If the international PR agencies are so good, why didn’t they win anything at the Golden Targets?

Too busy servicing clients to enter?

I should add, that hasn’t actually been my experience.

It’s my experience that these international PR agencies all have global clients, with the contracts signed in Korea or Switzerland or the US. As a result, none of the staff care because the know nothing they do will affect whether the agency keeps the account. It’s just one long holiday for them. Interestingly, their clients know this. Some put up with begrudgingly, whilst others actually hire their own in-house PR pros to actually do the work.

This may say more about what value the ‘big boys’ place on the PRIA and their awards program (i.e. not much), rather than it being a case of them not making the short list or winners list. The AdNews and B&T Best PR Agency and Best PR Strategy awards, from what I have heard, are held in higher esteem than the Golden Target Awards for the majors.

Though you would think that an award scheme judged, awarded and recognised by industry peers would be of value wouldn’t you!?

1

How many of the ‘big boys’ actually entered?

Patrick, that’s just plain silly.

Firstly congratulations to all the winners. We are proud of our highly commended in the Issues Management category as all prizes at the Golden Target Awards are highly sought after.

It is an interesting post Tim, but it doesn’t take into account the other awards where international agencies have won prizes including us here at Edelman.

All in all it shows that good PR is being done across the board and most importantly shows that clients have a deep range of partners they can work with.

Having said that myself and the team here will be upset if Edelman isn’t in the winner’s list next year. 🙂

Errr… Hausmann isn’t an international. Nice to see you took the time to check your facts in a rush to post a worthless rant.

As MD of one of the winning agencies (Haystac), I’m obviously conflicted here, but I offer the following observations;
1. Multinationals have long struggled in the Aus PR market. Clients – even those with worldwide presence – constantly advise that they dont want the bundled up media/advertising/PR offering. Rather, they’re looking for a close relationship with one or two key people within their PR consultancy;
and (in defence of the multinationals) …
2. the Awards themselves don’t represent the best work of the year, just the best work of those who had the inclination to enter an award. We – and others – have done plenty of great work which doesn’t get recognised as we/they haven’t chosen to invest the time and effort required to prepare a submission.

Tim,

I can’t speak for the other international brands but Porter Novelli was awarded a Highly Commended in the Crisis and Emergency Communications category. This was the highest award presented in that category.

Porter Novelli is proud of its work for the Australian Pork industry during the swine flu pandemic. It achieved a clear business outcome – helping to save an entire industry – and used some innovative digital techniques in crisis and issues management.

A full list of the 2010 GTA awards will be posted on the PRIA website – http://www.pria.com.au.

Cheers,
Anthony.

Like most industry awards, these winners do not necessarily reflect the best work, but the best work that was entered.

It would be interesting to get a full list of entrants (this goes for all award shows) to put some context around the winners. Of course, this doesn’t help the people who run these things sell tickets to their events does it?

Having worked with some of the biggest names in PR as mentioned above, I am n ot really impressed.

Tim,

It is interesting that many international consultancies are missing from the winners list, but I’m not sure that the awards are entirely a barometer of which agency is doing the best work (or who is right or wrong). Having previously led part of one of the bigger consultancy groups in the country (PPR) as well as worked overseas with both multinationals and independents, and now being a member of the PRIA council and supplier of talent to the industry gives me reasonable insight into what the results do indicate.

What the PRIA Golden Target Awards tell us is that PR practitioners from all types of backgrounds, industries and employers have delivered some outstanding work this year, work that has made a difference and should be celebrated by the industry.

There are so many variables as to why the multinationals may not figure more prominently I don’t think it would be fair to draw a conclusion as to why. Lack of time and resource to enter the awards and client sensitivity around the subject matter alone can have significant impact. Not to mention very healthy level of competition, ingenuity and excellence of some of their independent competitors.

I think it is very positive that our industry awards are not dominated by the internationals, that would perhaps tell us more, and indicate that either the entry and judging process is compromised and/or that the level of competition in the industry is subpar.

The fact that there is interest and debate around your comment also suggests that there is genuine interest in the awards and no doubt very healthy competition to win them next year.

Congratulations to all recognised by the PRIA Awards this year.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Congrats to the winners.

Perhaps a list of the Judges might throw some light on the matter?

