The Brand Agency’s decision to withdraw from local PADC awards condemned by Perth rivals

The reaction to The Brand Agency’s decision to not to enter all local awards shows has drawn criticism from rival agencies and the creative fraternity in Perth.

In a detailed statement last week Brand managing director, Steve Harris, said that the decision was part of a broader whole-of-business strategy to bring a greater focus on delivering results for clients, and lifting the creative aspirations to national and international levels.

“None of our clients compete solely against WA businesses. They are all in a marketplace with national and global companies. We don’t want to set a low benchmark for ourselves by being happy with Perth awards. This is part of a strategy to lift our aim and change our focus,” he stated.

Impacted by the decision is the Perth Advertising & Design Club (PADC) awards and the Campaign Brief WA Awards.

The Brand will not be entering this year’s PADC Awards and, although heavily supporting this year’s upcoming Campaign Brief Awards, they will not be entering next year’s 2013 Campaign Brief Awards.

The Brand had originally made the decision, and informed Campaign Brief, that they would not be entering this year’s Awards. However the agency had a change of heart just 24 hours later.

From Campaign Brief’s perspective it will have little financial impact with Brand entry fees over the past five year being between $850 to around $2,500 each year depending on what sort of year the agency has had. The largest impact upon the Campaign Brief Awards will be in terms of the standard of winners and finalist in the creative awards, and more significantly the non-creative awards.

The Brand Agency is a significant player in the market and Agency of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, Ad Person of the Year, Supernova of the Year (young ad person award) and Campaign of the Year are all categories that they have legitimate contenders entered into year after year. As an example, last year Brand client Perth Zoo won Advertiser of the Year; account manager Adrienne Mellor won Supernova of the Year; Steve Harris himself was a finalist in Ad Person of the Year; and the agency was the runner-up for Agency of the Year.

For the PADC The Brand’s decision is a body blow and the financial impact is significantly higher both in terms of both entry fees and ticket sales to the awards night.

At last week’s PADC AGM incoming club president Spencer Battista was visibly emotional and gutted by The Brand’s decision. Brand Agency staff were noticeably absent from the AGM, with several apologising and privately admitting that it would have been embarrassing to attend.

“The decision to boycott local award shows is very disappointing, to say the least,” said Battista (left). “Given the positive association of The Brand with the PADC for so long I would have thought that there would have been other ways to discuss and resolve any issues. Especially given the role that the club has played in helping to create and maintain their creative profile in Perth.”

Battista said this is not the first time an agency has pulled out of a local award show and he would endeavour to work with the Brand to resolve this boycott to the satisfaction of all PADC members.

Ironically, on the STW Group corporate website The Brand Agency’s Best of Show performance at the 2008 PADC Awards is one of the very first things mentioned in their agency profile.

The Brand’s decision has been a hot topic in the comment section of the Campaign Brief blog. 303 senior writer and former The Brand Agency employee Malcolm MacLean (himself a past PADC President) posted this comment: “Steve, this is extremely disappointing news to come from a past patron of the PADC. You would be well aware that the PADC Award fees pretty much fund the Perth Advertising and Design Club’s entire year of activities, including bringing guest speakers for the benefit of the entire industry, a weekend workshop with interstate and overseas judges, and education projects with students including those from Curtin University. The PADC also plays an active role in coordinating AWARD School in WA.

“I suspect that the withdrawal of Brand Agency entry fees this year will cause a vibrant and financially healthy club to struggle. For an agency which has done extremely well out of the PADC Awards for the last 20 years, it seems rather self-centred to suddenly pack up the bat and ball.

“Surely the Brand’s board, who have all profited handsomely from this industry, should take a moment to re-consider the bigger picture?” asks MacLean.

The common belief in off-the-record conversations with senior industry figures is that The Brand’s MD Steve Harris is grandstanding, acting irresponsibly and this decision is based on some perceived short-term business gain. His portrayal of local award shows as dominated by “scam ads”, and using this as a justification for not entering, is particularly galling to his peers. Many also felt for the staff at Brand with incentives like The West Australian Cannes Fellowship, The Caxton Creative Competition, the $20,000 Radio Writers’ award and the Supernova Award now not open to them.

303Lowe managing director Alan Taylor (left) is extremely disappointed in The Brand Agency’s decision to withdraw support of the PADCs.

“I genuinely believe it is part of our collective responsibility to seek out ways to nurture creativity and the craft. Awards shows are a key part of that – both effectiveness and craft. It is a vital forum for creatives to compete, have their work judged by their peers, interact, learn, evolve and improve,” said Taylor. “Naturally, we should be producing world-class work – again a given. So it stands to reason that – if we are – then a local awards show would feature world-class work and hence be a feeder for national and international shows.”

As for the issue of scam, Taylor felt this was much over blown and not a serious concern at the PADC’s.

“Well, of course an international judge isn’t going to know if he/she is judging a genuine ad and that’s why it’s the agencies responsibility when entering – no-one else’s – and that is where integrity kicks in.”

“We as an agency are most certainly committed to the PADC. If you are a creative at 303Lowe you are a member. That’s a given. And we are considering broadening that position to include planning, digital etc,” said Taylor.

“Steve’s decision is very disappointing,” said Marketforce managing director John Driscoll (left). “The PADC provides an important opportunity for young creative talent to blossom and we will continue with our strong support of the Club.”

“Local award shows give peer recognition and encouragement to young creatives working in our industry. Award shows like the PADC and Campaign Brief Awards help foster and develop young creative talent. Most of Perth’s senior creatives, including those at The Brand, were first recognised at these shows and got their start and initial training via the PADC run AWARD School. As an agency we want to foster and develop great talent and we are very proud of how many creatives have won awards in Perth and then moved on to work at other agencies both here and over East.”

Driscoll agreed with Taylor that “scam” definitely wasn’t an issue in the Perth market.

Gatecrasher founding director Adam Barker was also critical of The Brand’s withdrawal from the PAD
C.

“I don’t agree with their decision and reasoning at all,” said Barker (left). “I think it’s shortsighted and irresponsible and it directly threatens the viability of the PADC. The Club plays an important role in fostering and developing creative talent in Perth. The Brand Agency is a large and important agency in Perth and they have benefited in many ways from the PADC awards and the club’s development of young talent.”

“Meerkats enters work into our local awards as a show of support for the industry within which we work, and as a celebration of the great work we do locally,” said Meerkats managing director Gavin Bain. “Entering awards is always based on whether we believe that the work is worthy of recognition in an award arena. Even in years where our award entries have been low we have continued to support our Club and award shows.

“We appreciate that our clients are not always as attracted to creative award success,  but we also feel that they understand our intent in business is to drive their success, and they support our position to support the profession and craft that we are so passionate about.”

He too felt “scam” wasn’t an issue of concern in Perth.