Occasionally a client commissions a video with the slightly quaint request that it should win an award. The most prestigious of these and the hardest to win are undoubtedly the IVCA Awards. Having been an IVCA Chair of Judges for many years, I have a good idea what makes a winner but it’s hard to prescribe. I do know however what will positively guarantee failure:
- Do enter your programme into the wrong category, the judges won’t notice
- Don’t check the DVD actually plays, the judges are all techies and will sort it out
- Do give a misleading description of the objectives, no one reads them
- Don’t provide the supporting materials you say go with it, ditto above
- Do state the client was really pleased, that means so much
- Don’t take your name off the titles even though you were asked to do so
- Do blow half the budget on the opening, they never watch them through
- Don’t employ an award-winning scriptwriter, it’s a complete waste of money
