This first appeared in the AdNews print magazine. You can read it all below but if you want it as soon as it goes to press, you better subscribe here.
The US military industrial complex was a phrase created to explain the self-perpetuating nature of the continuous investment by the U.S government in military hardware and personnel.
And the inherent need of this machine to be used - continuously - in order to be further renewed. An entire organism of might and power that exists in its own right, for its own sake, for its self perpetual engrandisement. Well that's the conspiracy anyway.
It's a fascinating concept to chew on. The world's most powerful state, perpetually investing in the world's most powerful force and seeking out opportunities to do it all again.
While chewing on the meaty subject of a military industrial complex. my mind turned to creative awards.
Sometimes, when working in the ad business, I would accuse my creative colleagues of being part of a similar giant conspiracy, a self-perpetuating, self-engrandising, selfish endeavour that can only be compared with the U.S. military industrial complex. A global system that exists purely for its own sake.
An award system that rewards the industrialist (the award show owner), rewards the foot soldier (the agency), but provides little return for the taxpayer (the client).
A system that actively destroys itself year after year in order for it to be built again.
The Global Creative Industrial Complex: sounds like a conspiracy, smells like a conspiracy. That is a proposition which certainly has many supporters.
But without such a system how do we improve, how do we know the clients who are striving for greatness or the talent that is helping them do it?
How do we know who the agencies are that are working to do an even better job, year in, year out?
No, it is not a conspiracy: the global creative award system is a vital component of the war against average.
Like the military, the award system exists for the client/the taxpayer. And this is, perhaps, where the purpose of awards can become confused and can occasionally provide a whiff of conspiracy. It's because there is a sense they exist for the award show owner and the agency.
But smart clients know that they can use the awards system as an efficient way to seek out the best. The smart client knows there is an X factor to creativity, and this is how they can achieve better than incremental gains for their business. The smart client looks up the awards tables and seeks out the consistent winners.
Indeed, the even smarter client doesn't even put their business out to pitch; they just find the best and work hard at getting them engaged in the advertising problem. Quickly. And the smart client works hard with their current agency to create work the award system admires. Because they know that where there is gold there is financial return.
By Russel Howcroft is executive general manager – Melbourne at Network Ten