Awards

It might feel like tooting your own horn. It might not be billable hours. But when you are recognized by a professional organization, it brings accolades to your team, to your partners, and to your fanbase.

It also makes your mentors really proud of you. Can't you hear Jill’s 5th grade teacher, Mr. Bucco, thinking, " She used to make such intricate dioramas, now she's won an award!" But really, it's social proof that the idea has merit and all those years of toiling were worth at least the weight of this heavy statue.

We keep our eye on awards from several camps: entertainment, nutrition, and leadership. Slaying in these categories has allowed us to boast of being "award-winning" since our first nod in 2012. It started with alumni awards from Jill’s university for reppin' hard in her profession, then grew to industry awards for music. This punctuated our process for our internal team, made us take pause and reflect that we were really doing something great in the world. We weren't just full of ourselves; experts said we were also good at this. This is of course gave weight to our media materials and built buzz for our brand. It's not just us saying how great we are.

Then we graduated into receiving awards for creative projects we were hired to create, like our danceable music videos. A victory this time was not just for us, our team, and our mark on the world; it gave the client something to put on their shelf and share with their stakeholders. Sharon Toth from the United Dairy Industry of Michigan can now say that her milk-focused music video has been nominated for an Emmy and Stephanie Barlow from the National Watermelon Promotion Board can now say that her project has been nominated for a Telly Award. We have given our clients pride and a PR opportunity.

The Davey Award is even one level up from there because it allows us to cement relationships with creative partners. The Davey Awards are for small shops with big ideas, meant to recognize smaller agencies that compete on a national scale – get it? Davey defeats Goliath with his amazing idea! "The annual International Davey Awards honors the achievements of the 'Creative Davids' who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than stratospheric budgets."

Here are some reasons to slow your roll and submit your client projects for an award to a reputable organization:

1. Proof of concept - build your credibility with recognition

2. PR - have something great for everyone involved to talk about

3. Learn more about the landscape - by taking note of your competition, you learn more about how to better develop your products

4. Attract talent - talented people want to work for the best companies

5. Cement relationships - an award is officially overdelivering on a project

6. Boost company moral - punctuate your process

7. Build a shelf - in the end, you get to take that bad boy home to display for when you give your next tour to a prospective client or hire!