I’ve just spent a hugely enjoyable evening at the DMA Awards, where Proximity London swept the board with a highly imaginative and well-executed campaign for the RNLI. Congrats to all involved in that. The DMAs are the direct marketing industry’s leading awards scheme, although with 18 of the 28 categories open to all comers won by charities and the COI, I’m not sure whey they don’t rename it the ‘Not for Profit awards’.
Unlike in traditional advertising, charities play a massive part in direct marketing and form the cornerstone of many agency client lists. But I was concerned at the comparative dearth of commercial winners outside of specific business categories (such as financial or fmcg). Maybe commercial clients are not producing award-winning work? Maybe, in a recession, there is a demand for hard-working campaigns that deliver short term results and therefore aren’t perhaps as elegant as they could be?
When you look at the published results criteria for the DMA Grand Prix winner this year it comprises views on youtube and the number of texts messages. That’s all very well, but it’s not measurement in terms of making the tills ring, is it? Or even donations. That’s not the agency’s problem at all – they did what they were briefed - but surely one judge somewhere must have felt a few misgivings?
Maybe judges are seduced by the emotional appeal of a charity? A mailing about homelessness is a more compelling read than that for home insurance. But at the end of the day we need commercial clients to keep the direct industry, and many of its agencies, in robust health. If agencies lose touch with what drives hard profit and ROI for clients who need their direct marketing to deliver income (or even funds), then they will not survive. The last time I went to the DMAs it was Craik Jones and Land Rover sweeping the board. They’re not now, are they?
