APMA chairman lashes culture of procurement saying ‘creativity only survives against all odds’
The chairman of the Australian Promotional Marketing Association (APMA) Dave Lo has taken a huge swipe against the use of procurement processes by businesses to hire agencies saying it is creating an environment where “everything is costed and yet nothing is valued”.
Lo, founder of Zoo Republic, made the remarks in his opening address at last night’s Star Awards which honour the best of experiential and promotional marketing, on a night dominated by Leo Burnett Melbourne which took home six Gold awards and the Grand Prix for its work with SPC Ardmona and Honda.
He said: “We are being asked to do more with less and many businesses underestimate the commercial power and impact of a truly great commercial idea.
“Many of us are reviewed by finance and procurement teams who have little or no understanding of creative power or our creative process, and we often find ourselves defending our worth in an environment where everything is costed and yet nothing is valued.
“So I’d like to ask all of you to give each other a big round of applause tonight just for being here, for being finalists and working in an industry where somehow passion and creativity only survive against all the odds.”
The majority of Leo’s success came for the #MyFamilyCan campaign for SPC Ardmona, which won four Golds and the Grand Prix for best in show, and two Golds for campaigns for Honda, for the Be Our Best Critic and Magic Mobile Drive-In campaigns.
Heineken also enjoyed success with the Tui Catch A Million campaign from ApolloNation New Zealand and Momentum Worldwide’s Heineken Chauffeur campaign, while Samsung’s Sideliner by Traffik also grabbed two Golds.
The winners:
GRAND PRIX
CAMPAIGN: #MyFamilyCan
CLIENT: SPC Ardmona
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
APMA IGNITE YOUNG ACHIEVER OF THE YEAR
Nicole Hetherington (BMF)
BEST CAMPAIGN MOST LIKELY TO DRIVE BEHAVIOUR
Winner
CAMPAIGN: Heineken Chauffeur
CLIENT: Heineken Lion
AGENCY: Momentum Worldwide
BEST INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN (UNDER $1 MILLION)
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Tui ‘Catch A Million’
CLIENT: Heineken New Zealand
AGENCY: ApolloNation
BEST INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN (OVER $1 MILLION)
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Heineken Chauffeur
CLIENT: Heineken Lion
AGENCY: Momentum Worldwide
BEST SPONSORSHIP OR TIE-IN CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Samsung SlideLiner
CLIENT: Samsung Australia
AGENCY: Traffik
BEST SHOPPER MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: #MyFamilyCan
CLIENT: SPC Ardmona
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
MOST INNOVATIVE IDEA/CONCEPT
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Samsung SlideLiner
CLIENT: Samsung Australia
AGENCY: Traffik
BEST BRAND BUILDING CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: #MyFamilyCan
CLIENT: SPC Ardmona
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
BEST BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS CAMPAIGN (BUSINESS TRADE OR INTERNAL)
Gold
CAMPAIGN: iNova Partner Programme: Grand Slam 2014
CLIENT: iNova Pharmaceuticals
AGENCY: The Idea Shed
BEST RETAIL ACCOUNT SPECIFIC OR CHANNEL SPECIFIC CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: #MyFamilyCan
CLIENT: SPC Ardmona
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
BEST EVENT OR EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Samsung SlideLiner
CLIENT: Samsung Australia
AGENCY: Traffik
BEST USE OF SOCIAL MARKETING IN A CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: #GivePeace
CLIENT: General Pants Co
AGENCY: Bashful
BEST CAUSE OR CHARITY-RELATED CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Queen Elizabeth tribute to 100 Years of ANZAC
CLIENT: Cunard
AGENCY: April5 Agency
BEST ACTIVITY GENERATING BRAND AWARENESS AND TRIAL
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Be Our Best Critic
CLIENT: Honda Australia
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
BEST ACTIVITY GENERATING BRAND VOLUME
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Sealord Little Boat
CLIENT: Sealord
AGENCY: Geometry Global New Zealand
BEST ACTIVITY GENERATING BRAND LOYALTY
Gold
CAMPAIGN: #MyFamilyCan
CLIENT: SPC Ardmona
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
BEST SMALL BUDGET CAMPAIGN ($75,000 AND UNDER)
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Queen Elizabeth tribute to 100 Years of ANZAC
CLIENT: Cunard
AGENCY: April5 Agency
BEST USE OF CREATIVE IN A CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: Magic Mobile Drive-In
CLIENT: Honda Australia
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Melbourne
BEST USE OF DIGITAL IN A CAMPAIGN
Gold
CAMPAIGN: 30 Nights of Nookie
CLIENT: Reckitt Benkiser
AGENCY: Momentum Worldwide
dave is right, and this phenomenon isn’t confined to the advertising industry
the world is run by accountants
“everything is costed, nothing is valued”
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In my many years of experience agency side, working with the best TVC production in Australia and elsewhere, so much of the time the production company goes out of its way to do favours for the client and stretch the budget asking favours of crew etc. often working with a budget that is unsatisfactory in the first instance.
Generally, the better the work is – think the most famous, popular work you can think of – the more it requires a creative, iterative process where work is improved on the hop, as it is created (this is because as the work becomes tangible, the team is in a better position to make informed choices about it and the seek to improve the result). This also requires diversions, flexibility and good faith from a production company. My point is in every good production team there is already a lot of added-value going on; people busting a gut to make a project work. A procurement mentality undermines this good-faith. They don’t appreciate what a good thing they’re getting in the first place.
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