London International calls for scam ads Rosemary Ryan
ARE scam ads becoming a legitimate path to awards?
The London International Advertising Awards (LIAA) has announced plans to embrace what is usually the scourge of award ceremonies by establishing a new scam ad category for the 2002 awards.
President and creative director of Taxi, Toronto and Montreal Paul Lavoie—this year’s LIAA jury president for TV/cinema, radio and print—is lending his name to the new category, which will be called Lavoie’s Playground.
The LIAA said the category would create a “legitimate forum” for the submission of scam or ghost ads—ads that have not qualified to be entered in the main awards because they have not run.
The LIAA said Lavoie’s Playground would allow scam ads to be judged on the same criteria as entries that make up all other categories—creativity alone.
Entries for the new category will be accepted in print, poster, TV and outdoor and must be for legitimate clients, be submitted as finished work and have been created within the past year.
Lavoie said the introduction of the scam category gave creatives in “frustrating environments” an outlet to be discovered.
“When you think of it, experimentation with bold ideas and raw techniques is often how any industry discovers new frontiers,” Lavoie said.
LIAA is also introducing a new outdoor print category that includes billboards.
