Have you ever watched an advert on your socials and saw that it won an award? You’ll reach either one of two reactions: “Huh, that’s pretty neat.” Or “Huh. I’ve never seen this before, did it actually run?”
A prestigious award program is a surefire way to launch a fledgling startup to infinity and beyond. But is unfortunately plagued with some awards being too lenient to entrants resorting to shady tactics to obtain an easy win. Whether by artificially inflating numbers, synthesizing dogwalker campaigns, or even faking entire projects. All to steal a cheap win from somebody who deserves it and then flaunting their victory.
But then we wonder: What would the world be like if everybody also acted the same way? As it turns out, the creative peeps at Zulu Alpha Kilo took this nugget of a topic and turned it into a satirical video titled Awards Gone Wild. With the help of actual award-winning ad firms and finalists, everyone had a fun time at turning this unfortunate situation into one full of laughs instead!
The self-promotional video for Zulu Alpha Kilo shows multiple individuals representing none other than the award program entrants themselves. Bothering other people they come across representing- well, regular people like you and me to help them win an award.
Later on, we transition to a comedic, albeit tragically true, series of scenes where they express their true intentions on wanting to win an award by asking innocent bystanders to manufacture false scenarios in order for them to win an award. Which directly reflects on some companies giving false information and results to get a better chance at winning in the awards.
True to life itself, the individuals even pull the free-advertising-opportunities-for-your-brand-slash-business card. Where regular joes didn’t plan on considering expanding their businesses yet. This part’s pretty self-explanatory, we feel!
Zulu Alpha Kilo touches briefly on getting visual material of the photographic and video kinds to show the company’s legitimacy of the project. And finally, the companies admitting to fake the entire shebang in the hopes that the awards program wouldn’t notice.
Winning an award in a competition is definitely something to shout about, and everybody wants to celebrate their big win. However, this incredibly meta take on the advertising agency’s obsession with award programs definitely hit us close to home. An award win should be treated with respect and as an honor that contributes to the industry. Not just a shiny trophy that sits on your desk as an accessory. To that, we say great job to Zulu Alpha Kilo and their hilarious video on Awards Gone Wild!
Looking to get your feet wet in the advertising world as a freelancer? Here’s one that makes you go, “Damn, I Need That!”