Craig Davis bemoans low attendance at Circus
AWARD chairman Craig Davis voiced his frustration over poor attendance at the Communication Council’s three-day conference Circus last night.
The chief creative officer of Publicis Mojo told an audience at the AWARD Awards that they should spend more time “off the hamster wheel” to attend important events like Circus.
In a follow up call with Mumbrella this morning, new Communications Council boss Margaret Zabel said that numbers at the event were “comparable” to last year, with what she said were 1800 visits over the three days.
“People are so busy and there’s so much pressure on us to exceed expectations in our jobs. No one disputes that,” said Zabel. “But the people who attended Circus were also very busy, and they used the event to help them work through their marketing challenges.”
Does he whinge about people not going to his brandkarma site too?
Craig,
People weren’t too busy. It is just they chose to do something else – busy is just an excuse. If the value of attending had been better communicated, people would have chosen to attend. I am not saying it was badly communicated, but to point the finger at the market you were wanting to attract is a bit rich. Simply market it in better ways so people can see the value and make the choice that you want. Busy is never a valid reason for not doing something. We can all always find the time to do the things we view as the most important.
It was kinda pricey…especially for us juniors. Just sayin..
Was a comment on the worth of the current Communications Council?
Surely not.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Same speakers, Nick Law and Vince Frost, I saw them speak 5 years ago.
telling the cream of australian creative talent off last night like some angry headmaster to the point where he was ridiculed by the MC wont help the cause…only made them look desperate and underlined what a flop it was.
Maybe if these events lowered their prices more would attend….
industry love-ins like Circus feed us the same old stuff year after year. All we get are the same old people telling the same old audience all the same old things they want to hear. When was the last time someone challenged the industry to turn left not right? Attending Circus is like hearing one Scientologist after another confirm how wonderful Scientology is to an audience of Scientologists. Everyone nods, feels good about themselves and leaves not having learnt a thing. Here’s a thought; next year ask John Singleton to speak about how he views the ad business. We mightn’t like what he says, but, who knows, we might learn something. Even better, he might actually say something different.
conferences are generally too expensive. Companies just don’t have the $1500-$2000 to spend on a bunch of speakers who are giving away the same insights for free elsewhere. Unsure why they’re always so expensive considering they don’t pay the speakers … $1500 x 600 attendees is $900k in revenue. Either way – there’s better ROI elsewhere than sending 4-6 staffers to one of these things.
Maybe make them $400 and aim for larger attendances. Or cut costs.
was it really an ‘important’ event?
The whole event sounded like it was a bloody circus.
Price was the reason we didn’t attend and 3 days also was an issue. Make it part weekend and cheaper (especially for junior staff)
I agree with speaker selection too. We’re sending a bunch of staff to AGideas as that has proven to be the don’t miss event and much less ‘echo chamber’
The hamster wheel comment seeed uncalled for
Logic, $1500 x 600 is not $900K in revenue. It is $900K in billings. I doubt there’d have been much revenue in it for them.
No, it’s revenue. Billings is a word agencies use to inflate their numbers and include cash they handle as opposed to income. Revenue is calculated by multiplying the price at which goods or services are sold by the number of units or amount sold.