Should the Singapore Creative Circle Awards prosper? Or should it just roll over and die?
There’s a healthy debate brewing in the Singapore ad industry over the future and role of local award shows. The Singapore Creative Circle Gong Awards are currently in their call for entry phase and, as has been the case in previous years, there seems to be a certain degree of apathy surrounding the event.
Ever since Campaign Brief Asia can remember the “on again, off again” CCAs has been dogged by controversy with Batey, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi (and probably others) boycotting the awards at one time or another. Lately, due to financial constraints, the previously annual event has moved out to being staged every two years.
This year’s Gong CCA Chair and Jury President Tay Guan Hin is encouraging debate on the subject posting an open letter on Facebook reflecting about the importance of having a local creative show and relevance of a local show in today’s global landscape.
Says Guan: “Every country with a good creative reputation needs a local media-neutral creative show that’s purely for the creative from the creatives. Then why is it that, we have let CCA stand outside the award calendar? Are we saying a local show is not good enough for us? Aren’t we being a little hypocritical if I may say?”
Here’s Guan’s letter below:
Dear All,
In 1980, the Singapore Creative Circle Awards, affectionately known as the Gong Show, was born. I had more hair then.
It has a long history of celebrating the best of local creativity in the marketing and communication industry.
It gave birth to several illustrious careers of fiercely talented individuals who have consequently gone on to head some of the most creative agencies, locally and globally.
Sadly, CCA has somewhat lost its way as more award shows have cropped up and demand attention and a fair share of the ever-shrinking award budgets in these financially challenging times. Instead of being the flag-bearer for celebrating local talents it gradually lost its sharp focus and is a mere shadow of its former self with strong core values of celebrating local creativity and people behind the work.
Regional creative shows, effectiveness shows and those focused on clients have meant a busy awards season calendar. Slowly eroding away the importance of a local creative show. A show judged by only creatives with only one agenda – to push the standards of local creativity by celebrating the best of Singapore’s commercial creativity.
It saddens me to see the lack of a stage for our younger talents to shine. After all, it is these creatives who will make Singapore proud as they mature into well-rounded leaders. This begs the question, have we lost the glue that used to bind us all together, and in turn, help us inspire each other to create better work? Have we become too caught up in being present in every award show that we have neglected the one that actually harnessed our collective might? Are we thinking enough about the ones who haven’t won an international award yet but perhaps will if they get the encouragement from the local leaders that they look up to? In these difficult times, it is only our creativity that can help us make a positive impact on our balance sheets. And, above all, the morale in every creative department in Singapore – from the corner offices to the messy cubicles that sees the lamp on until the wee hours.
Every country with a good creative reputation needs a local media-neutral creative show that’s purely for the creative from the creatives. Then why is it that, we have let CCA stand outside the award calendar? Are we saying a local show is not good enough for us? Aren’t we being a little hypocritical if I may say?
This year, I’ve been asked to chair the Gong Show. With many changes to the show that make sure we celebrate not just the stars, the ones that will be stars but also the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes to make break out creative work possible. It is almost the end of the year so every ECD will be facing a dwindling awards budget. But, this is the original show that stood for celebrating local work and talent and this year we need to show our collective strength and rally behind our only and truly creative show.
Should I bother? Am I foolish to do so? Do you think differently? Am I getting carried away or do we really need to think about why is it that we don’t celebrate local creativity? Are we setting the benchmark for our younger talent to look up to? Can we better our creative product without acting as one and celebrating the best work in the truest of manner possible? Can Singapore regain its pride of place in the map of global creativity without a platform where we recognize and award our best only to better it next year?
Born and bred in Singapore,
Guan
64 Comments
Can you imagine the state of English, Dutch, Spanish, Italian or German football without the football league? No different for advertising.
The reason why the CCA died was due to some questionable judging and rigged juries that you read about at the recent Cannes.
To bring the CCA to life, began finding juries with true credibilities, judges on the film category had to have strong reels themselves. Likewise in the Branded Content and Integration categories.
Is CCA willing to someone new instead of the usual suspects? Are there any other great local creative minds out there waving the flag of the Singapore scene in other markets? The word-beaters?
