Industry awards are something that all us creative agencies strive for. "The Creams" and "The Roses" are the Oscars or the Brits the creative, advertising, graphic design and marketing worlds, and we hope that one day several of these prestigious gongs with take pride of place on the MOJO studio shelf. In fact, several MOJO concepts have already helped other agencies receive award nominations and win prizes. A campaign Dudley Council based on a Matt Oakley concept was nominated for a Cream Award in 2000. And two Bosch campaigns MOJO created in association with Birmingham's Blue Chilli Marketing were awarded Best Niche Marketing Campaign at Bosch's own International Marketing Awards.
In recent years there's been a new set of awards that have been caused a stir in the creative community, and which advertising creatives and graphic designers are really prizing. They are called the Chip Shop Awards, and they are the design/creative equivilant of the NME awards, winning one equals kudos from the most critical of peers. The Chip Shops commend creativity with no holds barred; ideas without rules. Submissions to the Chip Shops are often fictional ads that could never actually be used, because they are too controversial or too tricky to get approved by advertising authorities and with otherwise never see the light of day. They are generally homages to existing established campaigns, taking a brand proposition to somewhere it's creators would never dare to have taken it. They also include concepts or branding for imaginary products. Many ideas are too shocking to ever be shown to a real client, but too good not to be shared with an audience. The Chip Shop awards are a place where creativity can live without the constraints of censorship, with campaigns based around innuendo, political incorrectness and colourful language; ideas that are funny, clever, original, shocking, witty, satirical and ingenius.
For us, we see the chance for agencies to show their teeth and produce such a completely creative brief can only be healthy for the UK advertising industry. This years showcase include adverts that poke fun at Tiger Woods infidelity, the ignorance of the BNP, Cheryl Cole's marital breakdown and misadventures of Toyota. Some of the more teeth-clenching ideas include a poster for HMV film ad about celebrity drug overdose, an Amputee Support Group poster and an ad for Pledge that features an actual polished turd. The winners this year include a press ad for a camera that can work in an earthquake and a new beer brand called Responsibly (ie. the brand is promoted by its own rivals who legally have to encourage their own patrons to "Drink Responsibly")
Some brands take offense at the way their brand identities are twisted by the Chip Shop Awards, perhaps rightly so in some cases. A well-known optician chain refused to let their logo appear on an award-winning entry that showed a man posting a letter in the eye slot of an Islamic lady's yashmak. Other brands have embraced the controversy, and some of the entries have covertly slipped out into the national press or run riot on the web. Whether this guerilla marketing was deliberate or not is unclear, but just because a message isn't part of the official campaign, if it reinforces that message or just brings attention to it, then the old adage about "bad publicity" never rang truer.
Look out for MOJO entries at future Chip Shop Awards, and to see the best of this years entries go to http://www.chipshopawards.com/