Award-show behaving badly

Immature or wild at heart? Either one could describe the third annual Bookmarks awards evening, where the digital marketing and publishing evening took the opportunity last night, Thursday, 18 November 2010, to pat one another on the back – albeit cautiously.

Held at Brio in Cape Town, the long narrow room filled to capacity by 7pm, the evening kept guests on their feet for the next two and a half hours, literally, since no seating was available.

The vibe was clubby, with MC Don Packett looking ready to take a club to the audience and batter them into silence (“Shut up. That fucking works.” really did not), the confined space flashing conversations around the hall like those stupid green strobe lights they kept shining into my eyes. I’ve come to realise there is a reason award shows sit people down at tables and ply them with food or drink. Bookmark organisers take note.

The MC never had a hope of managing or engaging his audience; with events taking place upfront and obscured by several hundred heads, those at the back had little to do but catch up with other industry folk. Trust digital junkies to turn any event into a networking opportunity.

At the end of it, an annoyed Packett simply tweeted; “The crowd at #bookmarks2010 are honestly the rudest bunch of f*cks I’ve ever had to entertain. Have some respect for ur industry. Pathetic.” Sure fire way to win them over. The porn, strip club and JZ’s Facebook relationship status jokes didn’t work, either.

For the digital agency crowd, the evening can only be described as disappointing. The awards were few and far between and consisted mostly of Bronzes and a handful of Silvers. Not a single Gold was given out in this category. No awards were given out in six of the listed categories. Is SA’s digital marketing industry that bad? If so, clients should be mightily annoyed, considering the judges focus on measurability and results (which counts towards 40% of the final score).

Of the 20 awards given out (18 Pixels and two Best of Show), Ogilvy Interactive stood out with two Silvers and Best of Agency Show (Integrated), thanks to its Goodbye Citi campaign. Gloo won two Silvers and a Bronze, Trigger Isobar two Silvers, Click2Customers won a Silver and Best of Agency Show (Best Paid Search Campaign). ClickThinking got two Bronzes and a Silver and YuppieChef a Bronze and a Silver. New kid on the block Native went home with a single Bronze in this category, as it did at the Loeries earlier this year, thanks to Stonewall+.

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