The Allure of the Awards
I write this having just attended the Revolution Awards last Thursday. As an original awards-sceptic, I am beginning to get into the allure of awards and the positive benefit they have across both our agency and for clients.
The truth is that in our earlier years, national awards seemed something beyond us. They were perceived by us, as the preserve of the London agencies that seemed to neatly share them across both Soho and Clerkenwell very comfortably. It seemed like an exclusive club that we thought we couldn’t join.
But things are now changing and Redweb, like other “out of London” agencies, is becoming increasingly more successful in nominations and wins.
BIMA Awards 2009 from AlastairDuncan on Vimeo.
Redweb won BIMA’s best Informational Website in Nov 2009
So what changed? Firstly we started entering! A simple concept but until a few years back, we never thought we stood a chance, so we didn’t try. Bizarre; looking back on it. We were busy doing the day job and saw all that glittery stuff as a distraction and unnecessary.
Secondly, we applied ourselves to the art of the entry process. We now devote more time and properly read the entry requirements, thus tailoring the submission to meet the judges’ needs. For example, if it is an award on “effectiveness”, we know it needs specific evidence to show the project’s success. Another change we made to our habits was to start considering the award submission at the beginning of a project. That way you can set in place the analytics, speak to the client and add the extra value-adds more easily as you progress.
Thirdly, we think about the entry from the judge’s perspective. Think story, think elevator pitch. We now know that they don’t want pages of content to get the message. We try to be succinct. We don’t always succeed! It’s easy to get carried away when you are so passionate about the work.
Finally, we realised that any project can win. It isn’t all about FMCG and high street names these days. Our BIMA was won for a public sector website. Our Revolution nomination was for Unite the Union. There was a time when we thought some of our work wasn’t sexy enough. It’s great to see the diversity.
Whilst we knew that clients liked it too, an unexpected benefit was seeing the pride and excitement generated amongst the staff here at Redweb. What a motivator! Now the project teams are competing to develop award winning work.
So we are hooked and having tasted glory keen to experience more! Hence our mandate at Redweb is to continue to push innovation and creativity and think award potential. Instilling diligence, excellence and designing work we think has potential to win across all we do is beneficial for everyone.
2 replies to “The Allure of the Awards”
Love the video, what a great night, and makes all that hard work for our clients all the more worth while.
Check out our Redweb dudes in the video: 40seconds in
Nice write-up Andrew; I’m so impressed with the award nominations that Redweb have had in the last 12 months and as you say, it proves that often perceived ‘un-sexy’ work that hits business objectives, deserves to be recognised.
Next stop Cannes Cyber Lions and Webby’s?!
Leave a comment