Also worth noting:

1. the OECD world went through a serious GFC during the last 18 months, and many global clients and their (global) PR agencies have been either working harder for the same money (or less money), or cut back on staff, hence little time to enter awards.

2. Luckily, Australia didn’t dip into a recession in 2008-2010, and this is borne out in the marketing and media spend (adv, PR, sponsorships etc) by Australian companies and Governments (Fed and States). This has had an impact on PR agencies that mainly service Australian clients, although global tech/IT and health/pharma PR budgets are an exception to this, with increased expenditure.

3. The Australian PR industry has had the “Photon effect” during 2008-2010 – and, whilst I won’t detail all the issues here, a quick look at their ASX share price over this period tells part of the story.

Thanks for the article – it’s clear you hit a nerve and have sparked a lot of insightful comments. I’m sorry Fleishman-Hillard wasn’t represented at these awards. We’ve had some good campaigns and a lot of changes. Like Michelle, we hope to be better represented next year.

Congratulations to all the winners – and to all those who entered and didn’t win, I wish you better success next year.

Keep the debate going Tim – bravo!

Walter

Interesting story.

But count yourselves lucky that the Golden Target PR Awards even rate a mention in the press. Last week saw the Australian Graphic Design Awards (AGDA) and there was a great mix of winners from across the spectrum for branding and design. But unfortunately, none of the key industry titles seem to have picked up the story – or even a rant!

Maybe AGDA needs one of you PR agencies to help lift its profile…

I’ve been a judging co-ordinator for 10 years (including this year) and make the following points on previous comments:

Re the list of judges: multinationals have been represented as judges only once or twice in those years, despite many CEOs being asked to take part. The judges generally are owners, CEOs or very senior people from Australian owned consultancies and a couple of industry associations. They do a tremendous job and not once has any of them been biased against multi nationals.

One of the criteria is value for money and it seems the smaller agencies are generally (but obviously not always) delivering better value to their clients. Some years ago, a national Golden Target was won by a campaign with a $12,000 budget. An also ran in the same category had a budget of almost $400,000, and while the bigger budget entry was a good campaign it just didn’t match it with the winner when judged on the campaign itself.

All consultancies, not just multinationals, have resource issues to deal with but smaller agencies seem to be able to manage to get entries in. My advice has always been for intending entrants to draft their entry as soon as the campaign has ended rather than waiting until the last minute.

I agree with others – there were some terrific – in fact outstanding – campaigns entered this year ,including in one category, where it was almost impossible to separate three winners. And there were a few campaigns which should never have been entered….

Many thanks Peter. Is there a published list of the Judges on the PRIA website?

I’ve always believed that clients don’t really like their agencies seeking glory for the work they are paid to do (which is to promote them, after all). Same thing with getting yourself on TV and in social columns…..the clients see you as building your profile on their back. Whilst they smile and congratulate you, I’ve never met a client that likes it. Winning competitions and awards can be the death of a client.

After all, a great campaign is one that works. Shouldn’t that be reward enough?

AnneMaree is exactly right.

This is why the upper echelons of the industry – corporate, political and financial PR; high level crisis/issues management and major transactions – do not participate in PRIA or any other “PR awards”

the best interests of clients and practicioners dictate that the least known and understood branches of the communications industry remain that way

Interesting post Tim and judging by the comments, a good debate. As we all know, there are lots of variables in how campaigns are judged, and the difference between winning and coming second can often be a very narrow margin.

But let me offer a personal perspective from an Ogilvy PR company (yes a multi-national brand, but our model is different here – we’re a group of specialist agencies in different PR sectors).

Collectively, we’re delighted with yesterday’s outcome: a hat-trick of commendations from the Ogilvy PR camp – Howorth, Impact and The Reputation Group. Pulse also picked up commended in a couple of cateogries at the PRIA NSW State Awards too. Although we were not an outright winner this year, we pass on our congratulations to all the winners, regardless of their size or ownership structure.

Would we have liked a win? Of course – but you pays your money and you takes your chances…

But let’s return to this once the award season closes; once we’ve got a clear view of what trends, if any, are emerging. We have seen from the Cannes Lions that PR firms don’t win the PR category; another interesting trend to take note.

