More on the scam debate from Campaign India
There’s a very good article on scam ads that caught Campaign Brief’s eye today in the latest issue of Campaign India (August 14th). The article “Have scam ads been eradicated from awards?” is written by Arun Sudhaman, previously working with Media Magazine in Hong Kong, but now transferred to Haymarket’s flagship London ad mag Campaign.
The article looks at why scam ads were down at this year’s Cannes Advertising Festival and in the story Philip Thomas (Cannes CEO) and David Lubars (Cannes Press & Film jury head) are quoted along with Neil French, John Merrifield and Calvin Soh from our region.
Cannes believes scam is becoming a thing of the past as they make concerted efforts to weed it out. Others are doubtful with the general belief being scam was down in Cannes this year as agencies had less money to invest in it due to the current global economic crisis. It’s probably true that juries felt they had to be more politically responsible with their decisions this year.
As Sudhaman explains though, despite the so-called hard line taken by Cannes this year, it’s a difficult position for the festival organisers (and other awards shows) who financially benefit from scam ad entries. Despite the hard talk on clamping down on scam it’s a hollow threat from Cannes CEO Philip Thomas. If the festival was serious on the clamp down then proper punitive actions would be in place with agencies like FP7 Qatar (exposed at the Dubai Lynx) and TBWA Paris and Epoch Films (with Lions revoked in 2008) barred from entry for the next two years.
Here’s a few quotes from the story:
Philip Thomas: “We talked a lot to the jury presidents and they werevery keen, in this difficult economic year, to say that it’s genuinework for genuine clients,” he says. “I think it’s becoming a thing ofthe past.”
Neil French: “Was Cannes virtually scam-free? Well, it depends on howyou define ‘scam’. I know for certain that a large proportion of thisyear’s winners were for clients who couldn’t possibly afford the mediacosts of running the work. Does that make them scams? If you delve intothe murkier regions of the shortlist, it becomes near-hilarious.”
John Merrifield: “We agreed from the outset to weed out the work thathad a familiar smell to it”. But he is equally clear about where theprimary responsibility for policing scam rests. “A jury’s role is notto police. The festival’s organiser should shoulder thatresponsibility, although they rarely do.”
Calvin Soh: “Who really has resources to spare to work on non-existentclients? We have enough trouble keeping all of our existing clients.”
Read the full article on Brand Republic.
8 Comments
Does one detect a glimmer of an anti-scam stance in Neil French’s quote?….now THAT is hilarious. It’s like Madonna disowning a kid from Malawi.
Truth is, with a letter from a client anything can be legitimised…and thats the way the game is played today. “Scam? What scam…we got a letter!”
Agencies will never step up to put an end to scam…too many high ranking people’s bonuses rest on it.
The only group that can put their foot down are the very people whose business is most adversely affected by scam….namely the Clients.
They (clients) need to understand that an agency with scam as its highest objective does not have the inclination nor the creative thinking skills to give that kind of importance to their business.
Don’t hate the player hate the game. Too many award shows. No policing. No strict rules. No regulations. If award shows were serious they would act seriously. If an ad has run and there is a client letter, then it’s legit. If that doesn’t cut the mustard anymore change the rules. Make it hard. But stop the constant boring groundhog day debate. Everyone in this region and their mother has done proactive/scam/initiative work. This years winners were as scammy as ever.
Lastly please define a scam, make that the permanent definition and stick to it and enforce the shit out of it. So we can all move on.
Our industry is responsible for promoting rampant consumerism which is destroying this planet on a large scale and people want to get righteous about scam ads. What a joke. So never mind doing ads that promote cigarettes, booze, oil companies, cars etc…. Things that kill millions of people and destroy rain forests . But lets get irate about whether an ad has run once or 5 times. Pleeeeeeze!
Neil French, former worldwide creative director, WPP
“Was Cannes virtually scam-free? Well, it depends on how you define
‘scam’. I know for certain that a large proportion of this year’s
winners were for clients who couldn’t possibly afford the media costs of
running the work. Does that make them scams? If you delve into the
murkier regions of the shortlist, it becomes near-hilarious.
“Frankly, I don’t give a damn. Personally, I’ve been lucky enough rarely
to have had to produce work like that, always dealing directly with
‘proper’ clients.
“But junior creatives don’t have this luxury. Hence the need to
shop-window their talent for, let’s call them, ‘shadowy’ clients. In my
view, this is not important; we all like to see great ideas and images,
just as we enjoy the bizarre clothes trotted down walkways at fashion
weeks, and weird ‘concept’ cars at motor shows.
“Back to Cannes. Truly scammy ads for tattoo parlours still have to be
financed by the agency, as do most of the extortionate entry fees. So
last year, managements couldn’t afford the luxury. No surprise, then,
that the shadows in the Palais were less noticeable.
“But amid this apparent orgy of holier-than-thou self-congratulation,
has no-one noticed the general trend towards bizarre art direction
rather than simple ideas, or, perish the thought, persuasion? I find
this far more disquieting. I suspect we may be bailing with teacups
while ignoring the fact that the boat is on the rocks.
“In the end, though, it’s only advertising; nobody dies, eh?
I love these scam debates.
All those people who can’t win awards but “create effective advertising that works for our clients” decry those that are getting up on stage year after year. Well get used to it guys. You can complain all you want but award shows are here to stay and as long as an ad runs at least once it is legit.
By the way it goes without saying that we “create effective advertising that works for our clients” too. And we get up on stage.
Agreed 6.46.
And good point CB. Philip Thomas can strut all he likes about cracking down on scam but if he and other award shows were serious about scam then they would ban agencies exposed for scamming from entering for the next two years.
About 6 years ago i was told Cannes Lions actual profit take home was 10 Mill US so agree doubt they will clamp down.
Neil French said:
” we all like to see great ideas and images,
just as we enjoy the bizarre clothes trotted down walkways at fashion
weeks, and weird ‘concept’ cars at motor shows.”
Sure we do. But those bizarre clothes and weird concept cars are mostly created by companies who make a damn good product for the mainstream to begin with. They do not pour all their time, resources and talent into JUST making ‘concept’ cars or they’d go broke and out of business.
And one more thing…fuck all this rationalising that junior creatives need an ‘outlet for their pent up creativity…Dave Trott was once a junior …as were John Hegarty and Lee Clow. They found a way without doing some fake shit. It is possible for todays juniors to do that as well, if only they tried…or for that matter, had the ability. The question is…do they?