Is winning awards enough?

Johannesburg - "Good work can win an award, but was it is great work that performs consistently." Executive Creative Director for TBWAHuntLascaris Damon Stapleton talks about the agency's award-winning Zimbabwean billboard.

"I was blown away when I was called and told we won silver, then gold and then the Grand Prix," continues Stapleton. Group MD Gavin Heron adds that the billboard was just one aspect of the campaign calling attention to an exiled Zimbabwean newspaper.

They reveal that the newspaper's site has had 2 million hits; previously it had 10 000 to 20 000. This, Stapleton enthuses, is the measure of success.

It's about really doing what people are interested in and being conscious of the medium they are engaged with. They argue against the idea that any medium means the death of another.

The ideas that resonate with people and stop you in your tracks is what remains constant in an industry undergoing changes. Advertising has to offer people something and entertain them. Those in the industry have to break out of long-held perceptions about what advertising is.

This is the reason, according to Hunt, that it is increasingly becoming about brand behaviour rather than a particular medium. They state that even though they used a traditional platform, the creative idea is what pushed the envelope.

The Cannes performance might have placed them in the spotlight, but Heron explains that this is a culmination of long, hard work. And it has been tough going for a while for the agency whose accomplishment has raised expectation that this might signal a return to form.

The MD says that the way of the future is to offer creative solutions rather than advertising ones. His creative director feels that the word advertising is misleading, because approaching anything from an advertising standpoint can be constraining.

Understanding the needs, strengths and shortcomings of companies they represent is imperative. This does not mean taking on functions that are not theirs, but having a more holistic impact on the product.

- Fin24.com