As a lot of my LinkedIn buddies are folks I’ve worked with in the past, you might already know that every year I strive to win an award in the print industry. Or in some cases, a creative award with an innovative print idea.
Well, this year has been my most successful to date. I’ve been nominated for four awards so far. The first has been and gone to no avail (even though I demand a re-count). But I’m still rocking three nominations, so fingers crossed!
But why as a print buyer, and not an actual printer, am I so pushy to win awards?
It’s not to impress existing customers. It’s not even to gain new clients. It most definitely isn’t for my ego or to give myself the star treatment. It all boils down to the hard work I’ve put into the past 18 years. And the hard work I’m going to keep putting in.
I’ve always said to myself, if I ever become that buyer who rocks a cheap suit and a briefcase with nothing but my lunch in it, working in a position where I’m told what to buy, where I can’t add any value, and looking at cost without thinking about the end result – that’s when I’ll knock it all on the head and find a new career.
Going for awards is how I stop myself from becoming that person. It means I constantly have to reboot my ideas and keep up with the ever-changing print industry and its techniques.
So bring on the next challenging brief. Whether it has a budget or not, I’ll be buzzing around the creatives or designers showing them examples of what’s possible and what boundaries we can push. I mean, who wants to just do emails or web techie stuff?!
Let’s bring back print that opens eyes and blows minds.