A Misleading Award

Guest blog by Rob Sherr

Oxford dictionaries defines the word award as “a prize or other mark of recognition given in honour of an achievement”. How well does this definition sit with a statement I recently saw on a web site that stated “Awards are one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing tools….”

This question has left me with a feeling of righteous indignation, not because I have anything in particular against the giving of awards but because I have recently discovered there is an industry solely dedicated to awards. I will explain.

As a consumer, there are a number of factors that will help me make a decision as to whether to purchase a particular product or service. Let’s say that I am buying a DVD player. I am down to a choice of 2 but I notice that one of them has won The Audio Visual Society’s innovative product of the year award 2012. With little to differentiate between the two I decide to buy this award winning product.

Well on the face of it there is nothing wrong with that. I have chosen a product that has been given a prize in honour of an achievement. However, my recent exposure to the “awards industry” leaves me wondering whether I haven’t just been misled.

As co-director of Musical Minis, alongside my wife Karen, I actively participate in the decisions that the business faces. One of these is how to spend our marketing budget. Finding new franchisees is a key component of how that money is spent and we were recently approached to consider spending that money on professionally written applications for awards. This particular company, for a fee, would identify awards appropriate to Musical Minis and then complete the application process on our behalf. They cite an excellent record and run a number of teams to ensure that conflict does not exist if they are handling similar businesses. So far so good. Indeed, they have already identified an award that we should aim for and in their email said exactly what this award is. It is at this point that I became a little uncomfortable as to fit the awards description would undoubtedly require a little creative thinking.

Looking further I found that the business of the organisation that granted the award was in fact an awards granting organisation. That is all that it did. From what I could tell it ran its competition 4 times a year and beyond filling in the application form and paying the awards entrance fee there was nothing further an entrant needed to do. There was no vetting and no corroboration of information. And if you were lucky enough to win or even been highly commended by the judges then you “will be eligible to purchase an Awards Marketing Pack consisting of a trophy, certificate and the right to use the winner's or highly commended logo on your website and other marketing materials”.

So what about the judges. Well I didn’t recognise any of the names although in their defence this does not necessarily mean they are not properly qualified or experienced enough to look over an application and make a judgement on its quality. But then again, based upon their profiles, I do not see how they are in any position to make a judgement call on my business.

The Audio Visual Society does not actually exist but if it did this too might be an organisation established only to collect money from businesses who have chosen to spend their marketing budget on one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing tools. If I had bought my DVD player based upon such an award I would feel cheated as a consumer. Likewise, I do not want anyone to buy a franchise from me because I won some artificially created prize for “Franchise with the Best Post Code”. I am prepared to enter genuine competitions where Musical Minis stands shoulder to shoulder with its peers and be judged by a panel representing a relevant magazine or organisation. Indeed, we have entered the annual Encouraging Women Into Franchising, EWIF, competition and our Buckingham franchisee, Amanda Perkins, won the young franchisee of the year award. We also encourage our franchisees to enter the What’s On 4 Little Ones Awards, voted for by people who attend groups such as Musical Minis.

So is this just righteous indignation or do you, like me, feel concerned that the public is being cheated by this warping of the definition of an award?