We’re all about great work. We don’t do it for the trophies or the accolades. But awards are really nice reminders that we’re doing something right—especially when our work is compared to others in the creative and marketing industry.
Ironically, most clients don’t seem to care that much about awards—even when it’s their work that’s winning. So why do we go through all the trouble of complicated entry forms, anxious soul-searching about which work to enter, and expensive entries? Simple. We do it for our people.
Winning awards boosts morale, cultivates camaraderie, and offers fabulous team-building opportunities. There’s nothing quite like watching your staffers step through applauding tables of renowned industry professionals to grab a big trophy after a tremendous effort to deliver a solid product to a client. Winning awards allows everyone who has participated in a project to get some recognition, from the creative director, designer, copywriter, on to the project manager and account executive. We’re all about appreciation—mostly because people who are properly appreciated are more fulfilled, more enthusiastic, and more confident. Leadership 101 stuff, really.
With that in mind, I want to thank our crew for making the first half of 2014 the most bountiful in our history. Lately, we’ve added our first Webby to the shelf (for work on the Yale School of Music website), along with more than ten other trophies and certificates for work across lots of different categories from state and national shows.
Awards are by no means the only measure of how well our people serve the needs of our clients or the needs of our shop over the long-term. But giving our people yet another opportunity to shine — together, and in the eyes of their industry peers — pushes us to constantly ask the tough question “Can we make this work even better?”
Guaranteed, the answer is almost always yes.