ADC

The ADC Awards: Behind the Iron Curtain Pt. 2
Posted on 2008-Apr-11 at 03:35
Brandon Burns
New York Correspondant
ihaveanidea

The mystery of advertising awards shows is ﬁnally revealed. Each week I will post an
interview of one of the jury members from this year's ADC Awards, giving you an
uncensored peek at what really goes on, what the judges are thinking, and how they
decide upon which works to bestow the prestigious ADC cube.

Jason McCann
CD Taxi
Interactive Foreman

Jason is either tired or just naturally a bit on the blunt side - either way, he's obviously
wasting no time getting straight to the point during his time with me. He has sifted
through a fair amount of work, and has even more to scrutinize. But we already know
how grueling the judging of the ADC Awards is – just see Nancy Vonk's interview.

However, Jason's task is a bit different from Nancy’s. As Interactive Foreman, he is
charged with upholding the ADC's refined standards against a body of work that is,
according to Jason, somewhat rudimentary.

"The first website was only in 1989. Interactive work is still maturing."

Nevertheless, this year’s crop of work looks promising. "Interactivity is now starting to
permeate other things, which is cool. Kiosks, etc, can be more robust. Mental barriers
are almost gone for clients." But despite this new and exciting world, us ad folk know the
reality. The cold, hard, no-way-I'm-ever-working-on-an-email-campaign reality. Everyone
wants to do the next Nike+, but, due to this new world of never-ending cool, no one
wants to spend the time to make the standard interactive advertising toolkit of banners
and emails examples of excellence. What say ye about that, Mr. McCann?

"Banner work is improving. Some of my best work has been on an email that should
have been no more than a drop down menu. What agencies need is talent. If you look at
radio (which is the email campaign of traditional advertising) and look at Real Men of
Genius, you can see what can be done in any medium."

Okay, I can see that. But I didn’t get to see much of the interactive work being judged,
so we’ll just have to hold our judgment for when the winners are announced.

Either way, I must ask, where is all this going? What's next in the land of interactivity?

"The micro sites are a lot deeper and bigger, but also campaign specific - not really
hoping to arrest attention for an awful long time. It's part of the maturing process. You
don't need a site that's going to last for 2 years. Look at [the] HP Epsonality [campaign] -
you're only buying that product once. The advertising matches the need."

Does that mean that Epsonality got an ADC Cube this year?! I didn't ask. But we'll know
soon enough. Join us for the ADC's 87th Annual Awards Gala on Thursday, May 1,
2008. Check it all out at http://adcglobal.org/awards/annual/.