It's December... busy making some scam ads?

That question popped up in the CCI mailing list several weeks ago.
The CCI mailing list members consist from advertising students
up to the Suhu Advertising Creatives of Indonesia.
Sometimes the discussion can be heavy and deep,
but mostly they're quite light and humorous.
But it's guaranteed, you'll still learn alot.
As Om Budiman Hakim once said "Lanturan tapi Relevan."
Biar ngelantur, tapi tetap relevan.
Jadi biar minum bergelas-gelas bir, harus tetap berusaha sadar.
Hihihhihiihihihi... gitu enggak Om?

Anyway, back to doing scam ads.
What defines a scam ad?

I got this from the Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA).
I believe the definition is quite general so that it can be applicable anywhere.

AFA Definition of a 'Scam Ad"
The simplest way to define a 'scam ad' is by its intend,
namely: An ad which has been created solely (and cynically)
for the promotion of its creators via advertising awards.

Additionally, a scam ad can be defined by the following guidelines:

1. An ad for a Client that the Agency does not have.
2. An ad that's never run or appeared in media.
3. An ad that has been run illogically or incredibly (eg. an ad for a launderette in Darlinghurst that is run at 4am on Impaja TV) purely to qualify it for award entry.
4. An ad that the Client has no knowledge of.
5. An ad that wasn't paid for by the Client or whose production or media appearance has been subsidised in whole or in part by the creator.
6. An ad for a Client who is not a credible marketer and who has been 'found' by the creator for the purposes of running the ad.
7. An ad that is altered from the form in which it first ran to enhance its chances of winning an award (eg. deletion of a coupon or reduction of logo size).


Here in Indonesia, scam ads that are entered in advertising awards are usually Number 5, 6 or 7.
You can easily spot a scam ad. Just look at the creative people who made it.
If all the names are the Creative Director's name then.. yups, you guessed it.
Or if the Art Director's name changed positioned to be also the Account Executive...
then it's possibly a scam ad Number 6.

Hold on now, I'm not saying those who made scam ads are bad creative people.
It's just that... well, personally.. I myself never made a scam ad.
And never really thought about making one.
Somehow, I feel my creative integrity will be tainted if I do a scam ad.
It's not like a REAL ad, gitu lowh!

But then again, most people say
that if you want to win awards you got to do scam ads.
Gosh....

I mean, taking from Ogilvy own words,
"If it doesn't sell, it's not creative."
The purpose of making ads, is to sell.
While the purpose of making scam ads, is to win awards.
See the difference?

I chatted with several creative people,
just to know how they feel towards this issue.
The first one was Mas Glenn, the Creative Director of Ogilvyone.
He actually confessed that he made scam ads.. and those scam ads won awards.
He wasn't at all regretfull and said to me,
"There are many options in getting an award, doing scam ads is one of them."
I told him how I felt about making a scam ad and he wisely answered back,
"It's really up to you. If you feel you'll lose your creative integrity then don't do it."

Still not satisfied with his answer, I asked Enda if he's done a scam ad.
His anwswer was, "I wish I had the chance to do so."
I was quite surprised at his answer.
If you had the chance? I mean you're okay doing scam ads?
Enda answered back, "Why not? By doing scam ads, we can get as creative as we want."
Why not? It's SO Enda! :)

Still not satisfied,
I turned my discussion with Bucin, a Senior Copywriter at Grey Indonesia.
We had quite a long chat.. in short, he also agrees doing scam ads.
According to him, aiming to win awards - whether through scam ads or not -
is what differs a creative person (insan kreatif) and a creative worker (pekerja kreatif).
Bucin gave an analogy of either being Ram Punjabi or Teguh Karya.

Hmmm... I asked three credible creative people.
And they're all OK doing scam ads.
They all agree on one thing: The important part is winning awards!!!

The discussion of scam ads is a never ending discussion.
Some say it's not ethical, but almost all creative people in the world does it.
And just because one does it, doesn't mean they're not creative.
I mean they must be creative if they won awards.
So...?

Oh, another easy route to win awards is making a Public Service Advertisement.
Because you won't have a fussy client changing this and that.
You can go as creative as you want. You'll be the client!
At least PSA isn't considered a scam ad, cause hey.. it's a PSA!

But anyway, like mas Glenn said,
"Rather than discussing itu, why don't you try making one.
It's harder to prove than to talk about it, you know."

Words well said, mas Glenn... words well said.

So, PSA anyone? =)