Select creative leaders who won on legitimate brands and campaigns instead of dodgy ones.
Only then should you need a local show, who’s sole purpose is to identify world standard local creative work.
Like trials before the Olympics.
Every local industry should have their local awards.
I’m sure many of the top creative directors in Singapore got their start at CCA and moved up from that point.
Today’s young talent should have the same opportunity.
Nice letter Guan, bit of an odd plea.
My advice, kill it and set up something like Art Directors Club Singapore to gain some kind of credibility. Put some integrity in it and stop breeding generation after generation of scammers.
Most of you guys didn’t get what Neil French was talking about.
Yes, they should go on. But with foreign judges….then they’ll really know how bad they are.
I havent participated in a CCA ever but when I would love to take part in a local show.
There is a creative revolution happening in Singapore, look at the kind of work coming out of the agencies these days. Gone are the days when Singapore used to win only in print and outdoor categories. And this is being fueled by a new generation of creatives. They need to be celebrated by a local show and international judges alike. The timing couldn’t have been better for CCA to make comeback.
You meant young creatives and their case study videos one after another? No matter what it is, the creative idea needs to come through and it needs to be world class. One comment’s suggestion of Singapore Art Directors Club, does that make it the SAD award like Bangkok’s BAD?
I think Pann Lim says it best –
To me, CCA will always mean a lot. I remember the year 2000 when I got my first CCA bronze for a poster campaign. The feeling was a special one, never understood why it meant so much. Maybe it’s because I have always championed being local, eating local food, playing in a local band and running a local agency. It’s been 12 years and the feeling is still the same. See you guys real soon!
A show is only as good as its judges. Irregardless of local or international.
Letting works from back in 2010 qualify for entry is a grave mistake if Singapore is to move forward.
There is a new generation emerging in Singapore who moves in the right direction.
Let’s just hope that the show ends up credible for their sake.
I really like what Neil French said:
“The CCAs were once the start of something big for so many of us.
It was kinda sad when somehow, somewhere along the way, we decided we’d grown out of ’em, I think.
Let me tell you something: I just got back from Riga, in Latvia. Population about two million. Just like Singapore thirty years ago.
They are a keen bunch, and asked how they could become a creative centre, like Singapore. I advised them to have a local awards show, with tough international judges…just as we did thirty years ago.
“But what if they give NO awards?” they asked.
“Then you’ll know where you stand, and have to try a lot harder, won’t you”.
Wouldn’t it be great if a mirror-image state half the world away, ‘Did a Singapore’!
They just might, and it’s you guys who inspired them.”
Not much creative candour in the comments board, are the readers and commentators here from creative industries? And ‘Irregardless’?? – Not trying to be a troll but that did not look like a typo, surely the copywriters, editors and keen talents of the ad industry are not devoid of fundamentals too?
This is an industry of people who are so proud of their scamming ways, they wear it like a medal of honour. Meanwhile clients wring their hands in despair at the high costs of an agency and the inability of anyone in them to sell and make the clients life just a little bit easier. I think as the ‘heartfelt’ voice of the industry, Tay Guan Hin should perhaps share an opinion or two with us on that subject.
Dear Irregardless,
I would be absolutely delighted to share my opinion on this subject over a cup of coffee? Let me know where and when.
It is an award show that celebrates creativity regardless scam or not. It is a different nature from the Effies, the REAL Effies. That celebrate effectiveness.
And you, creative candour? The is the comment board FFS. Might as well rant at tweets.
Dear Tay Guan Hin
As a natural leader, spokesperson and conscience of the singapore ad industry, I think your voice is too important to be heard by just one person over coffee. This is the perfect stage to reach out to everyone…. So I will take a raincheck on coffee but look forward to your response here.
I (and many others I’m sure) are really interested in knowing if you feel scam is damaging our industry and will eventually bring it crashing down. Already clients are wondering what the hell they pay their agencies for. Many of them have started going to cheaper local shops where the work is just as bad as the big agencies but not half as expensive.
Most big agencies get thrown out of a pitch simply because of their fees. And even if they win the account, the creatives treat it like a piece of shit and are only interested in scam because some regional CCO is breathing down obver all of them.
Shame, don’t you think?
