HOORAE’s Post

📣For all members who value creativity… We saved you a seat. As the 2024 awards season comes to a close we invite you to behind-the-scenes straight from the judging room – where creativity without confines is celebrated – witness the deliberations that defined the future of advertising and creative excellence this season. ➖Learn from the Best: Hear directly from top creatives and industry pioneers as they share their thoughts, critiques, and insights. ➖Inspire Your Own Work: Understand what sets winning ideas apart and apply these lessons to your own creative projects. ➖Stay Ahead of Trends: Get a sneak peek into the trends and innovations shaping the future of advertising and creativity. Don’t miss this look inside the judging process. It’s more than just an awards show; it’s a celebration of creativity, ideas, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Discussions coming June 10th.

Little reminder to all join this great session!

This. Unpopular opinion, but awards - especially in #B2Bmarketing - are the industry equivalent of social media vanity metrics. They may get you marginally more reach (usually long after the campaign's over), but rarely with your real target audiences. What's worse, the positive signals award wins send out can create feedback loops of groupthink about tactics that can actively harm your ability to deliver. I know it's tough to demonstrate #MarketingEffectiveness, but award wins rarely prove much beyond that marketing people like something. So unless you're selling to marketers, they don't really have much value. This means awards make perfect sense for agencies (and individuals) to enter - but for their clients? The point of marketing is to improve brand perception and make sales with your buyers, not getting a round of applause from other marketers. Which is why, often, I find the less glamorous side of marketing is where the real businesses impact can be found.

I would agree to disagree. Famous work can also be effective work, and effective work can be famous work. There is no end-all in the creative world, where everything we do is subjected to nuance, timing, and perspective. If clients want awards, leverage their desires and appreciation of famous work but ensure it is objective-led first. It's up to the agency teams to ensure we don't work for door-stopper trophies but rather do work to make a difference and ensure you get the door-stoppers along the way. And hey, if Lady Luck is on your side and all they want is awards, then as long as it's paid work, why not?  Thoughts?

An agency’s job is to solve real problems.

This one is for the young ones who want to go to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and compete. In the Netherlands we collaborate with JongeHonden | YoungDogs, We Are RA*W, Young in Media (YIM) and bvA next selecting the best teams to participate. Do check their socials for information. And prepare yourself by attending this masterclass. This is a free Zoom webinar designed to help prospective competitors make the best of their creativity and set them on the path to the Palais. Yes, the one in Cannes, France. 🦁 🦁 🦁 We'll be covering questions such as "What are the Young Lions Competitions?" and "What does it take to win a Lion?". In addition, there will be talks on topics like Creative Bravery hosted by industry leaders from across the globe. We will have plenty of time for Q&A to allow competitors to have their burning questions answered. Join us at 12:00pm GMT (13:00 in NL) on 5 February for ‘Empower your Creative Process, Conquer Fear and Thrive in Young Lions Competitions 2024’ – a virtual Masterclass event consisting of talks and a Q&A covering creative bravery, breaking norms and future proofing your creative career. https://lnkd.in/eWTdxsvp This webinar is open to anyone working in the creative communications industry who is 30 or under. This is a chance to learn more about the competitions and potentially compete.

Here are the categories for the upcoming media awards:

We saved you a seat. As the 2024 awards season comes to a close we invite you to behind-the-scenes straight from the judging room – where creativity without confines is celebrated – witness the deliberations that defined the future of advertising and creative excellence this season. ➖Learn from the Best: Hear directly from top creatives and industry pioneers as they share their thoughts, critiques, and insights. ➖Inspire Your Own Work: Understand what sets winning ideas apart and apply these lessons to your own creative projects. ➖Stay Ahead of Trends: Get a sneak peek into the trends and innovations shaping the future of advertising and creativity. Don’t miss this look inside the judging process. It’s more than just an awards show; it’s a celebration of creativity, ideas, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Discussions coming June 10th.

Cannes Lions hosted 16000+ advertisers from around the world, to celebrate advertising. The secret sauce of Cannes Lions is that the energy here is contagious, and the inspiration is boundless. PS: After last week full of black tie events, this week has been such a refreshing change to dress for the beach, while we deep dive into a sea full of learnings! 🤌 PS2: we are here till Friday eod, Meetesh Kothari Jigar Zatakia and me would love to catch up if you are around. 🫶 #Cannes #CannesLions #Advertising

Pre bank holiday thought before I celebrate Leicester City Football Club lifting the Championship trophy tomorrow... As the Managing Director of a creative agency frequently invited to pitch, I've come to a firm conclusion: creative briefs with a budget of less than 6 figures, particularly those with production elements, should not be subject to competitive pitches. Our agency, along with others, can easily invest upwards of £20,000 in strategic and creative efforts during these pitches. When you consider that three to four agencies are often competing for the same project (we once pitched against TEN!), the potential return on investment diminishes significantly for the winner. I respectfully believe that production-based projects with less than 6-figure budgets should be awarded based on credentials and chemistry meetings. This approach ensures that both the client and agency embark on the project with a clear understanding of expectations and capabilities, thereby reducing financial risks and fostering a more sustainable, respectful partnership. You also don't waste so much time up front and can spend that 'pitch budget' on actual output. More than happy to chat further with any marketing directors / managers / etc. looking to place creative briefs for the remainder of 2024, whilst making the best use of their budgets. Cheers, and have a good weekend all.