For 15 years running, Leeds-based branding and creative agency Robot Food has not won a single prestigious industry award, such as a D&AD Pencil or DBA Design Effectiveness Trophy. But rather than being a cause for embarrassment or disappointment, this is something to be proud of.
“It's awards season and we're pleased to announce that Robot Food has not been nominated for any design awards as we have not yet paid the entry fee,” founder and executive creative director Simon Forster wrote simply on LinkedIn. “To mark this achievement and to put our profits to better use, we will instead be donating £1,000 to each of five charities.”
The post caused quite a stir, garnering hundreds of responses from agency colleagues praising Robot Food for their stance. To determine how representative this was, we ran our own survey, and the results couldn't be clearer:
When asked, “Do you think awards really add value?” only 12.6% agreed, with an overwhelming 87.4% saying “No, awards are boring.”
Clearly, there are a lot of people who don't like the Creative Awards at the moment, so I spoke to Simon, Managing Director Dave Timothy and Creative Director Ben Blairs to find out more.
Bullshit
You can see by looking at Simon, Dave and Ben's faces how pleased they are with the positive response their LinkedIn post has received. “It's resonated with a lot of people who feel the same way,” Simon says. “A lot of people are responding with likes because they feel like there's something shitty going on.”
He is referring to the paid-to-entry model that sees most of the industry's major awards operating under which agencies must shell out a hefty fee to submit their clients' work for judging. In return, winners get a trophy and the right to be branded as a “winner” for marketing purposes.
“It's a great business model for the awards organisers,” Dave acknowledges, “because essentially these awards become outdated as soon as they're given out. To maintain the prestigious title they have to keep winning more and more every year, which means the agencies have to keep paying every year.”
But for smaller agencies, the costs of entering enough categories to be competitive can be prohibitive.
Simon recalls an early conversation that shaped Robotfood's stance on the issue: “Our first employee, Martin Widowfield, who is now our creative director, said to me, 'Why don't you enter it into an awards?'” he recalls. “I said, 'You know you'd have to pay for it,' and he said, 'Fuck you!' And that was the end of the conversation.”
Dave Timothy. Photo by Joan Crawford.
Photo: Joan Crawford
Ben Briers
“At the time, other agencies were calling themselves the most effective agency in the world because they had won more design effectiveness awards than any other agency,” Simon continues. “They were also members of the DBA board of directors. [the Design Business Association, which organises the awards]Basically, their business development strategy was to win a lot of awards. But even if we had participated, we wouldn't have had the capacity or the funds to participate in as many categories as they did and really play the game. That seemed ridiculous to us.”
Distorting the process
And it's not just a matter of unfairness: Robotfood believes that working to win awards has a fundamental impact on how clients approach their work. “If we were aiming for awards, it could hinder the type of work we can do, because we might end up working for a designer rather than a client,” Simon believes.
He cites Robot Food's recent rebranding of Danish beer brand Tuborg as an example: “Their main drinkers were aging, so our challenge was to attract a younger customer base,” he says, “but as an organization they were very conservative and very afraid of change.”
Rather than a flashy redesign, Robot Food got a very subtle visual update that kept existing brand fans engaged while attracting new, younger consumers. “It worked surprisingly well,” he recalls, “but it wasn't the kind of big reinvention that a designer would consider award-worthy work.”
Therein lies the question: who are we trying to impress here? Award judges, or customers? Of course we can do both, but it's natural to lean towards the former.
“When a type of work wins an award, you may be tempted to aim for that work, even if it's not right for your brand,” Dave argues. “Some design awards attract design styles that agencies can aspire to in their project work, rather than actually achieving the client's objectives.”
Waste of resources
Dave points out that similar dynamics exist in other industries: for example, it's well-known that the Academy Awards are given to specific types of films, which is why few were surprised when Barbie was snubbed by the Oscars this year, despite her immense popularity, and Oppenheimer dominated: it was a “surefire Oscar” type of film.
Similarly, in the agency world, Dave feels: “You have to produce a certain type of design work to win awards, but that doesn't necessarily work in the real world.”
It can also be a drain on resources. “I've worked at an agency that had a dedicated awards staff member,” says Ben. “The job was to improve case studies to win awards. The investment they had to make just for shiny little trinkets to display on a shelf was ridiculous. We want to reinvest whatever our awards budget is back into our in-house team, so in the past, instead of running the awards we've given each member of the team £250 to donate to charity.”
Stand apart
So what do awards really mean? “Awards are actually quite homogenous, aren't they?” says Simon. “There's no differentiation. Agency A wins a gold award, agency B wins a gold award, so what is the USP of these agencies? What sets them apart? Ironically, for us, not doing that at all is what sets us apart.”
So why are so many agencies so focused on awards? “It's a systemic thing,” Ben believes. “It's definitely taught at university: Oh, you need to apply for this award, and then you'll have the best chance. And that's how you're brought up: to be a good designer, you have to do this, you have to win this award. It's like smoking, you don't question it until someone comes along and says, 'Why the hell are we doing this?'”
Some might argue that winning awards helps boost team members' energy and self-confidence, but Ben believes there are other ways to achieve this.
“We involve the team throughout the process and, if one of our regular designers has a great idea, we try to make sure they can present it to the client. I, as creative director, don't take all the credit. It's important to empower the team to take responsibility for their work and develop it, rather than being a small cog in a machine.”
Different priorities
While many argue that agencies who pay to enter the awards gain industry clout and a marketing advantage, the team at Robot Food say that ultimately it's customer feedback and lasting partnerships that they care about.
“We work with clients who we've been partners with for nine, 10 years, and they'll take us wherever they go next,” says Dave, “To us, that's the biggest recognition we could ask for as an agency. The praise of our clients, the longevity of those relationships, that's what really means. We can't call ourselves award-winning.”
Photo: Joan Crawford
Photo: Joan Crawford
While some may see this as stubborn or contrarian, Simon feels it's simply applying the critical thinking that Robotfood prides itself on to every aspect of its work.
“Following the herd mentality and not questioning things will lead to poor business outcomes,” he argues. “Most things ultimately come down to ego. If you can avoid the temptation of ego and make decisions based on what's truly best for your customers, your team, and your business value, you're probably doing something good, with or without award recognition.”
“We try to strip away anything that isn't necessary and not overcomplicate things,” adds Ben. “We only think about what is most useful and effective for each client's situation. That's simplicity, but it's also good design.”
