(This post is written in generalities.)

Traditionally, Account Service has put more importance on the results-oriented Effies while Creative Departments have put more importance on creative-orientated CA.

I understand the divide and I think both camps are correct.

Here is what AS says about CA:

“If it doesn’t produce results, then it can’t be good creative. Most of the stuff in those award books is just posters hanging in some Art Director’s basement.”

Here is what Creative Departments say about Effies:

“I don’t care if it’s effective, if the work is crap. In fact, most of those Effies results are not driven by the work at all.”

This year I had the opportunity to judge the Effies. The Effies made one change about a year ago with regard to entries that could put that show in a league of its own. Now every entry must include a 4-minute video that clearly states the challenge, shows the idea that solves the challenge, shows how the idea was brought to life and finally, they share the results.

Adding creative into the mix is a very smart idea in my opinion. Now the judging process is complete – from challenge to creative to results.

I believe CA and One Show will always have value in our industry as books that showcase the best in creative thinking. But Effies has taken a big step toward being the most relevant award of all.

That sounds as far fetched as one of Enquirer’s “Bat Boy” stories, but it’s true. The Enquirer is being considered for the Pulitzer after it blew the lid on the John Edwards’ affair with Reille Hunter that knocked him out of the 2008 presidential race.

This probably will not come to pass. I mean, come on, this is the National Enquirer we’re talking about. Elvis sightings. Deathbed celebrity pictures. Lots of alien coverage. Not only that, apparently the National Enquirer threw lots of money – literally hundreds of thousands of dollars – at trying to bust Edwards. Money and journalistic integrity? I smell something rotten.

Still, they ARE being considered. I am not making this up.

Day is night. Night is day. Up is down. Down is up. Everything you thought you knew about journalism can be flushed down the toilet – or better yet, stuffed into one of Elvis’s peanut butter and nanner sandwiches.

I’ve had this story ready to go for years. The ads keep getting worse. This year, I’m finally pulling the trigger because rock bottom has been hit.

So why are the ads crap? I think it’s because each year advertisers want to top what has been done before. They want to do something bigger and more outrageous. But in the end that equates to dumber, cruder and well, dumber. I said it again.

Thirty seconds of airtime cost about $30 million dollars. That’s a lot of cake. Nobody wants to spend that kind of money and not get noticed. So advertisers push the limits of believability, they abandon concept and they focus on trying to get viewer jaws to drop with special effects. Here’s one spot from a great agency that was especially bad.

In contrast, Coca-Cola ran this Super Bowl commercial a few years ago and in my opinion, it’s the last great commercial I’ve seen that warranted 100 million viewers.

This year, there was only one clear winner and that was the commercial that didn’t run in the Super Bowl. The gay dating service Mancrunch.com generated millions in free publicity when CBS rejected the ad.

There was one bright spot in yesterday’s game and that was for Google. They used TV to promote a search engine. They used a love story to promote technology. It was a beautiful juxtaposition. My only nit is that this concept didn’t need to run in the Super Bowl – in fact its understated quality was probably missed by many shitfaced football fans. And that’s too bad. They missed a helluva commercial.

Envy is often seen as a negative emotion. But I think at its root, it’s good. Envy gnaws at us from the inside out. Envy tells us that somebody else has something we want.

When that thing we want is a bigger house or a faster car, envy has no upside. But when that thing we want is to do better work, then envy can motivate us to improve.

I’ve been envious of other people’s work many times. I’ve been envious of ads, books, movies, poems, photographs, art – you name it. I’ve come away wishing that I had created the thing I envy. A bolt of envy knocks me off my feet every time.

Envy makes me want to achieve more, do better, think more creatively, to be less literal, to be more surprising, more unexpected, be smarter, on and on. In the movie “As Good As It Gets,” Jack Nicholson tells Helen Hunt that she makes him “want to be a better man.” I guess in a way, that’s what envy does for me.

I was on a new business pitch yesterday (can’t reveal who here) and the pitch team all had a great time. We made a point to bring the various creative concepts to life in a really fun way. The client seemed to also be engaged and have fun right along with us. At one point, I think I even heard some applause. Laughter filled the room.

Economic times are tough and all, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves. When you have fun, it brings levity to everyone else. When you have fun, the dark clouds lift.