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By Sara Owens
I was one of 20 judges for the 2002 Pro
Awards. We were a diverse group of men and women, primarily from agencies
(but no two from the same agency), some client-side marketers, and PROMO
editors. Each of us judged approximately 50-70 entries from two or three
of the 15 categories. Categories were assigned by PROMO to ensure
we did not judge promotions that we had worked on. We judged PRO Award
entries on Strategy, Originality, Execution and Results.
As I waded through the 67 entries on my
list, I wished that you could know how your entries were judged. I believe
that some of the promotions that I viewed were not shown to their best
advantage. On the other hand, some entries were beautiful in appearance,
but empty in content. So after eight hours of reading and scoring entries,
I offer you these tips on putting your best promotions forward.
- Follow the entry questionnaire. Answer
all of the questions in the order and format given. Questions/answers
can be retyped, but do not spread answers around the book, consolidate
into one essay, hide in the back, omit altogether, or pretend you’re
writing a novel.
- Keep in mind that we’re reading
50-75 entries and have a lot to read. The more concise you are, the
more likely we will “get” what you have to say. And please,
choose typefaces and colors that are easily understood. If your font
size is too large, it takes multiple pages to get your message across
and impedes comprehension.
- . Put your most important points upfront.
Back pages are not read in-depth. No entrant has given a short bullet-point
summary of why this promotion is the best, but I think it would give
you an advantage. It is hard to find the needles in some of the haystacks
we received.
- Don’t rely on your videotape,
CD or Web site to tell the story. If you want a judge to know something,
make sure it’s in writing as well. Extra materials were always
viewed for top contenders, but some were not reviewed at all.
- Results must be quantitative. “Judged
to be the best ever” is not a result. Multiple entrants stated,
“We are not allowed to give results” or “Results are
still unknown.” This will hurt your entry, because other programs
DO have quantitative results (and exceptional ones at that.) One entry
said “Results are for contest only, keep confidential.” That’s
fair. That works.
- Pretty entries are nice. I enjoyed
the Astroturf-covered binder from one entrant. I appreciate the work
that went into oversized binders and colorful graphics. But pretty isn’t
the clincher, and is occasionally distracting. Your write-up and your
ideas are what we really focus on.
- Match objectives to strategies. Surprisingly,
a few entries did not. One entry had an objective to reach a younger
audience, but then went after men only and did not explain why. This
was a disconnect; my takeaway was that initial objectives were not met.
- Don’t submit an advertising campaign
and call it a promotion. Though it is true that promotion can generate
awareness, when you primarily use print ads and other media vehicles
to deliver a message and there is a loosely related promotion element
that is carried with it, this is an ad campaign with a promotional overlay.
- Think rationally about what category
your entry belongs in. A movie tie-in with few original elements (other
than the fact that the movie was a hit) should not be entered as “Best
Idea.” Movie tie-ins are not new. Instead, consider “Best
Multidiscipline Campaign” or “Best Activity Generating Brand
Volume.”
- Hedge your bets by submitting entries
in multiple categories. Create an entry binder for each category as
judges do their judging in multiple rooms due to space constraints.
Not finding an entry because it is in someone else’s category could
result in oversight.
There is a lot of very good work being
done, so put your best foot forward and I hope to see you accept an award
(or two) at the next Promo Expo.
Sara Owens is President of Promo-Pros,
Inc. in St. Louis. You can reach her at sara@promo-pros.com.
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