Financial Times - Blowing hot and cold at the Chillies awards

They were dressed to the hilt, flaunting the fashions of both Eastern and Western design, making the evening a kaleidoscope of colour. The reason? The Chillies 2006.

Now I have to be honest, this writer isn’t a great fan of awards ceremonies something about them being more of a self-gratification orgy than something productive and interesting – but then again I’m an outsider so what do I know. But as an outsider, bear with me on this, it was fun and there wasn’t that much to fault.

I’m not saying that I’ve been converted, but with the aim to lift the industry out of its malaise and up to international standards, praise is certainly due. For a taste of what the awards meant to one company’s creative force: “Basically you want to win gold; if it’s a bronze forget about it.” As it transpired that wasn’t necessarily true (see box).

One thing that was plain to see was the enthusiasm of those in the ad business about the event, even before the alcohol kicked in. The effort made by the teams to be that extra bit unique on this special night was also obvious showing that competitive edge early, maybe.

Organising the show
But thinking of the whole picture, organising such an event must have been a logistical nightmare: having to look after the judges, deciding on the entertainment; the award design and logo; to deciding what was to be put in the programme, among many others. But as Ranil de Silva, Leo Burnett Managing Director and member of the Chillies’ steering committee, said: “There were a number of sub-committees set up to look after particular events, totaling around 40 to 50 people.”

One of the most difficult aspects of award shows is getting the length and pace right; where too much length can lead to boredom and a lack of pace to permanent distraction. With these being the first ever awards, the occasional glitch was to be expected. And I’m sure that those in the steering committee have made notes with headings “can do better”.

There seemed to be an Olympic theme, where the agencies participating marched in carrying their flag to their designated place, and the compères’ continuously returned to the “medal” table during the show. I’m sure it was all aimed at getting a competitive spirit going but, well, I guess you had to be competing.

Due to the aim of raising the standard of Sri Lankan advertising, there were to be finalists, then bronze, silver, and gold winners, plus the occasional special award. But because of the move to raise standards not all the categories put forward for judging found any takers, plus the judges just didn't award any prizes in others. It sounds harsh, but how else do you get to the next level. This meant there were 36 categories, a stark drop from the SLIM awards. And because it was raising the bar, the judging was more strict, meaning that there were only five gold medals awarded, which actually was four as one was the special award for the “Best of Show”.

The beginning
And so the event began. The video montage was great entertainment and well edited, but then came the general consensus that those talked to found a disappointment – the compères. Even the Oscars suffer when the human link lets the size of the event affect his performance. Here mistakes were made and keeping the enthusiasm going sometimes had to be left to the competitors' own devices. And as for most of the jokes: awful. All I can say is: guys, don't give up the day job.

From speaking to those attending, their impression of the compères wasn't too great either, but I guess that also will come under “can do better” for next year.

There was one particular bit of bad taste when one of them told an anecdote about meeting a friend of his from Pakistan and then comparing fatalities due to terrorist acts. It was so insensitive that I cringed with a cross between horror and embarrassment, and I wasn’t the only one.

A bit of a drag
I got the impression from those I talked to that the awards started off at pace but lost it around the half way stage, as things began to drag due to the compères and a lack of good solid entertainment. Now, of course, that could be down to the number of awards being handed out, but still. Then again it could be me as I just didn't know there were so many categories, and that takes time, but still. A few more “entertainment” breaks would have kept the atmosphere buzzing more, but that would add even more to the length.

And so it went on, award after award. That might sounds rather disparaging, and at the time it was until you got to understand what the awards given were all about. Basically, as the judges explained it, from a finalist award onwards, no-one was a loser (again see box). So basically this was a night of pushing the agencies to new heights, hopefully giving them the drive to enter premiere events like ADFEST, Asia's premier awards festival, and Cannes, with the knowledge that they have a good product.

Dodgy food for some
But what else was available that night? There was food, where it seemed many members of the press were barred from eating, even staff from one of the official media partners, as in this paper, because they didn't have the right “voucher”. There was also a last minute dash to get a table or two set up for the number of media present, which did seem like asking for negative jibes to be put in reviews of the event.

The official guests got food slips; we from the press didn't, mmm, is there an agenda here or was it just forgetfulness? This I think should be added to that growing “can do better” list.

There were other complaints from the media, but I don' want to linger, except to say that some members threatened to walk out, while others did.

There were 18 companies that won something, and there were those that didn't, but what can be said is that those taking part realised that to get recognised as a creative, innovating and progressive company as far as advertising goes, the Chillies is definitely a step in the right direction.

And as a number of senior staff noticed in the aftermath of the awards, once everyone was back at work the following week, there was a noticeable difference in their attitude to work now they had the chance to go international.

To get a bit more on the background to the Chillies, I met up with Ranil de Silva, Managing Director of Leo Burnett Solutions and member of the event’s steering committee.

For coming out with a reason for organizing this new event, Mr. de Silva said that the SLIM awards had lost its allure. “It was going nowhere. At the last SLIM we won 33 awards, but really to win that many meant nothing; they really had little significance just more trophies to put on the shelf.”

There was a feeling in the air that things had to change, so people from the 4A’s and the IAA met to see what could be done to raise the bar as far as the industry was concerned. With ideas put forward, a meeting was held with the organisers of the SLIM awards, which led to the decision to go with the Chillies, hence the well-publicised rift that filled numerous inches in many newspapers.

With the decision to go alone made, then began the work, “where the steering committee ended up putting a massive amount of time into ensuring the event went ahead”, Mr. de Silva said.

“There were seven members on the committee, but that wasn’t nearly enough people to organize the event, so a number of sub-committees were set up to cover specific aspects, where the number of members was between 40 and 50,” the managing director continued, adding that for the two weeks before the event he hardly came into the office, but when he did he couldn’t help but notice his staff’s excitement in the build up to the event.