IYes it’s that tiresome debate…. the elephant in the room ………. but Scam..?
One cannot argue that Singapore now has that reputation. A new/restored Singapore awards show somehow has to acknowledge this and tackle it head on – on one way or another.
1) to go the old Neil French route and simply say, this is a celebration of creativity where creative people get together and show off to each other – brilliantly
or 2
2) The reputation that Singapore has as scam city has to be challenged and challenged with a show that takes Scam seriously – not just the technicalities of the rules – but the spirit of them.
Mr Guan:
Which will it be – ? Surely as Chairman Of the Show you should come out with a direct and definitive statement about Scam and the CCa’s stance
Great idea. Yes we should fix this image of being one of the scam cities. This could be a small remedy.
TTG,
It’s a debate that will not and should not ever go away.
And in true creative supremo fashion, I think heMr. Tay is asking us minions to do the work for him and show it to him for approval. Boy, what a sweet gig.
Guys, I dont know which agency you guys work at? Look at the kind of work that is coming out of Singapore, it is really changing. I dont think Scam is even an issue for Singapore anymore. There is brilliant work happening on real accounts. Look at DDB’s changing room on Starhub, Look at the new Heineken work from iris , look at jwt’s silk airline explorer, ogilvy’s hug machine on coke. Just have a look on the kind of work they are doing on these account. I really think we need this show to honour that can of work. We live in a small place and it is going through a transition, we should embrace it and and celebrate it.
Save yourself the money…I’l give you the results in advance.
Grand Prix Print wil be the brilliant bicycle shop from ang mo kio campaign.
Grand Prix Radio will be something nice and scammy involving radio Djs.
TV there will be no grand prix awarded.
Digital…hmm…who fucking cares.
There, I just saved you from an evening of painful speeches, bad food and predictable people watching.
GMP Raffles Place Ghost, Kit Kat Social Break, Starhub Birds & Bees, Red Cross Rapid Rescue, Heinken Social Tree, Starhub Musical Fitting Room, Youth Olympic Games, Mentos National Night, Singapore Tourism Tip Jar, Okamoto Tip Off, Nike Shout, Coke Hug Machine….just a few of the campaigns that are signaling the change Singapore’s advertising is going through. Of course there are campaigns like the LifCycle one or for a small restaurant with some unique offering or the age old detergent proposition visualized interestingly. The problem these ads are so damn beautiful they get awarded. But the fact is, Singapore’s new crop of creatives and creative directors are driving the new wave of creativity. In a couple of years, the new kind of work will be the norm and the number of break out pieces will increase. That will reflect on Singapore’a performance at Cannes even after the Pritn & Outdoor categories are over. Stay positive if you work in Singapore. And if you don’t, well try getting a job here. It is not a bad test for you book. I hope CCA is a success and everyone looks at its return constructively. Good luck.
I hear all your points about the definition of creativity and the purpose of award shows. Which brings me to the rules and fees section of the new CCA website (www.creativecircle.com.sg)
4. Entries must be submitted in the same size and format as they appeared in the medium except for large executions.
11. The organizers reserve the right to request for verification/further evidences in the form of client letters bearing original signatures and media schedules/tear sheets or photographs Please note that non-verified entries may be disqualified without any notice or explanation.
13. All entries must be submitted exactly in the same manner they are published, aired or implemented and must not be modified, in any way, for entry in GONG CCA 2012.
14. All entries must have been made within the context of a normal paying contract with a client, except in the charities and public services categories.
15. Entrants who are proved to have deliberately and knowingly contravened any rules relating to eligibility may be barred from entering future awards for a period of time as determined by the organizer.
Rest assured that we would be following up on this as closely as we can.
Credibility of the awards is our high priority.
As part of our entry processing procedures, we will ensure that all entries are submitted with clients’ verification on each entry form.
Entries will not be accepted without verification.
This same system was applied in the Singapore Media Awards in Sep.
However, we will not let good work die simply because of assumptions made.
I believe in supporting great creative ideas no matter which business clients are in or how agencies sell their work or how agencies charge their clients.
The final creative product is what we will be judging.
If a small business company wanted creativity in their advertising do we pre-judge and throw out all creatively driven small business who really need to stand out from the big boys?
