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Home  News FP7 shuns awards
Written by AdNation Editor, Sunday, 07 March 2010
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 Fortune Promoseven won’t be winning any awards this year. Contrary to what some smartarses might say, that’s not necessarily a reflection on the network’s recent work. It’s a conscious policy change from the top.
Tom Roychoudhury, chief innovations officer and corporate communications at FP7’s parent company Middle East Communications Network (MCN), says, “We’ve decided to take stock , examine all our creative output, and hopefully come back with a bang next year. “
FP7, you may recall, was the network at the centre of last year’s Lynx scam scandal, so the idea that it’s now taking time out to “examine” its work – while inviting comments about stable doors and bolted horses – seems an eminently sensible one. The decision not to enter awards marks a dramatic U-turn, too, for a company that, just three years ago, invested heavily to recruit talent from around the globe with the stated aim of winning awards.
“In times like these, it’s about putting our maximum efforts behind producing excellent creative work for our clients – work that builds business, and makes brand communications both effective and memorable,” Roychoudry says of the company’s new policy. “This year it’s about producing excellent creative that works. And, I’m sure you’ll see the results next year...”
The keywords there, of course, are “for our clients”. Whether or not any genuine clients would be willing to sign off on the type of ads that picked up so much metal (albeit briefly) for the network last year – many of which, lest we forget, were genuinely excellent creatively – remains to be seen. But persuading them to do so will undoubtedly require several months’ effort. So taking a year out is probably smart.
For the rest of the industry, though, it’s not particularly good news. The Lynx organisers, in particular, must be disappointed at the thought of a couple of hundred entries and a few full tables at the awards ceremony going missing. The ‘copycat’ police (hello Louai, hello John Doe) will be desperately searching for a new public enemy. And as for the media, unless someone else steps up to fill FP7’s scandal shoes, we might actually have to do some work this year to get interesting stories. Eek!
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