The Brief

Every year the Australasian Writers And Art Directors Association (AWARD) needs a 'call for entries' to drive entry of creative advertising work into their award show. And every year that 'call for entries' targets those who win the awards – the Advertising Creatives. But the truth is, they don't need to be sold to. Creatives already understand the importance of entering. They would enter as much as possible. What they actually need aid in is getting more agency funds put towards entering their work. We decided this would be a powerful strategy for the AWARD 'call for entries'.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

More and more award shows appear on the advertising landscape every year, and agencies want to enter them all. The challenge is in reality, creatives don't decide how much and what can be entered. It's the agency's award show budget. Something that lives well outside the creative realm and deep inside the financial one. It was time to create an award 'call for entries' for Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association's (AWARD) that spoke to those that actually control the agency purse strings - The Finance Department.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

By speaking to a completely new audience, that is, the agency people with the money, Pencils Equal Profits created a remarkable 27% increase in AWARD entries for 2013. The 1st advertising award ever was created for Finance Directors so they could actually experience winning for themselves. And maybe just maybe as a result, we've made Finance realise, that timesheets aren't the only thing worth entering.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

For the first time in advertising history, we created an AWARD 'Call for Entries' that spoke directly to agency Finance Directors instead of Creative Directors. Titled 'Pencils Equal Profits' it included online video content, financial newspaper ads and an entire book on Award Entry Economics. All humorously demonstrating how entering AWARD would not only result in huge cost efficiencies, but vast increases in billings. We then went further and announced a Finance Director would actually experience winning an Award Pencil on the night themselves - with the Pinstripe Pencil. Awarded for best 'Return On Investment' from an agency's entries