by Jake Bester (@BI9PUN) The 2014 Loeries, South Africa’s most prestigious creative festival, is upon us, which means in the upcoming week a select group of local creatives will determine which work will win.
While the international award shows are normally big news, it hasn’t necessarily been a big year for SA work overseas. The Loeries, therefore, provides one last opportunity to gain much-needed creative points and possibly even motivate for bigger awards budgets next year. Never forget: the PR value from winning awards is “huge”.
Don’t
As a result of a poorer showing by SA internationally — in volume only, I must add — those who have won abroad might be feeling pretty confident coming into the Loeries, as there is less big work to compete against. My experience says: “Don’t.”
Don’t expect the judges to be wowed by international success and, therefore, don’t assume success at the Loeries is guaranteed.
I’m not saying this work doesn’t deserve to win. Just don’t expect a white wash. Local judges have a history of being tough on work that has won abroad.
Tough on ourselves
Please don’t take that the wrong way. It’s not malicious. The results are always fair, but we are a nation who constantly tries to prove ourselves as the best in the world and, as a result, are extremely tough on ourselves.
There are, however, also some practical reasons that the international work might not score at home.
First, judges abroad have a lot more creative work to get through — thousands of pieces sometimes. Here at home, fewer entries to judge mean time for greater scrutiny on each piece.
Secondly, context. Because of the complexity of multinational panels, what is easily understandable is often awarded. In other words, if a brand is well-known, it’s easy to see why an idea works. When this is not the case, great work might be misunderstood and therefore not awarded.
Is the work right or just pretty?
At the Loeries, the people judging your work are probably working on a competing product or have, at some point, even worked on that specific brand. They know the market, the brand and, as a result, the context of whether the work is right and or just pretty.
Thirdly, the SA creative industry is small. Tiny. This means everybody knows your business, what has been done here in the past, by whom, where it ran, how many times it ran and if it ran. The anonymity of a global market place is lost, so, if it’s not legit or totally original, the truth is out there.
Also, when SA is playing abroad, it’s all about SA winning. When we come home, it’s all about oour local team. Opinions aren’t held back. It’s never unfair. It’s seldom biased but, if a judge is going to say it’s good, which might mean his or her team losing, it had better be great.
Everybody loves the underdog
And, finally, a lot of great work is being done by agencies that can’t afford to enter the international shows so they invest in the Loeries. This means the big international winners might be up against work that hasn’t been seen yet —and we all know everybody loves the underdog.
So, yes, work that has won internationally might not win at the Loeries, but it also might.
Regardless, I like winning at home to be difficult and, therefore, to mean something. I also like it that a Loerie says my work is not only good, but good for the SA market for which it is intended.
Good luck to everybody who has entered — here’s to a great week celebrating great work. And to the judges, stay tough. Let’s keep a Loerie a bird that is hard to catch.
Jake Bester (@BI9PUN) currently has the pleasure of overseeing the creative offering at Publicis Machine. This comes after an 11-year stint at Ogilvy Cape Town, where his career actually began in client service. Not ideal, but we all pay our dues somewhere. During his 15-year career, he has taken blue-chip brands such as Red Bull, Volkswagen, SAB, MWEB and Marmite to new creative heights, both locally and internationally. He lives in Cape Town. Loves the city and the people in it. He also loves the internet, surfing, reading, gardening, running and squash. He has a dog. It’s not love yet.
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