Johannesburg - There won't be as many people as last year sitting on the edge of their seats in October in hopes of awards at the Loeries, South Africa's premier advertising competition. That's because entries have fallen again, an obvious response to the still-lingering effects of the recession.
Professional entries (the core of the event) are down 4%, after a 7% drop last year. Student numbers fell 11%, taking the overall number of entries to 2 924, compared with 3 077 in 2009.
Awards entries are a good indicator of the industry's health, said Loeries CEO Andrew Human, because they reflect indirectly a number of indicators: the volume of new work that has been produced during the year, client propensity to risk daring work, and the agencies' willingness to pay for entries.
"It's a first-line indicator of the overall health of the economy, a measure of the health of the brands behind the advertising, and their available marketing budgets," said Human.
Unsurprisingly, the design category experienced the biggest fall, probably because a new logo or corporate look is the easiest thing to postpone for another year. The second biggest fall was, disappointingly, in digital media, a fast-growing sector where South Africa is struggling to catch up with the rest of the world in effective utilisation.
Advertising, the biggest category, matched the overall decline, but entries for experiential marketing awards (such as direct marketing, promotions, alternative media and events) bucked the trend with an 11% rise. This was partly because of the introduction of a new category (in-store promotions) and a big jump in live events.
Human has been at pains to elevate the credibility of the awards. Judging alone will cost R500 000, as 150 judges, including three international creative leaders, review nearly 3 000 pieces of work using new custom-built software. R350 000 will be spent publishing 1 000 copies of the results.
The Loeries will institute its own points system, which will be used to rank the best agencies in three size categories, advertising, design, experiential and digital marketing. "You can be confident that the company at the top of the table deserves to be there, and know that this decision wasn't made lightly, and didn't come cheaply," said Human.
"It can be done more cheaply," said Human. "But we want you to know that our published tables are not random, or based on biased decisions of judges with a vested interest.
"They are not the opinion of a group of unqualified individuals. All the judging panels are endorsed by industry bodies, and the judges have to be recognised leaders in their fields."
Last year the Creative Circle abandoned its points system and ranked agencies by an "Olympic" system, in which one Grand Prix was superior to any number of Golds. This produced quite different results. For example, Ogilvy, ranked third, would have been first using the old points system.
- Fin24.com