Major Key: Relevancy

March 19, 2016

It is important to remember that once graduation comes around the studying does not end. Now, there won’t be any more flashcards or making sure that chapter is read by Wednesday’s 9:30 a.m. class, but staying on top of what is going on in the industry is crucial to remaining relevant. Keeping one eye on what others are doing means there is a better understanding of what your client’s competitors are doing and therefore what needs to be done for your client in return.

Aside from filling yourself in with snippets from SmartBriefs, and AdAge and AdWeek articles, it is also a good idea to look at work from award shows.

The ADDY’s are an annual competition set in three stages: local, district, and national. At the local level, local entrants are trying to come out on top and recognized as the best in their market. Winners at this level are then in competition with other local winners at the district level where the winners in this division are then brought to the third tier aka the national level. Linked is the student work that won gold from work produced in 2015.
Radio may not be the most desirable medium for a creative, but it can be very effective when done well. The Radio Mercury Awards highlight and archive the best in radio that have been submitted. I encourage you to listen to these and then compare it to some radio commercials in your car to really understand what stands out in a positive and negative way because someday you may need to write a radio script and you’ll want it to be good.
The one award everyone should be familiar with is the Cannes Lion. What’s great about their archives/winner is it separates how the campaign was judged such as design, mobile, etc and within those categories you can choose to look at only gold or only bronze.

You will have examples of great advertising in class, but not all of them are touched upon and more likely than not you will see the same ad across multiple classes. This gives you the chance to look some up on your own and to expand your vocabulary for what is considered GOLD standard advertising and what may need some work and how you would have tweaked the campaign to make it better.