Written by Jeremy King, CEO, Festival of Media
In an industry fundamentally built on the art of communication it makes sense the serendipity of bumping into people at various industry events tends to yield great business results.
It was one such meeting at Cannes Lions, which inspired this piece. For the purposes of anonymity, the independent media agency we are about to talk about will remain nameless.
However, the agency was upset at failing to win a Lions trophy in the media sector. Alongside all of the usual cliches including ‘your time will come’, ‘you can never predict what the juries will select as winners’ and ‘the competition was strong’, we asked to see the campaign said agency submitted.
With our expertise in the awards and ad industry it was clear the campaign, although a fantastic media campaign, was not a creative media case study. It had fantastic insights, a clever strategy and brilliant results, but the level of creativity was low. Upon realising this we explained to the agency the Lions juries are looking for how the creative idea was the catalyst for the rest of the campaign and not the smart media planning, the clever use of platforms, or the creation of content.
After digesting this the agency in question, although still not happy, understood what we were saying and the importance of ensuring the right work is submitted into the right awards programmes and for the right juries.
Obviously, it’s a huge honour to win a Cannes Lions, but equally there is no point in entering a race you have no chance of winning. It becomes pointless and expensive. The point of entering is to help build a positive internal culture, retain and attract the best client and drive new business. What you don’t want to do is enter a programme where the judges are left questioning why you entered, rather than the great work that has been produced. It leaves the team down, the entrant feeling deflated and the leaders disappointed.
At Festival of Media we have always made it clear our programmes are there to celebrate the entire holistic media sector and as such make our entry prices as competitive as possible to allow companies of all size – revenue and people wise – to be part of setting industry benchmarks by showcasing their work on a global and regional level.
Media is a communication tool to promote, inform and market products and services to a variety of audiences via a multitude of mediums, channels and initiatives and the foundation of Festival of Media.
That said Festival of Media also offers an opportunity for those campaigns driven by creativity to shine, where innovation is as important as results and impact.
We aim to ensure everyone from the smallest adtech company to the largest media agency has an opportunity to showcase industry leading work to inclusive juries of mainly clients from all corners of the world.
There are strict processes in place to ensure the integrity of the entering and judging systems, but they are realistic processes and rules that treat entrants like adults and allow juries to select their winners and set industry benchmarks consistently across APAC, Latam, North America, EMEA and the rest of the world.
