The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Please …

Pretty please …

… can you stop awarding English speaking agencies – especially those only with offices in English speaking nations, only producing work in English – titles like ‘Best APAC agency’.

I get they may have won more awards than any other agency in the region.
I get they may have topped more categories than any other agency in the region.
I get they may have been recognised more than any other agency in the region.

BUT at best, they’re the best ENGLISH SPEAKING agency in APAC.

That clarification is important …

Because apart from it being factually correct, it stops devaluing and demeaning the companies, agencies and people who don’t speak English as their native language.

Which in terms of the APAC region, is the vast majority.

Years ago, an agency who had been named APAC Agency of the Year, put something out that said something like:

“If you’re a company in Japan who are ambitious, then the APAC Agency of the Year would love to help you fulfil your goals”.

Now I get recognition is important.

I also get being named APAC Agency of the Year is utterly epic.

But … but …

Hell, it wasn’t even written in Japanese … which suggests they didn’t think it mattered if you don’t speak the language, don’t know the culture, don’t have an office in that country, don’t have any Japanese employees, don’t work in Japanese … you can teach them a thing or two about great work.

I mean, can you get more Colonialist than that???

Hell, even if they meant it in terms of expanding outside of Japan – rather than inside the country – it’s still pretty arrogant.

That said, I used to see this shit all the time when I was in China.

I still remember an exec from a UK-only based agency telling a room full of Chinese business leaders “we can help them be successful”, despite that being the very first time they had been in China … or the social media ‘guru’ who told people at Unilever China why Twitter was so powerful, not realising Twitter was banned in China.

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t tragic.

I should point out Colenso has been crowned ‘best APAC agency’ in its time … and while that before I was here, I still find it wrong and would openly say it was.

Sure, they didn’t suggest they were going to colonise the whole region with their approach to creativity, but they also didn’t say they weren’t … which still suggests some sort of superiority, intentional or not.

Look, I get the titles are a byproduct of how the awards are calculated … and I get it also reflects who enters and how many times … but given the vast majority of the judges are English natives – with Western frames-of-reference – it immediately benefits those who come from similar backgrounds.

This is not a new issue for me.

I said it when I got Chaz from BBH to do a co/presentation with me/Wieden in 2012 … I said in back in 2013, when I was invited to speak at Mumbrella about Asian creativity and I said it every time I was spoke at an Asian awards where the lead language was – bizarrely – English.

Asian creativity has a terrible reputation.

I know there’s issues of scam advertising, but that’s not unique to Asia. Remember Peggy?

The reality is the Asian region has used creativity in innovative ways for thousands of years.

For fucks sake, this is where paper, printing, money, gunpowder, wheelbarrows, coffins, chopsticks, toilet paper, holistic health and TikTok originated.

Sure, the creativity produced today may not always follow Western market approaches … and their contexts of life may be very different to other countries … but that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy, valuable, creative or interesting.

We can all learn from others.

There is so much to gain from hearing how other countries approach things.

Being the best English speaking agency in APAC is still a wonderful achievement.

But there’s enough ego in this industry without us adding to it by handing out titles that have more in common with colonialism than creativity.