hope you do.

Pimp Yourself With Personal Sponsorships

Whilst in the midst of the Olympic hoopla, it’s hard to miss that sponsorship fuels this global event. VANOC has sponsors, as does the IOC and the individual athletes. Everything seems to have a logo plastered on it. The basic premise is that people ("eyeballs," in the lingua franca of sponsorship) are going to be looking at things. The more eyeballs, the more valuable it is to have a commercial brand within their field of vision. Makes sense.

Could it work for you?

If you have eyeballs on your store, your car, or yourself, it’s conceivable that some brand might be interested in sponsoring that space. One local entrepreneur, a business coach who spends a lot of time in airports, on planes and in front of CEOs, has sold the space on his laptop to a group of sponsors for $2500 a pop, for a whole year. Cameron Herold was one of the people who made 1-800-Got-Junk successful, and he’s parlayed that into a career as a speaker and mentor to entrepreneurs near and far.

He got the idea from the world of ski racing. “I noticed years ago how skiers would always hold their skis up to the cameras when being interviewed, to show off the sponsor logos,” Herold said. “This was long before logos appeared on athletes' clothes and everything else imaginable.”

Here's how Herold did it: he posted to Twitter explaining the offer, had 12 companies respond, and chose the five that were the best fit. He gave away one space to a charity that aligns well with his profession and promised to talk about all his sponsors at every opportunity for a whole year. One enterprising entrepreneur upped that ante, and offered to buy the space on the back of his iPhone for the next 12 months. Herold accepted.

Who else could hop on this train? Accountants could sell space on their calculators and briefcases to accounting software companies. Advertising firms could sell space on self-promotional brochures and office windows to printers and media companies. Dentists could promote toothpaste. Car dealers could promote car washes. Realtors could pimp renovation companies.

With a little imagination, any business could find brands that would like to be in front of their customers and clients on a regular basis. It might not work as well for you as it did for Herold, but does it hurt to try?
 
In some ways this is a twisted reincarnation of an old tactic, whereby a company prints up pens, coffee mugs or ball caps and distributes them to customers and clients. But instead of reinforcing your brand with current customers, this newfangled idea leverages your audience to help your suppliers and associated companies establish greater awareness with potential new leads.
 
Personally speaking, I’m going to have a word with various cheese and wine makers about sponsoring me; perhaps offering them semi-permanent tattoos on my mid-section. May as well get back some of the sizeable multi-year investment I’ve made in their success.

Get Your Charity On, Vancouver

I hope you'll indulge a rant about corporate social responsibility. The basic idea is this: the slackers are dragging us down.

Pick a category: arts, sports, education, diseases, social issues, the list goes on. All community groups, NFPs, and charities have been hit hard by the economic hurly-burly. Many businesses write a cheque here and there; others have full-on programs and raise/donate millions of dollars. But what about the rest of you?

Many things prevent businesses from being good corporate citizens, and that high on the list is revenue, or lack thereof. I think about some of the small charities that are struggling, and what a donation of even $100 can mean. But even if that level of support is not possible right now, there are other ways to help.

Here are some other simple and inexpensive things you can do for little or no money that will make the world a better place. Pick one. Do it this week. You’ll feel great. And in some small way you’ll have made someone else feel great too.

• •    Promote a charity website on your website
• •    Include a fundraising message in a mailing or print ad
• •    Give your staff an extra day off to volunteer somewhere
• •    Donate your skills (charities need accountants, lawyers, writers, designers, etc.)
• •    Organize a fundraiser in your store or office
• •    Donate equipment you no longer use or need
• •    Donate a small percentage of sales on an ongoing basis
• •    If you buy multiple ads in the media every year, peel off one or two and give them to a charity to use for themselves
• •    Actively encourage your friends who own/run businesses to do the same

If all the tens of thousands of businesses in the Lower Mainland found a way to do something to help, we could make a huge difference.

To those of you who are already doing something, bravo, and may you receive pillows in heaven and the everlasting gratitude of the people you’ve helped. To those of you who aren’t doing anything, consider yourself spanked. After some time alone in your room, you should come back out and join the rest of us, and be prepared to play nice.

End of rant. Sorry if I pissed anyone off. But it just needed to be said.

One last thing. If you have great ideas about ways to help a group that needs some support, why not leave a comment? Sharing successful ideas with others is a great way to support the cause of supporting causes. So do it. Leave a comment. Maybe someone I’ve just spanked will read it, steal it, and call it their own.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that they do.

Olympic Lessons in Branding

Whether you are for or against the Olympics, it’s happening right now, all around us. Some of the most powerful and intelligent brand people in the world are working their spells on the residents of, and visitors to, Vancouver.

As a marketer, it’s a chance to see how the big boys of branding roll, and there are a few lessons we can all learn, regardless of the size of your operation, or the magnitude of your marketing budget.

Advertising is the cost of entry

It’s all the unexpected stuff that really makes your brand presence known. Think about the street-level tactics that jump up and say “look at me” and reinforce what your customers have been, perhaps, seeing on billboards or in print ads.

Consider merchant activation programs that bring the brand right down to the cash register. Spend on PR activities. Arrange art sponsorships. Get logo-clothing on the backs of supporters and staffers. Put logos on cups, tents, sidewalks and pretty much everywhere else you can imagine.

You’ve got to give the brand boys credit: who at this point doesn't know that Visa, Samsung, General Motors, Royal Bank, Hudson’s Bay Company and CTV are major sponsors?

Consistency is key

You can’t toss a couple of print ads in the paper and a sign in your window and two weeks later wonder why your investment hasn’t paid off. You’ve got to keep at it, and as soon as you are starting to get sick of seeing the same creative for your brand everywhere, you need to realize that your target audience is only then starting to notice you.

Think long-term

The days when you could spend X dollars and see the results the next day are largely over; except perhaps for discounted sales offers or “one week only” specials. Branding efforts will show up over the long term on your balance sheet as a crucial factor influencing the line on the graph to move in an upward direction.

Think in terms of years, or, at the very least, of quarters.

Involve the product and be clear

General Motors Olympic-branded cars are everywhere in downtown YVR right now. HBC ads all feature the clothes they want you to buy. McDonalds has Olympic athletes in TV commercials playing with their food. VISA stickers are on every retail storefront and cash register in town.

There was a day, not too long ago, when clever and kooky creative that made advertising awards show judges giggle was the gold standard. Now, with so many things vying for our attention, the messages that are the most straightforward and clear are the ones that will get noticed. Don’t ask your audience to work too hard to get the message.

These next couple of weeks in Vancouver will be a golden opportunity to see how the world’s most sophisticated brands take advantage of a major sponsorship opportunity. Even if you’re not enjoying the Games themselves, be sure to spend some time watching how the Olympians of the marketing world make their mark.