EDITOR'S LETTER : Get used to it

AdMedia,  Jun 1, 2007  by David Gapes

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In 2005, the Best in Show at Axis went to DDB and nzgirl for Worst Boyfriend, a stunt that brought down condemnation on the Axis Awards, with critics saying it should have been won by a "proper" ad.

How much difference a year makes. In 2006, Colenso won with SkyCity's Let's Play Poker. Actually, 2006 was a very good year for "real" ads, with TBWA's Be the Ball, Saatchi's Telecom Rubbish Film Festival, and DDB's Durex work taking out all the Grande Axis gongs. Saatchi's Toyota Bulls Hit did rather well, too.

And so to this year, when most of the work - with the notable exception of TBWA's Bonded By Blood - was for charities and the 'in- house' YoungGuns campaign, triggering the usual vitriol about the imminent death of Axis.

And what does this three-year overview tell us? That creative awards are cyclical. Axis, like Cannes, is no exception.

And the reason why creative awards come in cycles is that their focus is 100% on creative. The idea and nothing but the idea will win every time. The client is effectively sidelined.

Creative agencies do creative. They also do effectiveness. But that's a different show.

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