Are we judging the work even before the work is being judged?
Who are you to judge the people behind the work?
Just because you think the work is too creative for the client to buy, does not mean we tear it down in shame?
I believe CCA is more than just an award show. It’s an event where our creative community, ranging from juniors to seniors. can come together to celebrate local creativity as one. I have faith that the Singapore Ad industry is in the process of growing up and have full confidence in the judges to discover the best local work this little island has to offer.
P.S. “Irregardless” if you ever change you mind, drop by my office and I will make time to have a proper conversation over cup of coffee. My treat!
@ Forward
You took the words right out of my mouth.
You also took Obamas slogan you cheeky bugger. Anyway, lots of love and respect.
Also born and bred in Singapore,
Juan
Forward looks like you have been getting high on your own stash. Man that’s a no-no….dude!
Dear Guan Hin
So ads that run as 1/4 page in magazines have to be entered at that size?
we are not allowed to send in A2 art pulls used for other shows?
Hey Juan, why don’t you ask forward out on a date?
Firstly, please proofread your rules esp #11 (evidences???).
Secondly, how are you going to enforce rule #14?
Thirdly, You have left loopholes the size of Mt. Kinabalu….anyone can exploit.
Have a a good show.
So much talk. Let’s see if the bicycle shop campaign wins anything, if it does, we’re back to the same old story of many years ago and the reason why it went into oblivion. You’ve just opened a can of worms Mr. Tay Guan Hin, your reputation is more at stake now than ever.
Those who raved about DDB’s musical fitting room, it’s as fake as the Poop Bike from Tokyo’s Party Inc, google it, can poo be made into fuel for the bike. How many Coke hug machines have you seen in public? Were Mentos Singapore Night, Heineken Tree and Silkair Explorer any good? They were embarrassing.
The role of CCA shouldn’t be about rewarding the dodgy ideas that hardly ran or the ones that ran but are mediocre. Award shows are suppose to reward the best creative work.
I’m someone who moved to Singapore to work because I happened to see a Gong Show book and was amazed at the quality, simplicity and sheer bloody greatness of some of the ads in it. And once I worked there, I understood how that work motivated a whole generation of young art directors and writers to strive for the same excellence. Young Singaporeans (these days not so young) who are now plying their trade successfully all over the world, helping to put the little red dot on the creative map.
Good luck to Guan Hin as he attempts to revive it and give it meaning for 2012. It shouldn’t be the same as it was in the 90s but it should have the same effect: to galvanize others to reach for something that’s extraordinary instead of settling for the mundane. Isn’t that the point of any show?
regards
Martin Lee
The Raffles Ghost Story viral video was not a real viral hit. About $80,000 went to the Viral factory to seed it on video sites all around the world.
And no one knew GMP did it until a GMP candidate did a revelation video…
Scam?
So even assuming you put your foot down on scam and succeed…who’s gonna be judging the work….a bunch of dudes who made their careers by doing scam.
No thanks.
Agencies should save their cash for the bleak times that lie around the corner. Maybe they can save a few jobs instead of blowing it on some big wankerfest.
PJ, so much talk and you talk nonsense. the bike campaign already a gold winner in Cannes. So what if it bloody wins again in CCA? Mr. Tay Guan Hin doesn’t need CCA to prove himself, he has already chaired in Cannes as jury President. this is a walk in the park for him. Most social experiment are only done once, like the Cannes Grand Prix Outdoor winner for Mercedes Benz or the drama button for TNT. What’s there not to like about the hugging machines, Heineken tree and Mentos film. Think it might be a good show after all ..minus the loopholes of course.
Thank you Mr.Tay Guan Hin for your sincere and honest reply.
Good luck with the show and hope it does well.
would like to have coffee soon. call you?
Can’t we skip killing each other with bitchy scammy remarks and all get along? for goodness sake! this talk is hurting our industry. We should just be glad that CCA is back. Can’t we just support it and hope for a good show?
Where are all the local creative directors? They seem to be getting extinct! Hope this show can groom them up once again to lead foreign agencies.
How does those two points make the GMP work scam? You lost us there, mate. Are you saying for a piece of work to be real, there cannot be a seeding strategy? Or do you mean all scam work have reveal videos? Mind-boggling stuff there, buddy.
