AWARD crowns BBDO Network of the Year after admitting Publicis announcement was a mistake
AWARD has announced that BBDO is the Network of the Year, not Publicis, as presented at the AWARD Awards last Friday night.
The recount followed heated debate on the CB Blog disputing the Network of the Year title in the days following the AWARD Awards. The general consensus was that BBDO should have taken the top spot, followed by Saatchi & Saatchi and Y&R on equal #2, DDB at #4, Leo Burnett at #5 and Publicis Mojo at #6.
Here is the official release: The Communications Council has clarified a computational anomaly leading to the incorrect announcement on Friday of AWARD’s Network of the Year.
The award, made to the agency network with the most points from creative awards given during the show, has been retrospectively awarded to BBDO. It had previously been awarded to Publicis.
Daniel Leesong (left), CEO of the Communications Council, said the anomaly was recognised after a re-audit of all entries, initiated at the request of AWARD Chairman Craig Davis.
Due to the unique nature of the Publicis Groupe there was confusion surrounding the network definition on the official entry forms.
The anomaly occurred because a number of Publicis Groupe agencies entered ‘Publicis’ as their Network because of a general misunderstanding of the definition of ‘network’. This had skewed the points result towards Publicis.
On a holding company level Publicis Groupe remains the most awarded group, however, on a network level BBDO is the rightful recipient.
“We apologise for this unfortunate outcome, and for the confusion amongst agencies,” said Daniel Leesong.
“Clearly, the Network of the Year prize should have gone to BBDO. We have today contacted them and offered our congratulations,” he said.
All AWARD entries have now been reviewed and no other changes to the results were made, Daniel Leesong said.
“The definition of ‘Network of the Year’ will be clarified ahead of next year’s AWARD awards to prevent this situation occurring in the future.”
49 Comments
Shiiiiiiiiit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_OowbhjJXE
Obviously
Holy shit. that’s big. Can we re-judge the awards? I don’t think this was the only mistake
Should have got Sarah Murdoch to host.
What a sham of an organisation! You can put on a party but you can’t count.
Fucking cowboys.
Brilliantly handled. Well done Award for standing up and admitting a mistake with no spin or mucking about.
Who cares? What does network of the year say about our industry? All we are is an outpost for fucking multinational networks. There should be an award for non network agencies. That would be a award worth celebrating.
Too right Sean.
It was last Friday night, not Thursday.
unless Award was meant to take place on Thursday and they got the day wrong too.
Does this mean another piss-up award night with those delicious mini-chicken rolls?
Interesting point, 1:33. Once you take the vitriol out it’s a fine suggestion: “Independent Agency of the Year”. Why not put it to AWARD?
Is BBDO also Australia’s Next Top Model winner?
I take great exception to what you said, 1:57. Those mini Yorkshire puddings blew the chicken rolls into the weeds. And you know it.
BBDO – WINNING.
1:31 PM, if a ‘computational anomaly’ isn’t spin I don’t know what is. Call me old fashioned but what about simply admitting they stuffed up.
No 2:38PM, YOU are the winner. That was gold.
Wow the ‘communications council’ sure know how to look after their ‘members’.
Honestly, why the hell does the advertising industry need them? It’s not like we need a union to help us fight the capitalist oppressors.
Disgraceful stuff up.
A little bit of care and focus could have prevented this silly mistake.
Just the sort of thing you’d expect from a group calling themselves a ‘council’.
Congratulations to BBDO.
I bet if you did a recount there would be another winner.
Amateur hour
Award has gone from a farce to a tragedy. Somebody please put it out of it’s misery
Oh seriously, who gives two hoots about AWARD. Just another example of how small town it all is.
We all know it was a cock up but at least they’ve admitted as much and, more importantly, put it right.
A lot of good, honest people put a huge amount of energy into the AWARD awards and the new Circus event of which it was part. Mostly, they got it right and they deserve a lot of credit (and our gratitude) for that.
They certainly don’t deserve some of the aggressive comments that can be read here.
Awards are silly.
All advertising awards are a wank.
And what’s more, we all know it.
A definite ohhh f#*& moment. Full credit for taking the hard road of admitting the error and setting the record straight. Congratulations BBDO.
Circus by name Circus by nature.
Not good enough 6.17. Mojo would have (rightly) received a great deal of kudos and prestige out of being voted Network of the Year, that they would have used in pitches, PR etc to the detriment of rival agencies. For AWARD to so blatantly and embarrassingly get it wrong demeans the entire industry. Either AWARD (sorry the “communication council”) is a serious and respect-worthy body or it is not. The fact that the “mistake” involved the Chairmans own agency makes it even worse.
Yes, it was a mistake. Davis was man enough to instigate the review and change the result. They could have just said they will change the rules next year. I agree entirely with 6:17. If you’ve ever bothered to give something back to the industry, like join the AWARD committee, run AWARD School etc…you would know how hard it is to pull off something like Circus. Beyond simply handing out awards, the three days of Circus inspired, provoked and challenged the industry to better itself. I’m sure they’ll learn a hard lesson but the benefits of the last two weeks will far outlast the indignation.
with the lack of gold handed out on the night… this definitely deserves a gold pencil! best use of humour category.
Ad War. Living up to the name. Again.
At least Davis was the one who asked for a recount. A dodgy prick would have kept silent.
I want to thank award for putting on a really well-run award night (mistake above aside). I’ve never seen a ceremony run so efficiently.
Well said 8.52.
Oh well, shit happens, life goes on… if people are so G’d up about it they mustn’t have much else to worry about it life.
It’s amazing that people are talking more about this than Ian’s fake tan and gold hot pants đ
What about me not winning?
That was a farkin disgrace Craig David
As bad as my hangover
Craig David to Daniel Leesong “Can I get a reeeee-wind?”
Craig’s at it again folks, don’t be fooled by the suggestion to “fix it” … damn near got away with it again… reverting to type is all
(and yes, this should be aired Michael)
Taken from the AWARD home page:
âWe educate, celebrate and champion creativity and itâs [sic] extraordinary potential.â
Oh the irony. It seems theyâve never shown much attention to detail on the little things such as who has really won what.
Nice to see Davis getting praised for asking for a recount, but as Chair of this bunch of clowns wasn’t he supervising the count anyway?
A cynic might say when the cherry tree is in chips at your feet and you are standing there with the axe in your hand ‘fessing up is the only real option.
Groucho, is that your way of politely saying something else? You can imagine the internal missive: “now guys, if we just enter ourselves into….”
@9:01 sounds suspiciously like the person in question
@8:31 is the most apt and salient comment – it would’ve had commercial benefit
I donât believe NOY has ever been a âholding companyâ award…. what a piece of spin.
GPY&R no. 2 – who would have thought that a year ago?
Was this appalling cock up bad luck or bad karma?
Depends what you believe in I suppose……………….
Every year, bagging AWARD becomes a 3-day Olympic event.
We seem to forget that every year, AWARD School gives the next generation of creatives the best possible start in this industry. There is no other way that young entrants could be exposed to this expertise.
How may of us have done AWARD School? I bet it’s a fair few. What I learned at AWARD School in 1994 has stayed with me ever since.
Now, AWARD have not only rewarded work from the last year, but they’ve provided speakers from around the world to take our industry into the future.
What it needs is our support, not our ridicule.
If you want it to change, get behind it.
@4:37, I think the industry’s karma just ran over his dogma