Sweet 16?

There are worse things than coming 16th out of a hundred.

That’s where Propaganda came in a recent Drum poll to discover the most awarded ad agencies outside London.

16th.

It’s not bad.

It’s higher than we’ve ever been before.

So how come I have this uncontrollable urge to burn down the Drum’s offices?

Here’s why.

We won a lot of awards last year. Roses awards. Fresh awards.

Even picked up the Roses Chairman’s award (Thanks Trev).

We were very happy with that.

But last year we also won a Silver at Creative Circle.

Then we went and won a Bronze at The Kinsale Shark Awards

A bit of context: We were the only place outside the top London agencies representing the regions at Creative Circle.

At Kinsale, a global award scheme famous for its high standards in creativity, we were up against the world’s biggest and most creative agencies.

And we still won.

But for some reason the Drum failed to include these awards in our tally.

Now I’m not unhappy because I think we should be higher than 16th .

I’m unhappy because the Drum is supposed to represent our industry.

It’s supposed to fight our corner.

And celebrate our successes.

But the Drum didn’t even think to ask these two awards schemes for their list of winners.

So, this throws up some questions in my mind.

Does the Drum only value the awards schemes they run and profit from?

Is the Drum interested in celebrating regional agency’s national / international success?

Is it personal? (Forgive my paranoia, but this isn’t the first time)

Do they believe agencies outside London are simply not good enough to win these awards?

Is that why they didn’t approach Creative Circle or Kinsale?

Are there other agencies who have been unfairly represented?

Answers on a postcard please.

I’d love to hear them.

Posted by Mark Williams.