And it was not a candidate, mate. It was Josh Goh, head of GMP marketing on camera on Labour Day. Speak to him and ask him if he did it for the awards? Pop by his office, ask him “Scam?” in his face, I’m sure he’ll tell you.
No wonder we are screwed. Instead of raising a generation of workers, we raised a generation of haters.
A scam show should be run by scammers. A real show by real talents. In the real world, the twain never meet.
@hatersaregonnahate I can’t agree more with you.
I’m a junior creative, and it’s disheartening to see the amount of dissentment going on in the industry. While we’re trying to get it ‘right’, trashing every piece of real work for being contrived or unoriginal is one thing I’m sure does not do anything to bring up the quality of creative work in Singapore. Hold your tongues.
Hey Junior
When you are in the communications industry, your communications must be impeccable in every way. Please don’t make up words like ‘dissentment’. It makes people cringe and justifies the poor opinion many clients have of us.
Rule of thumb: if you aren’t 100% sure of a word, don’t use it. Stick to stuff you know.
Thanks
As a junior, you haven’t been there to witness the mess. Start questioning why the show died. Not because of the economy, entries to the other shows were as high if not higher than ever. It was due to the show sucked. Juries lobbying to get their agencies awarded and barred those not in the “circle”. Let that be a mistake that we learn from, which is why we’re having this debate. This show deserves a second chance, but it needs to be done right. Otherwise it’ll be short lived again for sure.
It’s great that people have an opinion on whether we need a local creative award show. We all should give CCA a chance as it can be start of a new bond between creatives in this town. Let’s not be spiteful of each other’s work. Instead, let’s collaborate and keep raising the overall standard of our advertising. Our clients will be the eventual beneficiaries. After all, they pay for our bills. It is also great that the show is going to recognise bravery from the client. Good on you, Singapore.
Well first of all i would like to say that if someone is new in the industry, let him see and learn on his own, it is ridiculous to discourage someone rather we should encourage and show him/her the good side of our business. Anyways I think this show makes complete sense as we are in the midst of a creative revolution in Singapore. And what do you guys label as scam. I am sure all of this work was sold to the clients no matter big or small. I mean cars companies come up with concept cars all the time, these are never meant to be released but they show the capabilities and the vision of the companies. I really think all these haters lack the skill of coming up with great ideas and end up being freelancers or unknown creatives working on insignificant brochure.
I love this concept car analogy right from the time Frenchie brought it up.
It’s spot on…but with one important caveat that ad scammers fail to grasp.
The companies that make concept cars make a damn fine real world product to begin with.
Where’s the excellent real world ad product from these scammers?
I feel rather sorry for them.
Most of them are paid shitty wages just to promote some ECDs career. Sharing flats with strangers, scrounging for cash as the end of the month approaches.
And when they’re discarded by agencies, they can’t be successful even at freelancing. Because they never picked up any real advertising skills on how to tackle a real brief with confidence.
Well, you know what they say, life is all about the choices you make.
Enjoy the one you pick.
Every morning when I wake up (and before I put on my make-up), I say a little prayer for all the fulltime scammers. If they really knew how to do their jobs, I wouldn’t have one.
The only revolution going on in Singapore is in my washing machine.
Nice. Heavy duty list of juries
Agnello Dias & Kash Sree on the jury. Doesn’t get better than that.
Give it a chance.
You never know, you never know…..
Total respect to Guan for putting himself out there – in the firing line, because he must know, and as some of the comments prove, it seems that in this business in Singapore there will always be an incredibly vocal, vicious and mostly anonymous crowd ready to shoot anything down before it has a chance to fly.
Give it a chance.
TGH: “I believe CCA is more than just an award show. It’s an event where our creative community, ranging from juniors to seniors. can come together to celebrate local creativity as one.”
Even if it simply achieves that….wouldn’t that be a good thing?
True Steve, atleast someone is taking the step forward and a humble one. Best of luck
I think CCA should make Steve Elrick foreman for all juries…I can see him being neutral.
Steve will make an excellent foreman, no doubt about that.
