Alokananda Chakraborty: Goafest - Get your act together

The organisers need to reconsider the composition of the jury and the timing of the event to elicit more enthusiastic participation

So the awards season has officially begun. Last week, much of India's advertising industry descended on Goa for its annual festival. At this event, agencies across the country are awarded for their creativity and, in some cases, for work that actually increased sales. Certainly, much of the entered and winning work this year is worthy of praise. And certainly, the people behind the award-winning creatives have earned the spotlight. But the event this year turned out to be a damp squib because, one, three of the top five agencies were conspicuous by their absence, and, two, much of the young creative talent was not there to be part of the "conversation", so to speak - the whole reason the awards night was converted into a three-day event to accommodate knowledge sessions, workshops and open discussion forums. It was a good move to add the Broadcaster and Publisher Abbys at the Goafest this year; but it was such a lost opportunity, say my colleagues who attended the festival this year.

Now, I will not ask existential questions such as whether there's a point to all of this or whether awards are the piece de resistance of advertising success. This column is not meant to trash award shows, but merely an attempt to point out areas that need dire improvement. So I will jump straight to what the organisers ought to do to make the event far bigger than just a party for the country's top marketers and advertising talent.

First - and many industry folk will agree with me - something ought to be done about the judging process. Why should only advertising people sit on the jury? This is like getting, say, Masaba Gupta to judge the work of Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Or Shah Rukh to assess the pop-culture impact of Salman's shirtless gigs. The concept of the industry folk patting each other on the back for work that may or may not have actually produced results is flawed.

In every other industry award, the jury comprises experts from other fields, eminent journalists, clients and individuals from the larger ecosystem. Why not for advertising awards? Indeed, this question has been raised time and again at every platform - the EMVIEs, the EFFIEs, the Young Achievers Awards or the Concerned Communicator Award.

Second, the award claims it is a celebration of creativity, which in plain words means jury members may or may not take effectiveness into consideration. No one is disputing the fact that creativity is subjective and hard to quantify; but there is one thing that is possible to measure objectively - the return on investment. What did you generate for each advertising rupee spent? Did the campaign raise brand recall or perceived value measurably?

Every year when the show ends, the winners argue that award shows are about creativity and not about business. But they should not forget that the process of advertising is only complete when it includes the clients and their businesses. Also, most large brands and their agencies have specialised tools to put a figure to these variables. I find it incredible that so many ostensibly smart people still think these measures are impossible to gauge or are simply not important.

Last but not least, the organisers have to get the timing right. Remember, the Goafest is but one of many advertising awards festivals, both Indian and international, that are held over the course of the year. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity kicks off in exactly two weeks and few agencies other than the top international networks will have the resources to splurge on preparing back-to-back entries for two different award shows. There's an interesting post on the website of advertising expert John Follis of Follis/NY that says participating in an awards event involves as much investment in terms of time and money as is required for "servicing a small account for a month".

It's a real issue and a couple of agencies that decided to stay away from the awards - ones that have been hugely successful at award shows previously - have openly said they will not participate because they want to invest the extra resources on their clients and in their brands in these pressing times.

The organisers will contend that an award show is a business in itself and, therefore, entry fees are necessary to generate revenue. But think of it: by imposing a high-entry barrier, they are risking that a handful of agencies with less resources, but with some crackling ideas and breakthrough work, will have much less chance of participating, let alone taking home some well-deserved medals.

That said, I keep wondering why the top advertising festival in India is hosted in Goa…