The Tracy Awards for the Worst Advertising
Grabbing the attention of the consumer is becoming more and more difficult. Ads need to entertain or educate - or both - in a memorable way. The Tracy winners' creative fails to do that - which means they likely aren't doing much to meet the client's goals.
Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) December 7, 2009
After a two month submission period, the judges have finally handed down the list of "winners" of the First Annual Tracy Awards -- the awards show created to honor the worst of the worst in advertising. Brands like Snickers and Microsoft were among the finalists, winning very specific awards like "Best high-profile fall from grace" (Snickers); "Best reckless waste of expensive talent" (Oreo) and "Best use of cross-promotion to single handedly destroy comedy forever" (Microsoft) for their various campaigns. According to the judges, each Tracy Award winner is a unique little nugget of embarrassment that's helped lower the bar in the world of advertising creativity and execution. Highlights from the list of "winners" includes:
- Oreo - "Double-Stuf Racing League" TV Ad
Tracy Award: Best reckless waste of expensive talent
- Microsoft - "Family Guy / Windows 7" TV Ad
Tracy Award: Best use of cross-promotion to single handedly destroy comedy forever
- Snickers - "Snickers Speak" Print Campaign
Tracy Award: Best high-profile fall from grace
- Coors Light - "Post-Game Coach Interviews" TV Campaign
Tracy Award: Best use of a dead horse to beat another dead horse while jumping the shark
- Basil Hayden Whiskey - "Good Luck" Print Ad
Tracy Award: Best use of incomprehensible pretentiousness in a print ad
- Yahoo! - "Lose Wight" Banner Ad
Best use of unintentionally effective stock photography
The Tracy Awards received over 1000 ad submissions from its opening date in September until the ballots closed in mid-November, with submissions from both domestic and international markets. Judges evaluated all kinds of creative including radio, print, online and television ads and collateral, and narrowed down the submissions to 12 Tracy recipients, each named a winner for its own unique qualities - or lack thereof.
"With the Tracys, we're honoring ads that are probably losing the battle to the DVR," said Tracy Crowell, president, Crowell Advertising in Salt Lake City. "Grabbing the attention of the consumer is becoming more and more difficult. Ads need to entertain or educate - or both - in a memorable way. The Tracy winners' creative fails to do that - which means they likely aren't doing much to meet the client's goals."
Tracy winners will receive acknowledgement: in-house CMO's at the various brands whose ads have been deemed Tracy-worthy will receive a genuine, 100% plastic Tracy trophy (photos available).
"From the likes of the submissions we received, there's a lot of bad advertising out there. Sometimes it's the agency's fault and sometimes it's the client's," continued Crowell. "We know we've got some bad ads, too. The Tracys should remind companies that the creative bar needs to be raised."
The 2010 Tracy Awards will be waiting for the next lot of bad advertising next year. Submissions will be accepted September - November 2010. For a complete list of Tracy Award winners, links to the ads, as well as award titles and descriptions, visit: http://www.thetracyawards.com.
About Crowell Advertising
The brainchild of one man's notion that he could do things better, Salt Lake City-based Crowell Advertising has since grown beyond its singular beginnings to become a full-service agency. Now sporting 30 staff members and billing $26 million, Crowell offers creative and production services, public relations, media placement, interactive marketing and at least 60 helping-hands. But who's counting? For more info, visit http://www.crowelladv.com.
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