But even then I’d argue that the key thing to focus on is not who won what, but why, and to what end? What was the criteria? Etc. Judging by this thread, a debate about the value of awards would be something we’d all have a view on. Perhaps another topic for your successful breakfast Q&A series Tim!

In the meantime we’ll keep on with our entries: no guts, no glory!

Next up is the PR Week Awards in Asia Pacific. On that note, I’m pleased to say that Ogilvy PR Australia is shortlisted for 12 awards across 11 categories, and Ogilvy PR Australia is also shortlisted as a finalist for PR agency of the year in the B&T awards.

Finally, as MD of Howorth, we’re pleased to report that we took out top honours in PR in WPP’s worldwide WPPed Cream Awards last month, beating off stiff international competition. So Australia can mix it with the best worldwide and come out on top.

Cheers
Graham

AnneMarie and Sven…almost every GT winner involves their client in the awards process and provides them with their own GT award, which most clients like to hang on the office wall. What’s wrong witha consultacy getting a little personal PR through the GT awards and at the same time getting their client extra kudos for what they’ve done. As for the “majors” not entering the categories Sven mentions I suggest he looks at the national and state winners lists.

Peter, my own philosophy is that good PR is when the PR isn’t seen.

Every client I’ve ever known (20+ years I’ve seen a few) aren’t interested in anyone seeing the mechanism that got them the plaudits and exposure. After all, it’s due to their product/management skills/personal smarts – or that’s how they prefer it to be seen.

A rather large client once told me – you’re here to make me look good. And fundamentally, that’s true.

Fair enough, but after 30 plus years in PR I’ve also had a few clients (including some very big corporations and multi nationals) and on the few occasions I entered for an award I always referred it to the client and only once was it knocked back. I guess it depends on the client…and the consultancy.

Tim. A good debate and some interesting perspectives. So let me give you mine.

The fact of the matter is that in Australia, agency differentiation through scale is not as distinguishing as it is in other markets. Which means boutiques and multi-national agencies will continue to go head to head for the same business and the same awards.

And that has to be a good thing. Because it promotes a meritocracy that puts the emphasis on the quality of the people in those agencies and their ideas, rather than the agency brands themselves.

As for the Golden Target Awards, well we all have to pick and choose which ones to go for. Like many others, Weber Shandwick has had its fair share of the industry spotlight his year – having just been named Holmes Report’s 2010 Australian Agency of the Year.

I’m disappointed we did not enter the Golden Target Awards. And I’ll be all the more disappointed if we are not among the winners next year.

But between now and then, my sincere congratulations to all those who have picked up a gong. It says as much about the quality of their people as it does the agencies themselves.

Ian

First of all, great to see a PR centred debate here, love to see more stories on the industry Tim, particularly as it seems to bring out the big guns to comment.

From my experience global agencies are interested in awards, both sector specific ones such as the PRIME awards, and things like the B&T awards. And they’re very competitive about them – as shown by Ian and Michelle’s comments. However I think for a lot of people in the industry, the PRIA just isn’t that relevant.

Second, AnneMaree and Sven are dead right. Given a lot of work of PR professionals is to try and drive debate or manage issues, should we be looking to shout from the rooftops that it was all paid for?

Maybe the Golden Targets need a bit of a PR makeover themselves….

Peter-

“almost every GT winner involves their client in the awards process”
i’d bloody well hope so. It’s their brand and reputation and they’d have every right to be livid if they werent asked. But acquiescing because of the agency relationship and endorsing the idea of entry are two entirely different things.

“What’s wrong witha consultacy getting a little personal PR through the GT awards and at the same time getting their client extra kudos for what they’ve done”

As AnneMaree said – we are here to make them look good, not ourselves. The more we boast the less effective we are in the future because most journalists like to imagine they are independent decision makers who are not unduly influence by PRs (whether true or not).

“As for the “majors” not entering the categories Sven mentions I suggest he looks at the national and state winners lists”

…er Peter, i suggest you educate yourself on this topic. The firms entering and winning these categories are not the leading firms in these specialist fields. Far from it. They are the wannabe firms who need an award to credential themselves because they don’t have the deal/issue track record and reputation. You’ll never see an FD Third Person, Cosway, Citadel, Gavin Anderson & Company enter PRIA awards….