This was the unexpected statement from Araw Awards co-chair Leigh Reyes (Y&R), at the first Araw Awards entry briefing on April 29.
Surprising because this will be the first Araw to award not just creativity, but total advertising excellence. Rules were patterned after global effectiveness shows such as the Effies and the AMEs.
Why the change in Araw, which has always been the country’s premiere creative awards show? The intent is not at all to devalue creativity as a standard. Nor it it merely to make the awards relevant to an audience outside creatives, though that is an acknowledge concern. In fact, as a line in the presentation puts it, “It’s the opportunity to show that the best creative delivers results.”
Presenting the first full draft of competition rules to members of the Creative Guild and select guests on April 29, Reyes was joined by Overall AdCon Chair Margot Torres and fellow awards Co-Chairs Raoul Panes (Leo Burnett) and Raul Floresca (Saatchi).
Here, a snapshot of the major changes.
New criteria: 50% creativity, 25% insight/strategy, and 25% results, with the latter defined as any quantifiable, measurable proof of performance. Client certifications of market share, sales figures, awareness levels, etc. will be among the accepted proofs. “We are ahead of other countries in including certifications,” says Reyes.
New judges: Jurors will come from account management, planning and marketing as well as creative.
New entrants: Media agencies and non-4As members such as design studios, web firms and even clients can now enter directly. They need only enter at the non-member rate per category, which is at most P500 higher than for members.
New Student Araw incentives: Winners’ cam-paigns will have the chance to be produced – they may have an ad on air before they even have a job! The winning teams might also have a chance to intern at a 4As member agency.
