In a big break with tradition, this year’s ARAW Awards will change its entry rules to consider advertising and media effectiveness as well as creativity. Rules will be announced in March by the Ad Congress Creative committee, headed by 4As representatives Leigh Reyes and Raoul Panes.
The news has generally been positively received. But some have expressed misgivings that without a big show judged solely on creative merit, Philippine advertising creativity will lose what little international competitiveness it has gained. The logic here goes that letting economics (sales results) into the award calculation will ultimately leave us with little or no work that is good enough to enter in purely creative competitions.
Why the change? Partly because historically, the biennial ARAW has been the biggest night of the year for creative agencies – but no one else. Thousands of clients, media companies and suppliers at the Ad Congress feel shut out of the big night, or watch baffled as top prizes go to campaigns they have never seen. A change in rules would allow Clients and Media Independents to enter, and duly recognize the creativity in planning and media that so often help take work to an international level. It would also cut down on scams – and avoid needless competition with the Creative Guild’s Kidlat Awards as THE Philippine showcase for pure creativity.
It is too early to tell how this will end. But we can say that this early on, start gathering your stats, doing store checks and writing and rewriting your cases.
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