But don’t you think the purpose of having a local show is to have one of our local creative directors to lead this? Valerie did a great job last time and I’m sure this year could be just as good,
Why are there so few women judges? The panel is predominately male centric and think this must change in the future. Way to go Valerie Cheng, Cara Ang, Juhi Kalia, Pat Law and Hanyi Lee.
The question to ask is: are they on the panel because they’re good, because they’re the chairmans mates or because they’re women?
The only women from Asia who’ve done any good work at all are the late Yasmin Ahmad and Jureeporn Thaidumrong.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple but the names on the list I’m seeing is disappointing for women in general.
Im always amazed at how xenophobic Singapore has become…to your point Melissa. why don’t we just chuck out all foreigners and see how that goes. No more security against neighbours, no more real estate market, no more economy…and of course, loads of well art directed scam. I am glad you are not a decision maker in these matters.
Yasmin and Jureeporn were two of the best Asian woman in the region. I don’t disagree. But in our local shores, I beg to differ that we don’t have talented female creative talent. Take Ms Valerie Cheng for instance, I don’t know her but wasn’t she awarded Digital CD of the year in IAS awards before? She is now featured in the latest SMRT CD of the year posters. They might not yet reach the heights of Yasmin or Jureeporn but in time they could. We shouldn’t underestimate the women in Singapore. I hope to be able to work with her in the future.
@ Eng the Beng
While there’s much xenophobia out there, I found none in Melissa’s posting.
Singapore’s advertising prominence has been supported by its openness to foreigners.
It has served over the years to stimulate, challenge and inspire. Not just the local community but also younger foreigners venturing here who have found that a stint in this little red dot can be a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
The Kashs, Clarkes, Royers, and Drogas left their mark on Visas, Navy, Sonys, HPs, P&Gs and have moved on to claim their rightful positions on bigger canvasses.
The sad truth is that of late, we haven’t had the good fortunate to attract a similar calibre of talent from abroad.
Maybe it’s title inflation or talent erosion? Or both?
In the last ten years, creative carpetbaggers have popped one in one shop after another, sucking up resources and contributing nothing much in return.
Singapore will always welcome and embrace top talent from all corners.
We are even proud to call them our adopted creative sons.
Being able to discern the good ones from the bad doesn’t make us all xenophobes.
it just makes us more discriminating.
Digital in Singapore is a joke as are 99% of the peeps working in it. They call themselves digital natives but are really just ex-DM (brochures, shelf talkers. danglers, wobblers, cobblers) creatives of agencies that ‘rebranded’ as digital to ride the new wave. I’m surrounded by them at work….they seem to know banner resolutions in dpi by heart but nothing else. And nothing is worse than these guys trying to do mainstream ads….it’s just painful to watch.
Wonder who will be the creative client of the year? I vote for NTUC. BBH has done some amazing job for them over the past years.
Heard many entries have poured in. might be quite a good year for the return of this show..guess we’ll wait and see.
Hey John, where did you hear that “many” entries have “poured” in…or are you just ‘seeding’ a thought?
Hello Guan
Will you be taking time out from your busy cca schedule to work on the global creative pitch to hang on to the HSBC business? Seriously you might be the agency’s only hope sir.
@ Nemo, October 22, 2012 8:54 PM
You probably work with production-driven digital peeps in an integrated agency then. Concept driven digital natives will never stay long at agencies which use them as technical advisors to vet digital ideas from non digital staff.
No offense but the only type of digital peeps that work in integrated agencies are the ones who don’t mind being treated and paid as production staff.
Spoken like a newbie to the business. Smart seeding does not involve paying The Viral Factory 80,000 dollars to upload the Raffles Ghost video at thousands of video sharing sites. And then trying to quantify the number of views from all these mirror sites holding the same video.
That is really a scammy hit as anyone can do the same thing. And having to do an explanatory video about who was sponsoring the video and what was the message cleared showed this viral video did not communicate anything, except trying to scare people
A real organic hit video is passed around or shared by people and you can measure it easily by the number of views the video has at one location. Just check out Will it Blend and you will know what is a real viral hit.
No offense but there are Singaporeans who score viral hits with zero paid media and at last glance, they don’t work at all these initiative-scam driven shops.