Know Your
Award Shows

“The whole concept of
awards is silly. I cannot
abide by the judgment of
other people, because if
you accept it when they
say you deserve an
award, then you have to
accept it when they say
you don’t.”
‐ Woody Allen

Of course, he said this after
he won Oscars for
BEST PICTURE
and
BEST DIRECTOR.

Agencies that do
great creative
tend to win awards.

Agencies that win awards
tend to attract more
clients and better talent.

Agencies that attract more
clients and better talent
do more great creative and
win more awards.

See?

But not every
award matters.

The Gunn Report

What is it?
• Report that combines the winners’ lists from all
the “most important” global shows.
• Top 39 shows for TV
• Top 20 for print
• Top 20 for interactive

What are their top
shows, exactly?

We don’t know.
Hi Greg
I’m afraid I can’t answer your question as we don’t reveal which
shows count towards The Gunn Report. Attached is our
methodology which will hopefully go some way to explaining
how we reach our conclusions.
Best
Emma

Their methodology states…
We have continued to be secretive about what these shows are…not
to upset any friends…whose shows might be among those not
included.
We include the main national show(s) in the USA, Great Britain,
France, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Australia (the show includes
New Zealand), Greater China, Argentina, Canada, Italy, Mexico, The
Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden and Thailand.

So we don’t know.
But we have a pretty
good idea…

Let’s look at
the big ones.

Cannes

• International show held in Cannes each
May/June.
• Usually, more than 10,000 delegates
attend.
• Presidents and juries are the industry’s best
of the best.
• Unique for the Titanium Lion and Young
Lions Competition.
• Highest honor is the Cannes Grand Prix.

Previous Grand Prix Winners

Previous Titanium Lion Winners

The One Show

• Held by the One Club for Art and Copy in
New York City each May.
• About 18,000 submissions from around the
world.
• Juries are among the best in the business.
• Highest honor is the Best of Show.

Previous best of shows

D&AD

• British Design and Art Direction.
• Based in London, the show usually takes
place in June.
• Has been an established show for 40 years.
• Encompasses 29 different disciplines.
• Over 25,000 entries each year.
• Again, the juries are among the best in the
business.

EFFIEs

• Uniquely designed to reward campaigns
that have shown “measureable results.”
• Emphasis is primarily on increased sales
and awareness. Creativity is secondary.
• Winners may not even be shortlisted at
Cannes. But they’ve probably made some
clients very happy.

Food and Beverage

London
International

Eurobest

International Andys

CLIOs

Art directors club

two publications

And two web sites
thefwa.com
creativity‐online.com

Typical Categories
• Print
• Out‐of‐home (billboards and posters)
• TV
• Online and interactive
• Ambient
• Integrated campaigns
• Design
• PR

But categories
can be ignored.

If you ask people to create advertising,
that’s exactly what they’ll create. If you
ask people to do something more, then
they’ll do something more.
– Kirk Souder

The bar is
very, very
high.

These shows are
expensive.

Things you don’t need
to win awards
• A well‐known client.
• A large budget.
• A brief for television or cinema.
• A large agency staff.
• Offices in New York, London, Amsterdam
or San Francisco.

We want to create one career-defining campaign
a year, something that really kicks ass. We’re
trying to get our people to do untraditional
things. There’s no reason why we can’t do it in
Toronto. You don’t have to be in New York,
Minneapolis, Los Angeles, London or Brazil.
- Zak Mroueh, Taxi

Things you do need to
win awards
• Great account management
• Great planning
• Great creative
• Great initiative
• Great dedication

Brilliant ideas are fragile. They won’t get
produced unless everyone in the agency
is dedicated to helping them through.
- Sally Hogshead

Why should anyone
outside the creative
department care about
award shows?

These are not just creative departments.

You need to know about Brazil, why is
South Africa so great, why do British
guys consistently do such brilliant
work? Why is Amsterdam flaring with
creativity? You know, the world is
shrinking to the size of a grape. If you
don’t know what’s going on, you’ll die.
Clients are so global now.
- Tony Granger

Next deadlines
September:
Eurobest
November:
Andys
January:
Art Director’s Club
One Show
February:
F.A.B.
March:
Cannes

What will you be
entering?

prepared by
makinads.com