Does the advertising industry really need another awards show? Absolutely, says Charlie Crowe.
Crowe, the chief executive of C Squared Holdings—a London company behind the annual Festival of Media, the trade magazine Media & Marketing (M&M) and Cream, an online database devoted to media creativity—is the brains behind a new global media competition called the Festival of Media Awards (FMAs).
The FMAs will close out the third annual Festival of Media, April 19-21 in Valencia, Spain.
Crowe says the new awards are a response to requests from global media leaders. “A couple of global media directors of big branded goods companies approached me and said ‘What we are now doing is not well served by the existing awards on the market,’ ” he said. “I had clients, agencies and some of the more exciting media owners like the Googles and MSN’s all say they’re very much behind it.”
According to the FMAs’ positioning statement, the awards will address the “growing contribution” of media to brand building and profitable brand management. “They are the only global advertising awards to recognise that ‘media’ has become the rendezvous point for a new era of marketing, bringing together a wide range of disciplines and entirely new partnerships,” said the statement.
The FMAs will feature 29 categories (19 campaign categories and 10 media vendor categories), including Best Communications Strategy, The Award for Branding Bravery, Best Use of Content, Best Use of the Digital Landscape, Best Use of Search, Best Use of Gaming and Best Use of Mobile.
“It’s having a list of categories that represent the future of communications a little bit better, and trying to devise categories where media is embedded into a business or marketing initiative, as opposed to it being an afterthought to a creative idea,” said Crowe in a telephone interview. “It’s sometimes difficult to explain that nuance, but it’s quite a fundamental one.”
Crowe is reluctant to predict how many entrants the first-year show will garner, particularly in trying economic times. “As a start-up, I don’t think I’d want to hang myself on any prediction,” he said. “What we do know is all the global media agencies have been part of the consultation process…and all of those are going to be entering.”
All submissions will be judged by what Crowe describes as a “unique” mix of judges who will meet twice, first to decide on a shortlist and again on the eve of the Festival to determine the final winners. An overview of the Festival of Media and the FMAs (including entry details) can be found at FestivalOfMedia.com.
