Stuart Devoil, Group Head of Marketing at James Latham and multiple CMA winner, sets out why he will be entering the Awards again this year
It’s not an Oscar or a Nobel prize, but a Construction Marketing Award is recognition that really counts.
And recognition matters, particularly in a sector where marketing as a discipline can sometimes be undervalued or overlooked.
I first found the CMAs when I was working with a small team in a relatively small business and trying to demonstrate to management the value of what we were doing. We knew our work had had a massive impact, but the Awards provided a way of gaining some independent judgement on just how good a job we’d done.
So we entered and we were shortlisted. The senior managers turned out in force and what an evening! There was our small marketing team being judged alongside the biggest names in the industry. When we won, it was a huge statement that our work was judged to be the best against some massive organisations with huge teams and enviable budgets.
Suddenly we’d grabbed the attention of the rest of the company and marketing was a success story rather than an overhead. I can testify that negotiating for next year’s marketing budget is a bit easier if you are brandishing a trophy under one arm.
It didn’t do me any harm either – the very next day I got a call from a competitor gently asking if I was looking for other opportunities. I wasn’t, but it was the first time anyone had tried to head hunt me and demonstrated immediately the profile of the awards programme.
Since then I’ve been involved with another five winning entries and each one has been the icing on the cake for some amazing campaigns.
When your campaign is shortlisted it’s such a great feeling to go to the event with the team who made it happen. All the effort is forgotten and we’re simply there to celebrate a job well done. And when you win, that moment when your team is shouted out in front of the best marketing professionals in our industry is one to savour.
We’ll be entering again this year for sure. I’ve got enough space on the shelf for another award and I’m looking for that all-important recognition for the fantastic team I work with.
Winning wouldn’t be satisfying without great quality opposition, so my advice to all marketers is: if you believe in your campaign – enter it.
