Clive Simpkins takes a look at the Loeries — the Comrades=20 Marathon of advertising and marketing
THE advertising industry Loerie Awards have come and gone=20 and the usual hangover-impaired postmortem is in full=20
The awards, where the marketing community recognises=20 advertising excellence, have always been controversial and=20 this year was no exception.
Even as the creators of commercials were sitting in the Sun=20 City Superbowl, waiting to receive awards, M-Net’s Carte=20 Blanche was taking a dip at some of them.
Last week, I commented on ads that won awards but did=20 nothing for the brand they were advertising. However,=20 before one can subjectively damn specific ads or=20 commercials, one needs some representative market opinion=20 or information.
A case in point is that despite the widespread discontent=20 with Telkom, perceptions about it have shifted positively=20 in the last year, courtesy of O&M’s work. So, love or hate=20 the commercials, they are doing something.
Contrary to comments on Carte Blanche, I admire Sonnenberg=20 Murphy Leo Burnett’s, Mercedes Benz hedgehogs commercial.=20 From=20a purely educational viewpoint, that which nudges us=20 toward either laughter or tears is best remembered and the=20 little critters are a whimsical way of addressing eco- friendliness. A hedgehog in a gas mask makes quite a non- verbal statement. Advertising that works really doesn’t=20 always have to be sledge-hammer stuff.
The Loeries have each year got bigger ‘n better and one=20 wonders what the next gripping event will produce.=20
There seems something odd about having a totally black=20 children’s choir singing Shosholoza and Nkosi Sikelel’=20 iAfrika in 1995. Rather like trotting out the missionary- school entertainment for the memsahibs. Planners should=20 take more initiative in moving towards a broader=20 representation. If we’re moving in the right direction, let=20 the rainbow children be seen.
From=20those agencies winning numerous awards, there is=20 seldom a critical word to be heard. From those not winning=20 awards, the criticism flows fast and freely.=20
One marketer felt Loeries were “being dished out like=20 Smarties”. Realistically though, awarding 80 Loeries out of=20 2 445 entries received from 160 agencies and studios really=20 isn’t excessive.
I agree with some of the top agency people I called in a=20 subsequent informal telephone survey. The number of awards=20 needs to be driven by the creativity of the entries. Merit=20 and not an arbitrary number needs to be the criterion.
The standards applied by the judges, lest some accuse them=20 of generosity, nepotism or partiality, is such that some=20 campaigns which didn’t even make it through the initial=20 screening process in South Africa went on to win medals in=20 New York. So the industry is maintaining exceptionally high=20
The Loeries, rather like Topsy, has “growed” and in the=20 process, become unwieldy. What has happened, is that each=20 year new, and praiseworthy, categories have crept in. This=20 year the student awards — a laudable motivator, imposed an=20 added time burden.
By all accounts the evening was classed as successful and=20 enjoyed by many. But it has become the Comrades Marathon of=20 advertising and marketing. One issue on which everyone I=20 spoke to agrees: the Loerie awards ceremony is simply too=20 long. As someone said: “It’s like trying to pour a quart=20 into a pint jar of time.”=20
This year’s function started at 18:30 on Sunday night and=20 ground to a halt at 20 minutes past midnight on Monday=20 morning. A six-hour, mind- and bum-numbing endurance test.
The “gallery” — tiered seats around the Superbowl — was=20 criticised as having entrenched the moniker “peanut=20 gallery”, with horn-tooting, rattle-grinding and catcalls=20 lending support and atmosphere to the work unfolding on=20 screen. Perhaps Newlands and the Rugby World Cup have=20 engraved a new kind of participation on the national=20
The choice of Fran Drescher and Tim Modise as masters of=20 ceremony appears to have received mixed reviews. A couple=20 of conservative people were appalled at “the Nanny’s”=20 earthy and in some cases, anal humour. On Radio 702 this=20 week she was a sheer delight. Maybe she just misjudged her=20 audience. Modise can never be accused of having a light=20 touch and although he’s a good and tenacious interviewer,=20 one might have expected that someone with a tidge more=20 public relations flair could have been found.
Nobody has the ideal solution to the Loeries’ ills but all=20 agree the duration is an intolerable imposition on the=20 clients they host at the event. One industry luminary has=20 suggested that the function mirror the Cannes film awards,=20 where there’s very little hoopla. The work is shown, you go=20 up, get the award and then sit down.
Before next year’s function, some radical surgery will have=20 to be done.=20
Some agency people don’t feel audio-visual forms part of=20 mainstream advertising, that its use is mostly in-house in=20 companies and organisations. All are reluctant to start=20 drawing distinctions between classic “above-the-line” (for=20 example, television, radio and print) and “below-the-line”=20 (for example, design, packaging, brochures and posters)=20 advertising, since it’s become fashionable to be a=20 “through-the-line” agency.
The time has clearly arrived for a thorough reappraisal of=20 the Loeries and how they should be handled. All said and=20 done, perhaps there is a case for a separate function=20 recognising the other areas. The problem is that splitting=20 the monies available at present would reduce both events to=20 a financially non-viable status.
In its present form, however, the immense cost of staging=20 such an event also seems a little out of kilter with=20 Reconstruction and Development Programme-directed thinking.=20
It would benefit all — including the audience’s backsides=20 — if we took a lesson from the Oscars, which last about=20 three hours. It would be difficult to find a more self- congratulating crowd than Academy Award nominees. If they=20 can do it, so can we.
Maybe we need to keep the awards presentation quite=20 utilitarian, provide more entertainment and handle special=20 mentions, craft awards, audio-visual and international as=20 separate issues. Showcasing just the Loeries and the Grand=20 Prix award.=20
The Loeries Committee for 1996 should listen to the=20 industry and revamp the format now.