Career Coach: I’m being asked to create a scam award entry – what should I do?
In a regular new column career coach Kate Savage gives advice to people in a pickle. This week looks at what to do if you’re being pressured to enter scam work in awards.
Dear Kate. I’m a suit at [An.Other agency] and during awards season I’m always pulled in to coordinate entries into the different awards – I guess I’m good at getting shit done! Don’t get me wrong, I love winning awards as much as the next creative (well, maybe not that much), but my values have been challenged recently when I’ve been asked to be…um…creative with the entries. When I raised my concerns I was told to ‘just concentrate on winning the award’. What should I do if this happens again?
– Confused @ Cannes
Dear Confused @ Cannes, I was going to start by saying you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, but you’re not really. It’s more like being stuck between a rock (your boss/agency) and a huge piss up and pat on the back (awards all-nighter & ammunition at the next review time). And that makes it harder.
You need to make some choices, and these choices could depend on what level you’re at. If, as it sounds, you’re not too comfortable with the claims this entry is making – you need to make a choice. First and absolutely, you can, and you should, raise your concerns. In writing. That’s a given.
But remember, strong opinions lightly held; this email needs to be really thought through in terms of timing, content and recipients – and the reason why you’re sending it.
If your name if the first on the accolades list and you’re going to be the one going up on stage accepting the award, you need to decide…is it worth the risk of getting found out? Do the possible career-boosting points outweigh the defamation if you get found out? Or, you respectfully recuse yourself early on, at a point where you can claim plausible deniability (yes, Law&Order is my favourite show).
If you’re lower down the food chain, you have less to win, and so less to lose. It’s like this. If Mumbrella wrote an article about this campaign and this entry, would your name appear in it? If not, and you are but a mere toner cartridge in the awards entry machine…it should be easier to back out, or to go with the flow. But it’s still a choice you need to make.
Should you tell your client? Should you tell the judges? Personally, I’d say…no- one likes a tattletale. This isn’t House of Cards. No one’s going to die if this entry goes through, even if the conspiracy does come to light. It’s advertising. We sell stuff – ideas, campaigns, scopes of work – sometimes people get too excited and the lines get blurred.
As long as you stop and make a choice about your involvement, that’s what I’d be asking of you. Then whatever you decide, you’ve taken back control and can proceed with plan a or plan b. The worst thing you can do is get swept along on a wave you’re not ready for, and then crash and burn at the end of the journey having left your values somewhere out to sea.
What’s most important to you at work? Promotion, values, success, awards, respect, likeability – figure those out, and then these decisions will get easier.
- Kate Savage is a career coach and mentor at Elbow Room Group
Got a question for Kate? Email kate.savage@elbowroomcoaching.com or contact her on Twitter @ElbowRoomCoach
Is this really a question someone has written in?
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I call bullshit on this advice.
Do what makes you happy without selling you soul.
No one should be working for an agency who push for scam awards – and if you’re okay with it – you’re everything that’s wrong about this industry.
period.
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Oh for christs sake, both of you – you work in advertisng. Advertising! You take money from n industry that fuels the consummerist society that fucks over our planet. Not to mention youth obescity, and alcoholism . And your’e woried about a scam ad? You’re gonna be in hell a long time – just do the bloody scam and enjoy the award piss up!
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Think this is good pragmatic advice.
@crap – it’s a pretty small industry to have an attitude like yours.
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would think for this column to be a success it will help if the questions are legit and not both made up and painfully copywritten.
I also think a key part of the advice is dangerously wrong. If you’re going to deliver bad news, you should always do it in person, to ensure that the tone is delivered correctly.
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Oh please! Read any award entry and you’ll see grey is the new black!
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Tow the industry line and you will go down with it.
I told my scam blind bosses to take a hike , walked out with my principles and moved to the clientside where transparency, governance and zero tolerance for fraud and misrepresentation is rewarded with proper career advancement and way better money and benefits.
The choice is yours.
Keep playing and abetting the scams game.
Or grow a pair and create real work that gets you poached into the big league where you can actually bank your rewards
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Hi Nick,
Appreciate the feedback. As it’s a new column we wanted to get the ball rolling with something topical, hence the scam.
The intention is where possible to use real-life questions from the audience, and we’ll keep tweaking the format as well.
As regards the advice – I’ll leave Kate to respond on that point.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Hi all
Thanks for the feedback Nick, agree that real questions will be ideal – please do send any over that you think would be worth an audience. In terms of the advice. Agreed the initial conversation should be verbal, the advice was to ensure it’s put in writing regardless – my bad, should have made clearer – or the he said/she said and selective memories can get pretty personal when the sh*t hits the fan!
@Exborg & @crap – “Thanks for your opinion – unfortunately the level you’re at, the role you’re in, and the people you work with mean that being happy is not always that black and white. Not everyone has the luxury of quitting when their values aren’t being met, but I’m hoping to make that an easier decision to make!”
Please do keep the comments and questions coming.
Cheers, Kate
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Respectfully Kate, level has nothing to do with acting on one’s principles.
I called BS as a junior to a 15 year vet sent from the U.S. She got the boot. I stayed and got promoted. Even as a CeO , I was given an awards KPI from my global boss – that means activating, finding and funding any award worthy work so the network looks good at cannes. That was code for ‘Scam if you must but don’t get caught’. That was the final straw and I left the agency scene for good.
It’s a fallacy to think that one must attain a certain level in life to afford having principles and values.
By then, it’s either too late to know the difference or the price becomes too hard to bear.
I was fortunate to have good mentors before.
I hope the column can be of use to others
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