Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore swept the board at the recent Singapore
Creative Circle Awards, taking home 23 golds, silvers and bronzes*.
In second place in the metal tally was Leo Burnett with 13 silvers and
bronzes, followed by Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Euro RSCG, who both took
six awards.
Nine golds were handed out on the night, with Saatchis again taking home
the lion's share (five), followed by BBH (two) and one each to Work and
Kinetic Interactive.
It was Discovery Channel Asia which really stole the show, seeing 20 of
its advertisements (created variously by both Saatchis and Leo Burnett
Singapore) win awards.
Unlike the Kancil Awards held in Kuala Lumpur the week earlier, at which
close to 1,500 agency staffers packed the Shangri-La ballroom and
cheered wildly every time a winner was announced, Singapore's Creative
Circle Awards this year lacked a certain je ne sais quois in terms of
atmosphere and camaraderie.
The issue of scam ads hovered over both events, however, with various
attendees attempting to speculate just how many of the winning ads had
been done for genuine clients.
"I've heard people say 70 per cent of the winners in Singapore are
scams, but I think that's a bit harsh," said one industry source, who
asked not to be named.
"I saw a few this year which I would have questions about, but you have
to consider the fact that the big winners were all done for real clients
and with big production budgets.
"I do think that the 4As has been far more vigilant this year in
filtering out the scam entries, but that's probably because of the stink
that was kicked up in Hong Kong over the issue." (see MEDIA, September
29 and October 13).
Newly-appointed regional head of BBDO, Peter Wilken, also took a
pragmatic view on the subject.
"It's hard to get people to talk openly about the other side of 'scam
ads' - why they're done at all, why they've been around forever, and why
we'll probably still be talking about them in years to come," he
said.
"Few people will argue that the ultimate goal is to produce
award-winning work for the large, traditionally conservative, clients
like Unilever and Proctor & Gamble. And it can be done ... Few would
argue either, that while such goliaths are raising the call for
creativity, it takes time to change deeply-ingrained systems and
philosophies that mitigate against innovative ideas (like pre-testing
storyboards)."
Mr Wilken said the industry needed an avenue "that allows our industry
to create trends, not just follow them".
He also echoed a comment by Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide global CD Neil
French, who argues loudly the case for scam ads on page 8 of this issue:
"There's an element of inverse snobbery about those people in our
industry who complain loudest about 'scams for small clients'," Mr
Wilken said.
"These tend to come from the bigger, creatively-challenged agencies.
Small clients are still clients, it doesn't mean we have to give them
small ideas. Small clients with big ideas become big clients."
* Finalist awards have not been included in the tallies referred to in
this article.
