Big News: Nike Loses Advertising Award

‘Nike Loses Advertising Award’ is a much more unexpected (and click-bait) headline than ‘Nike Wins Advertising Award’. I thought of this switcharoo when I woke up to the following ‘expected’ headline from Media Week:

Nike’s ‘You Can’t Stop Us’ From W+K Wins Outstanding Commercial Emmy.”

Switcheroo? Media trope? Let’s start with this definition from Wikipedia:

The phrase man bites dog is a shortened version of an aphorism in journalism that describes how an unusual, infrequent event (such as a man biting a dog) is more likely to be reported as news than an ordinary, everyday occurrence with similar consequences, such as a dog biting a man.

The article, about who won the Emmy Awards for outstanding television commercials makes me think that these huge awards only go to the rich and famous. Why do Nike and W+K win again? And, again? Yes, this is a wonderful TV commercial, and W+K rocks. But other agencies and other advertisers make great ads. Even agencies in North Carolina.

Are Nike and W+K that much better than other advertising agency and client pairs?  Over and over? While these guys do great advertising (note that Nike was a long-term client of mine when I had an agency in Portland and W+K was hard to ignore), I have to think that the judges do not, must not look at a whole lot of advertising from the universe of poor and infamous advertisers. There are dozens of advertisers and there has to be a reason that Nike is repeatedly listed as the winner.

Yes, there is more. Who were the (surprising – LOL) other finalists?

Nike Loses Advertising Award (Not) And Now, Even More, More Rich and Famous

As Media Post points out – Nike is in good company. An obvious band of rich and famous advertisers:

“The other nominees in the category included spots for Apple AirPods and Apple Watch Series 6, a separate Nike spot, and ads for Amazon Alexa and Beats By Dre.”

Apple, Apple (twice), Nike (again), Amazon, and Beats By Dre… Really? My take is that The Emmy’s just got lazy – and too obvious.

Obvious? Let’s remember that The Emmy’s is about TV bucks, and mega brands and big spenders like Nike, Apple, and Amazon are, well, way into the world of TV bucks.

OK, OK.

Need more words on advertising awards and what ones y’all should enter? Go read this: Top Advertising And Design Awards

2022 Emmy’s – Oh, Oh… Oikos

Here is my vote for a TV commercial for the next award show. Oikos Yogurt and karaoke.