Since Volcano hasn’t happened yet, I don’t have much new to tell you. What I can think is that it will be the prelude to a pitched battle next year for several reasons.
If we consider this week’s competition, we could expect a distribution of statuettes among several commercial communication companies. Both advertising and PR agencies, promo and retail as well as digital could win. The companies participating come from all over, and in 2012 the record number of companies competing was broken.
In each category, a Grand Volcano will be awarded for the best creative work in its league. However, the grand prize will be awarded when one of them is awarded as the best of the festival. That Volcano is a privilege reserved for only one of the players, as will be the Agency of the Year Volcano.
If Tribu DDB were to win once again, we would achieve the fourth consecutive Volcano as the most awarded agency. This happens when the sum of points of an agency surpasses all the others. For this reason, to achieve agency of the year it is necessary to bring quality and quantity, winning ideas as well as volume.
This condition rules out many agencies that do not have enough winning creative pieces to accumulate enough points. However, surprises can happen, as they did when we won Agency of the Year for the first time.
On that occasion, we went on to dethrone Garnier BBDO, which had won the previous year. However, that year’s entry by jotabeqú must have been the largest to date, and perhaps even today the largest of all. With a much smaller investment, our participation achieved enough Grand Prix to turn the odds around and win on a night that even we were taken by surprise.
That could happen next Saturday at the Herradura. Any agency with a medium-sized entry and an appropriate distribution among categories could win Agency of the Year, if and only if it manages to have one of its entries win in several categories. Therefore, there is no way to anticipate any result, there is no small player or company that can’t win.
I believe that Tribu DDB and jotabeqú are the companies with the highest number of entries in 2012. I also expect important participations from others such as Ogilvy, which always manages to win. Publimark is an early winner and TBWA brings extraordinary pieces, if they were finally entered. House Rapp won last year and took the Volcano for the best work of the festival, and this year I have no doubt that they will repeat. The competition is evenly matched and all is well for the next Volcano.
However, as I was saying, for 2013 it will be fierce competition. If Tribu DDB were to win Agency of the Year again, I have no doubt that they will go to great lengths to stop a fifth consecutive victory. If it were jotabeqú, Tribu DDB would be back with blood in its eye to win it back. And since Garnier BBDO returned to Comunidad, I would assume that next year they will come with a heavy load to retake a creative leadership lost years ago.
All this on the surface and in plain sight. Meanwhile, the undercurrents are even more exciting. The creatives are getting ready to take the Volcano as the first stage on their way to the international festivals. To win today is not enough with a good local level, and therefore, creatives and designers are polishing themselves to achieve the global level that wins in Cannes, Clio or the Ojo. Competition increases and talent is trained, the client demands more and the country’s level rises as a whole.
The creative movement in Costa Rica continues, already confirmed as one that wins internationally. We are seen as a country that has transcended its borders, and it is no longer strange to see Costa Rican agencies excelling in scenarios that we once thought were reserved only for the powers and large markets.
With all this, winning Agency of the Year three consecutive times in Tribu DDB has been good for our prestige and recognition, as well as for our investments in new business. Achieving it for a fourth time would be a consolidation option on the way to the fifth year that we dream of achieving, particularly because we like forcefulness. But to get there, we would have to win the day after tomorrow, and we know that will not be easy.
I wish McCann-Erickson would come back to the Community, and that Father, to speak in his style, would “leave his sticks behind” and bring his work to the Volcano. It’s the national championship, and whoever ignores it, sooner or later, will pay a heavy price. Being part of the Community is an intelligent decision and playing at the Volcano is also an intelligent decision. The other arguments are just excuses.
From here and in advance, congratulations to the winners. We win more if we all win.
