Drop the bullshit and show us work we wish we'd done: Roses Creative Awards judges top tips on how to win
You won the pitch, you’ve created great work, the client loved it and consumers seemed to like it to – so what next? Awards of course.
But winning awards can be a tricky business. At last count, almost two million people were employed in creative industries across the UK heating up the competition for sought after trophies.
With the deadline for the Roses Creative Awards, sponsored by Become, Chesterfield Group, Tint & Create Britain, fast approaching on Friday (10 February) we caught up with some of this year’s judges to find out what those looking to enter should – and more importantly shouldn’t – do.
Number one faux pas, according to Helen Fuchs, executive creative director at DigitasLBi, and Caitlin Ryan, Cheil Worldwide’s group executive creative director, is “bullshitting”. “It’s very easy to sniff out and disappointing for judges to see,” warns Ryan.
“When you watch case study after case study your tolerance for bullshit result numbers drops rapidly,” adds Fuchs. “If they weren’t great results, wrapping them up in pointless percentages doesn’t make them any more believable.”
Another big no-no, for AKQA executive creative director, Wayne Deakin, is making something more complicated than it needs to be. “Single-minded and beautiful craft is what I always look for,” says Deakin. “If I don’t get the idea immediately and it’s too hard to work out then forget it.”
And for Mother creative director, Dayoung Yun, whose work includes Boots and NotOnTheHighStreet.com, those who’ve made work purely to win awards can just forget it.
So now we know what the judges don’t want, what do they want?
For Ryan, who’s worked with P&G, BBC, Mondelez, General Mills and Costa Coffee to name but a few, she’ll be looking for the “work I wish I had done”. Whereas for Fuchs, it’s all about brave ideas.
“When judging, I’m hoping to see ideas that show they understand their audience,” she says.
“They need to be executed with great craft and stand apart from the crowd. The geek in me is always excited to see the work with a creative and clever use of tech.”
Finally, don’t forget to innovate as Deakin will be asking “how is it innovative and new?” when looking over this year’s entries. “I want to know how has a great idea been empowered by technology or craft,” he says.
To find out more about this year’s Roses Creative Awards, how to enter and the judging panel – which also includes BMB founder and chairman, Trevor Beattie; Angus Hyland of Pentagram and Turner Duckworth creative director, Clem Halpin – visit the Roses Creative Awards website. For more tips check out the highlights from our awards entry workshop 2017.