TechCrunch awards

are called the Crunchies and have recently announced winners here

Effie Tag

Got tagged by IQads blog to answer the question: who writes the brief of effectiveness for Effies?

Since I sense a tidal wave of "it's teamwork between all those involved" I'll just keep it simple here: that person or persons who feel they "own" the project, they have nurtured it and know most about it. Sometimes it's just the planner, sometimes it's just the CS, sometimes (you rock Serban) it's just the creative, sometimes it's a team. There are no boundaries or set responsibilities because advertising is a blurry field.

EURO Effies

I am a member of the first round of judging for the EURO Effies and so far it's been a rather interesting experience.

The entire judging process takes place online and we never really get to see the actual creative work - unless the agency chose to upload it, which did not happen in many cases - but only read through market challenges and results.

What I find extremely interesting is the impulse to simply open a new tab and google the case you're reading to assess whether the results are actually real and to read some consumer reviews of the ads :-). Some of the cases we judge are high profile brands and high profile campaigns and sometimes you tend to think that you've read something on that specific subject and just want to check.

However, the extra twist of Effies is that they are, apart from awards for effective communication, also a test of effective writing and persuasion. Irrespective of how much information is available online you need to rely solely on your interpretation of the data you are given - that is why HOW the case is written is essential.

I look fwd to some results in the Romanian Effies for that specific reason also - because some of them will have been written by two great copywriters :-)

No, I don't think TV cuts it anymore

I got a comment a while back about the efficiency of TV over youtube and somehow that touched a chord. Mainly because we all know how GRPs and TRPs get computed, with no regard to the qualitative aspect. That means that really no one can say if the audience was paying attention, if they were in the room, etc etc, it's all based on averages and probabilities and all that.
And while i do not argue the efficiency of TV, I doubt it's effectiveness for the simple reason that it mindlessly feeds stuff into our brains and we most often do not react to that stuff. I think that TV does not cut it anymore because it does not offer two things:
- help and
- choice
Help in the sense that few campaigns actually provide the information that people seek leaving them with preconceived ideas and unanswered question
Choice in the sense that it does not ask people if they want to see and ad but simply push the ad like a hypodermic needle. And we all know where that theory went :-)
So, basically I would rather talk to less people who are aware of what I am saying than to a lot who are blind and deaf to my message. In the end it evens out :-)