Earlier this week, I spent a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable day judging the ‘Best of B2B’ categories at the DMA Awards 2019. This was my second consecutive year judging the DMAs, and it was no less interesting, but more enjoyable mostly because the judging panel bonded to a much greater degree. It only goes to prove what Peter Young, the longstanding chair of the judging for our B2B Marketing Awards, always says: that a happy panel is an effective one.
I think the reason that we (the judges) hit it off this year was the broad mix of backgrounds and personalities who made up the panel for the B2B category, which included an agency CEO, a couple of corporate marketers, a creative director, a martech entrepreneur, a recruitment consultant, a production and productivity guru. This diverse mix of expertise and perspectives made for fascinating discussions around the entries and a few laughs along the way.
Standout work
But what about the actual work? Well, as last year, it was a pretty mixed bag, with some campaigns head and shoulders about the rest. From my perspective at least, the shortlist pretty much picked itself – although there wasn’t a standout winner (or winners) as there were last year (other judges may disagree!). I’m not convinced the overall standard had improve, although it’s easy to post-rationalise the quality of a previous year, when the details of the ‘also-rans’ has faded from view.
One thing was for certain: there was at least one entry that fell well short of the mark as a realistic candidate – the one I’m thinking of was essentially a submission focused on website development and lacked all and any of the nuance and perspective required to explain how it addressed a wider marketing issue, or how it fitted into strategy. I’m not sure if this was simply a campaign that had been lazily entered into two categories, but it certainly wasted the judges time (at least it provided us with a benchmark for what we didn’t like!). In these circumstances in particular, I disagree with the DMA’s policy of obscuring the details of the agency responsible. I think naming and shaming would have been quite helpful here!
A great shared experience
But these minor quibbles certainly do not detract from an overwhelmingly positive experience. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and spending time with my fellow judges and would urge any committed B2B marketer to get involved in future. Having the opportunity to evaluate different campaigns and compare notes with others is an extremely worthwhile exercise. It’s the best possible kind of stimulation.
I’m also reassured that the DMA had 19 entries in the B2B category, which I understand makes it one of their largest. So that confirms that B2B is alive and well as part of the DMA membership, and wider data marketing community.
So congratulations to those brands and agencies shortlisted – you can read about them here. I’m already on tenterhooks to find out who won. The DMA uses a digital voting platform, so the judges don’t know, and whilst this is frustrating, it certainly adds to the sense of antcip… ation. The winners will be announced, trophies awarded and backs slapped at a ceremony on 3 December. Tickets are on sale now.
