ANDY AWARDS / PUNCH DRUNK LOVE
1 March 2010
Alessandra Lariu's diary from Final Judging at the International ANDY Awards in New Orleans
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The first two days of judging hit us like a knockout blow. Work pulp got ruminated over by category and then spat out into a pile of semi-precious matter which then got distilled even further into small precious drops of genius by Day Three. On the fourth and fifth days, the genius was discussed, analysed, argued over, abandoned and brought back to life. The last day was dedicated to choosing the best of the best. That piece of work that we could all scream from our hungover-damaged heads, 'Damn I wish I had that idea.'
All pieces submitted had some tough competition. From iPhone apps to pre-recorded advertising on ear-pieces, judges had to filter through tons of submissions that had to work hard to hook them within the first five seconds. And after judging over 200 pieces a day, a little bit of luck and a carefully put together award entry can make all the difference.
From entering the right category, and not over-entering work, to being really careful about using words like 'world's first', the selection process is all about momentum when the first five seconds of your case study video have to surprise, delight and attract - like the perfect first date. And that's just to stand a chance of getting through to the next round. The entire process is about ideas that started in someone's brain, came out someone's mouth, and went through the hands of lots of people... to get out to millions of blinking curious public eyes.... And now here, this mixture of thousands of great ideas that had to pass through five rounds of tests and have the strength to scream, 'yes I'm here and I have something to say'.
To be honest, four or five of my favorite pieces escaped the nets of the voting lords and ended up back on the pulp. Yes, OK, I'm a geek, I like geeky things and unfortunately a lot of that got cut through first rounds because in some groups innovation was not what always drove some of the judges. "It's the idea that counts," seemed to the consensus.
Perhaps the category with the most good work was public service. Yes, judges did have to navigate around strange statements like 'advertility' and 'twagmented reality' but overall that category had a lot to offer in terms of innovation and creativity. We also had the pleasure to choose work for a brand new category: work that made people's lives better.
On that subject, the ANDY organizers offered us quite a few things that made our lives better: amazing old school jazz at Preservation Hall, VIP status at a Jay-Z concert and the opportunity to participate at a charity auction curated by Shepard Fairey (if you visit www.ebay.com/makeitright, you can participate to benefit the Make It Right Foundation in New Orleans that has been helping rebuild homes post-Katrina).
But the best life-enhancing thing was to hang out with the other judges. It was great to see some familiar faces and meet new ones like Leo P, Jose Molla, Pete Favat and Rob Rasmussen. Michel [Lebowitz] and Ty [Montague] had the toughest job in the world to steer a room of opinionated advertising folk. My heroes, for sure.
They got us through a great mix of work that was reviewed, debated, tossed around, voted, and re-voted for hours. And so it ended with a line-up of winners that we are all proud of.
http://andyawards.com
Alessandra Lariu is SVP, digital group creative director at McCann Erickson, New York
All pieces submitted had some tough competition. From iPhone apps to pre-recorded advertising on ear-pieces, judges had to filter through tons of submissions that had to work hard to hook them within the first five seconds. And after judging over 200 pieces a day, a little bit of luck and a carefully put together award entry can make all the difference.
From entering the right category, and not over-entering work, to being really careful about using words like 'world's first', the selection process is all about momentum when the first five seconds of your case study video have to surprise, delight and attract - like the perfect first date. And that's just to stand a chance of getting through to the next round. The entire process is about ideas that started in someone's brain, came out someone's mouth, and went through the hands of lots of people... to get out to millions of blinking curious public eyes.... And now here, this mixture of thousands of great ideas that had to pass through five rounds of tests and have the strength to scream, 'yes I'm here and I have something to say'.
To be honest, four or five of my favorite pieces escaped the nets of the voting lords and ended up back on the pulp. Yes, OK, I'm a geek, I like geeky things and unfortunately a lot of that got cut through first rounds because in some groups innovation was not what always drove some of the judges. "It's the idea that counts," seemed to the consensus.
Perhaps the category with the most good work was public service. Yes, judges did have to navigate around strange statements like 'advertility' and 'twagmented reality' but overall that category had a lot to offer in terms of innovation and creativity. We also had the pleasure to choose work for a brand new category: work that made people's lives better.
On that subject, the ANDY organizers offered us quite a few things that made our lives better: amazing old school jazz at Preservation Hall, VIP status at a Jay-Z concert and the opportunity to participate at a charity auction curated by Shepard Fairey (if you visit www.ebay.com/makeitright, you can participate to benefit the Make It Right Foundation in New Orleans that has been helping rebuild homes post-Katrina).
But the best life-enhancing thing was to hang out with the other judges. It was great to see some familiar faces and meet new ones like Leo P, Jose Molla, Pete Favat and Rob Rasmussen. Michel [Lebowitz] and Ty [Montague] had the toughest job in the world to steer a room of opinionated advertising folk. My heroes, for sure.
They got us through a great mix of work that was reviewed, debated, tossed around, voted, and re-voted for hours. And so it ended with a line-up of winners that we are all proud of.
http://andyawards.com
Alessandra Lariu is SVP, digital group creative director at McCann Erickson, New York
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