For many creative agencies award submissions are a valuable part of the marketing strategy. To be able to win a highly visible and well respected award brings great recognition in the industry and further validates a company’s claim as a top creative agency.
For smaller agencies though it can be an uphill climb often competing against companies with multiple offices and more importantly larger budgets. As an independent, minority owned company going on our 7th year this is nothing new for Squeaky Wheel Media.
We recently registered three award submissions for a top tier award show at $300 a piece but, when you compare it to some of the massive agencies and their submissions our investment was trumped. Due to an unfortunate email sent by a junior member from this particular award show we were able to see that a well known agency eclipsed $250k of submission fees. These are staggering figures, and ones that I’m sure the award show does not mind receiving (totaled over $3.5 million in entry fees). Now I’m not suggesting that larger companies don’t deserve all the accolades they receive if they win, I’m just stating that the odds are substantially in their favor to bring home the gold. Make no mistake, this does not deter Squeaky from entering and it should not for you either. I would just suggest to other agencies to also research additional, niche awards.
If you are a creative agency in similar size to Squeaky (75 people or less) I would recommend also considering more tailored award submissions. For instance, Ad Age started up a Small Agency of the Year Award at a respectable $150 an entry. Deadline is May 22, 2009. Squeaky looks forward to competing against you.
In the end awards are truly great to receive, but the best recognition comes from the clients you retain and the word of mouth recommendations you receive. You can’t buy this type of publicity. Now if I could just get Abbey Klaassen, Digital Editor at Ad Age, to write a story on Squeaky Wheel Media I would be a happy camper.
