Why do awards matter? Spoiler: it’s not just about winning
Let’s be honest, we’ve all rolled our eyes at some point at the mention of industry awards. If you win, they’re worth their weight in gold. But if you don’t (an experience ranging from ‘a close second’ to ‘not even in it to win it’) they can feel like a side-show distraction from the main event of the day job.
Winning feels good, but the importance of awards runs deeper, especially for comms people who don’t live in the agency bubble. In fact, if you’re in-house or client-side, awards might matter even more.
It’s about visibility, not just taking the trophy
Whether your work gets shortlisted or takes home the top prize, it’s always a win from a visibility point of view. Awards get eyes on your work from people who matter; judges, the organisers, and industry leaders get to see what you’ve done, even if you don’t grab the gold.
Especially considering that comms activities and campaigns are often focused on specific audience segments, chances are anyone outside of the target market won’t know the genius you’ve delivered. Making sure the work gets seen has tremendous value.
Validation for you, your team, and your entire business
Awards are a way of showing what you’re doing is working. Especially if you’re in-house, or the client stakeholder working with an agency, you’re likely to be in the minority. Others in your organisation might have a passing interest in what you do, but equally there’s sometimes a lack of real understanding for the impact of brand, comms and marketing activities. External, third-party authentication provides a stamp of approval that you can’t grant yourself. It proves that the time, energy, and effort you’ve put in has impact and value – and that can boost morale internally and strengthen your position too.
Celebrating relationships
Awards don’t just shine a light on the team you work with every day; they also celebrate the relationships you’ve built with everyone involved in a projects’ delivery; internal stakeholders, agency partners, and everyone in-between. Unless you’re up for one of those rare solo-awards, it’s never about what anyone can do alone – it’s about what happens when people come together to create something truly brilliant. We would go so far as to say if you don’t have the relationships and the chemistry in place, it’s almost impossible to go on and deliver work that’s award-worthy. The two go hand-in-hand.
Networking that involves stretching beforehand
Award ceremonies are networking gold, and they’re not just for agency folk. Work the room right and they can be the perfect place to catch up with contacts and make new connections. Plus, who doesn’t love showcasing their worm on the dance floor. But if you’re over the age of 25, make sure you warm up first.
Competition that brings us together
Awards are competitive, but ironically, they also show how we can all win together.
Let’s face it, there’s an unavoidable gladiatorial nature between most agencies. Half the time we’re pitching against each other, the other half, we’re trying to attract one-another’s best talent. So, it doesn’t hurt to be thrust together occasionally, especially when we all know the healing power of the aforementioned dance floor.
The infinite-Ab-Fab-loop
The classic ‘Is comms taken seriously enough?’ question comes up what feels like once a quarter, which is either a serious attempt at thought leadership by whoever’s authored it this time, or simply an excuse to use a photo of Ab Fab as click-bait.
Whether you roll your eyes (twice in one post?!) at the question or think it’s still up for debate, awards help put that discussion into context. They give us a chance to take pride in the work we do, not just for ourselves but on behalf of the wider industry, because in-house or agency, client or consultant, we’re all part of the same eco-system, and it’s up to us to tell the right stories, to the right audiences, at the right time. Just like we know how.