Like many advertising execs, The Barbarian Group co-founder/COO Rick Webb occasionally moonlights as an award show judge. Over the years he’s noticed that juries love to reward creativity, but aren’t big on discussing effectiveness. In his latest blog post for Boards, Webb argues that if the down economy is putting more pressure on advertisers to prove ROI, then the idea that creativity can trump other realms of digital marketing seems ridonkadonk.

So, it’s that time of the year again: entering awards shows. Well, specifically, one award show. We just finished up our entry submissions for the Effie Awards. I’ve never paid too much attention to the Effies until last year, when they were so kind as to ask me to be a judge. That was sort of an eye-opening experience after judging other awards shows because, as they say, it’s about effectiveness. Yeah, yeah, whatever. That’s what I thought too. But damn, they really take their effectiveness seriously.

So I figured we’d enter this year, because now that I sorta had the gist of things, it appealed to where our company – and, really, interactive as a whole – is at. That being, of course, ROI. You know the drill: the down economy has put increased pressure on advertisers and marketers to demonstrate ROI on all interactive blah blah blah. OMG I almost fell asleep writing it out. Fact is, the shit you do has got to work. Why this is a big surprise to anyone, I have no idea.

It occurred to me, then, that these two threads are not independent of each other. Perhaps it being a big surprise to everyone that our shit has got to work stems from the fact that barely any awards shows actually care if things work or not. I am no stranger to winning a Cannes Lion, but seriously, what is going on here? We are in an industry that gets paid to sway people’s opinions, and we give out awards based on an entirely different set of criteria. It’s sort of like if the adult video industry gave out… wait, let’s start over. It’s as if the accounting industry gave out awards on best penmanship.

It’s even more mind boggling in the digital industry. Virtually every major digital award is handed out because there was sort of a nifty idea that hadn’t been tried before and got a lot of buzz in the press. I’m leaving the Effies out here, since they’re usually more for integrated campaigns (though maybe we can change that this year. Fingers crossed). But everything else? Cannes? The Clios? LIAA? The One Show? I’ve judged many of these through the years. And asking for results doesn’t figure into the equation at all.

Now, maybe I’m getting old, but the concept of “creativity” being somehow more important than other realms of digital marketing seems ridonkadonk. Our clients are screaming – and yes, a few of them are literally actually screaming – for measurable results, and we still give out awards because the projects are intriguing ideas, or show promise for the industry, or are well integrated, or have engaging design or… come on! We’ve been at this for like 12 years now! We all know it works! Let’s prove it!

Right now, the way I see it, four groups are coming at digital marketing: the traditional agencies, the production companies, the nerds, and the kids. In short: Goodby, @radical, Google, Facebook. Which ones do you associate with creativity? Which ones do you associate with effective Internet marketing and boatloads of money? Is it a coincidence? I think not. It’s kind of amazing to me that after the rise of Google, then MySpace, then Facebook, then Twitter, we still think creativity and story are the pillars of successful Internet marketing.

It would be awesome to see an awards show that reflected this. I mean, there’s some digital-industry awards shows, like SXSW or the Webby’s, and these are awesome to win because at least they’re judged by “Internet” audiences (i.e. “more like your customer”) instead of “advertising” audiences. But I’d love to see something about results. About impact. About the whole kit and caboodle. From that first meeting where your client says they want to drive more traffic or sell more widgets or get 300 comments on TechCrunch to the end campaign, and result. And even if it was the ugliest thing in the world, if it elegantly and cheaply solved the problem, it was able to win. That would rule.

The awards shows are acting as a prism here, of course, for the larger issue of measurement, ROI and proof. But hey – maybe they’re as good as any place to start. If I could only win my next Cyber Lion by proving that the campaign worked and that my goals were met, well, then, I’ll bet we’d manage to speed up this whole miserable, grueling, awful period we’re in where everyone wants to measure things but no one can agree on how so no one is doing much of anything.

Rick Webb is co-founder and COO of The Barbarian Group.

http://www.barbariangroup.com