The Importance of Celebrating Great Advertising
On April 7, there is an agency party happening in New York. Creatives and strategists will be in attendance, but what will the party be celebrating exactly? The simple chance to win an ECHO Award, and the call for entries is now.
Full disclosure — I’m on the Direct Marketing Association’s International ECHO Awards Board of Governors (and the only compensation of being a BOG member is the opportunity to see firsthand the greatest advertising idea store in all of data-driven marketing).
What’s so timely or unusual about celebrating advertising now?
Certainly, we’ve read headlines about ad blockers, agency burnout and click fraud — but these challenges are not the reality of our entire business. Yes, each concern listed here needs to be managed, but they hardly define advertising’s truest landscape:
- Compelling content that drives consumer interest and engagement — and is increasingly measured to prove it. Data wins the purse and the consumer.
- An economic contribution that DMA identifies as a $202 billion proposition in the U.S. alone, with more than half of that directly related to responsible collection, sharing and application of data. However, the ECHOs are not all data and numbers – they are informed strategies and executions that are breathtaking, first and foremost. They also drive action.
- Advertising that wows the CMO, keeps the CFO happy and enables the CEO to look good — because it’s advertising that works to meet defined business objectives.
Very few ad competitions explore this angle, yet, this is where advertising is going and growing. An ECHO trophy proves, “We understand where advertising is going.”
Making waves, disruptive, arresting, dominant — the adjectives fail us, but the work doesn’t. Even the ECHOs are transformative this year with 21 categories to conquer tackling sector, channel, craft and special award categories.
Instead of partying in Manhattan on Thursday night, I will be six miles high eagerly flying home, awaiting this year’s stellar realm of dominant ECHO entries to celebrate this fall. Dominators have until June 27 to enter.
