EDITORIAL : The A list

Deadlock was in the air when the Fairfax AdMedia Agency of the Year judges sat down to make their decisions for the 2008 edition of these awards.

There were record numbers of entries this year, and it's getting no easier to separate so many high-quality contenders.

In several categories

The Indie category this year posed special problems. Although AoY is first and foremost a business award, creativity still matters and counts up to 30% of the total scored by each agency in both the main and indie categories (Business Performance earns another 30%, as does Awards Achievement; Vision & Innovation and Staff Management & Development are both worth 15%, while Contributions to the Wider Industry gets 10%).

The problem for the indies (and the judges) is that their awards achievement - especially in creative work - is very poor, and this discourages many from taking part. The judges debated this long and hard before agreeing to lower the awards points for indies to 25%, but they declined to go further on the grounds that creativity is such a core component in all ad agencies, and they were reluctant to create a double standard.

Several solutions were canvassed, including investigating some kind of NZ indie creative award. But, in reality, the judges felt the only way forward for the burgeoning indie sector (60 agencies, and growing fast) is for these shops - all of which are capable of outstanding creativity - to enter more creative and effectiveness awards.

The DM category posed difficulties, too, due largely to the sheer size of the major player, AIM Proximity, which completely dwarfs its many competitors. One change that is likely next year will be the renaming of this category to the Direct & Interactive AoY, reflecting the way the sector is moving with the times.

Overall, however, this year's rigorous process produced results that AdMedia is proud of, and which prove - to our satisfaction, at least - that the industry is in extremely good heart, and well-equipped to tackle the economic challenges of the year ahead.