Are D&AD winners all that they pretend to be?

I’ve just received my 2007 D&AD Annual – and lovely it is too. However, I have noticed a couple of entries that raised an eyebrow.

There is a trend towards creative ‘ideas’ being put forward by consultancies that have never actually seen the light of day. These things often appear on blogs and the like, which is fine – creativity should be about exploring ideas regardless of whether they can be genuinely executed or not – never throw out a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong, they are often beautiful ideas – my point is they don’t really stand up to scrutiny unless they are genuinely used in the wider world. Part of the designer’s job is the ability to come up with an execution and deliver it to the audience required. Of course consultancies can work up these ideas, post them on blogs, stick them on the studio wall and so on. But should such ideas be given recognition and awards at the highest level? For instance, is the long poster on page 115 really going to be on the floor every day as people walk past, or was it just a lovely idea the consultancy had and it set it up and shot it?

Likewise, the United Nations Children’s Fund Shoe Tags on page 126: are we to believe that Unicef sanctioned people to illegally change tags in shops and risked having legal action taken against it, or is it just a bit of guerrilla stuff that people shot and said they did?

These aren’t the only instances. I understand that media is changing and marketing is much more fluid and inventive these days, but as an industry we need to be honest about what we’re producing and how it is used, especially given the current situation regarding public trust in the media.

Steve Seamark, Creative director, Dandy, Nottingham NG8 1JS