Other than the fringe benefits of judging by the pool and not having to watch case videos, it was refreshing to judge Radio and not come out thinking it’s an old and dying media. The overall quality of work was very good. It is nice to see how people are experimenting to make sound and radio even more engaging, but also great to see some of those wonderfully straightforward, but perfectly written promo ads being awarded as well.
I liked our discussions, because we never lost sight of, “do I really want to hear this?” There were many clever ideas and some conceptually interesting stuff, but if it is not good radio, it doesn’t belong here. We were very realistic about how much effort to expect from a listener. So, out went all the self-indulgent writing and the 60’s that should have been 20’s.
The new tradition of plastering campaigns over all categories in the hopes that some of it would stick, did not really pay off with this jury. We were quite tough in keeping the categories pure. A great ad doesn’t necessarily win in scriptwriting and nothing wins in Best Use of Music just because there is music in the ad. Also, Innovation means it hasn’t been done before and Use of Humour means it has to be funny. That sounds simple enough, but sometimes it’s easy to get carried away when an ad is really great.
And finally, if it isn’t selling anything…that sounds so last century, but we actually came across an ad that was insulting the people it was supposed to be recruiting. It was a funny ad, in a suicidal way.
I have always loved radio, and that lease is now renewed. Thanks to Tom and my fellow jurors, it was fun and enlightening. Let’s do that again soon.
Other than the fringe benefits of judging by the pool and not having to watch case videos, it was refreshing to judge Radio and not come out thinking it’s an old and dying media. The overall quality of work was very good. It is nice to see how people are experimenting to make sound and radio even more engaging, but also great to see some of those wonderfully straightforward, but perfectly written promo ads being awarded as well.
I liked our discussions, because we never lost sight of, “do I really want to hear this?” There were many clever ideas and some conceptually interesting stuff, but if it is not good radio, it doesn’t belong here. We were very realistic about how much effort to expect from a listener. So, out went all the self-indulgent writing and the 60’s that should have been 20’s.
The new tradition of plastering campaigns over all categories in the hopes that some of it would stick, did not really pay off with this jury. We were quite tough in keeping the categories pure. A great ad doesn’t necessarily win in scriptwriting and nothing wins in Best Use of Music just because there is music in the ad. Also, Innovation means it hasn’t been done before and Use of Humour means it has to be funny. That sounds simple enough, but sometimes it’s easy to get carried away when an ad is really great.
And finally, if it isn’t selling anything…that sounds so last century, but we actually came across an ad that was insulting the people it was supposed to be recruiting. It was a funny ad, in a suicidal way.
I have always loved radio, and that lease is now renewed. Thanks to Tom and my fellow jurors, it was fun and enlightening. Let’s do that again soon.