As for getting the international jury onboard, it seems that was not a problem. “For the people we invited we got a tremendous response. In fact there were no refusals. Those that accepted seemed to be only too happy to be on board,” Mr. de Silva admitted. The jury members came from a-far a-field as Germany, Britain, Malaysia, Thailand and India.

On the subject of the compères, the managing director said he wanted to do something different from the norm. “I wanted something new, something other than people just talking per se. And yes, that was my only worry of the night,” he said.

Other decisions made were that due to awards not being given in a number of the categories, it was decided to honour the finalists on stage, rather than just giving them certificates at a later date.

The final lead up was a nervous affair for all concerned, with worries over the political issues of how well or badly the event would be received, not to mention the amount of awards that would or, more worryingly, would not be handed out. “I just didn’t know,” Mr. de Silva said.

“The good thing was having to accept the reality of where our industry is, as shown by only four gold medals being awarded. It’s the perfect building block to move the industry forward, where we want to be well represented at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival in three years, and then Cannes in five,” Leo Buirnett’s head man said.

He continued by saying there would have to be some severe changes to move up the international ladder. “But our cricket team did it through hard work, leading to victory in the World Cup final in 1996.”

This in part was also a reason for the medal table to highlight the gold medal winners, as they do in the Olympics, where it’s the number of gold won that puts you at the top, not the combined number with silver and bronze.

And as for those companies whose entries are suspiciously close to ad campaigns and one-offs in other countries, a judicial committee has been set up to look at all complaints, up to June 30, where those copying too closely will have their award rescinded.

So overall, Mr. de Silva was happy with how things went, but there seems no chance of him repeating the role next year. “Being president of the IAA [International Advertising Association] is enough.” (RI)

Thushara Hettihanu
5th Elephant (whose company's name comes from the discworld to be found in Terry Pratchett’s books):
“The first half was brilliant, with the entertainment and the prize giving, but then it seemed to be just award after award with no break. But it was very selective and judgemental. I thought the two compères killed it, so it became like the SLIM awards where you had to make your own entertainment.
On creativity: Getting the balance right between creativity and just selling the product is a difficult balance to achieve. But then again, these awards were about creativity and not marketing.”

Thayalan Bartlett
JWT
I think it went pretty well considering it was the first. The judging was exceptional I thought, where it was bringing the industry up to international levels.
The way the judges explained it: bronze is equal to gold as far as the ad awards went last year. Silver is good enough to get nominated to an international festival, whereas gold gets you at least on to the short list of winners.
I have to be honest; there was speculation over the number of awards that would be handed out, especially when it was known that certain categories had no winners. But the way people reacted to the evening was very good.
Creativity question: There is a lot of misconception when it comes to creativity and helping sales. Effective creativity can help discriminate between what gives one product the edge over another. If done well that edge is very obvious.
When it comes to the whole campaign picture, the advertising side is a small but very active part. There is no magic formula to ensure the right product for the client as so many other factors have to be taken into account.

Neela Marikkar,
Grant McCann Erickson
Overall I think it was a great success, even though there were some disappointed groups I’m sure. As the idea was to raise the bar, I think that was achieved. And as a business we do want to get into the international arena.
For such an event it was a good start, but it did seem that just a few companies won the majority of prizes, especially the big ones, but I don’t know if that is a good thing or not. I thought it went on for too long and that it could have been tighter, plus there were too many awards, but having said that, it was a lot of fun.
A positive aspect was that there were a number of smaller agencies that made it to the finalist stage, which can only be encouraging for them. It showed that single entries (as opposed to campaigns) could win which was positive.
On the creativity side: I think creativity is more about art then marketing, and the Chillies was about rewarding creativity. If you want awards for marketing then the EFFIEs are what you need. (The EFFIE awards industry players based on results and are held in the US and Europe). But you must remember, if done properly, creativity can be very effective as a marketing tool.

Murtaza A. Tajbhoy
Leo Burnett
I loved it. It was agencies for agencies, leading to a really great atmosphere. It was different to the SLIMs as the Chillies seemed more homely.
The compères, they were OK, in between the few technical glitches, but I have to say the food was horrible.
As for creativity: It leads to effectiveness, where it can open doors for the consumer. As an agency these awards open up corridors to where we can push more.
As the evening progressed, it went from an international feel to being very localised, but that was OK.

Varuni Amunugama Fernando – Triad
I liked the evening per se, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more hype in the build up to each award, as in use of the video facilities and music. But for a first effort it was good.
I thought the compères were too long-winded in there repertoire, and as for one of them getting a number of announcements wrong, he almost killed the evening.
As for being top of the medal table, we're the new locals on the block, against the multinationals who maybe weren't happy losing to the underdog. The categories we won in were diverse, as was the client base. And remember we were just promoting local clients, but it shows our talent as we were recognised across the board.

Bijayan Jacob
Saatchi & Saatchi
The cocktail party at the beginning went on far too long, but once the show got going it was initially impressive, where the structure was fine. But then it began to drag. That could be due to there being too many categories, and it could be due to the compères, as it all got a bit cliquey.
Another thing that could have speeded up proceedings was making it easier to access the stage. I thought the entertainment side was somewhat lacking, and that the party started way too late. But for a first attempt it was pretty good. The lead up to the awards was very commendable, especially the marketing of it.
One thing I do have to say is that being Indian I thought the entries were a bit below par. A balance should be struck where one or two entrants should be showcased.
The ‘Best Campaign” category, I thought, was very subjective where in the future corruption could creep in.
At the beginning it worked well with the international judges saying their bit, and thus gave the event that “international” feel, but the longer it went on the more localised it got.