First posts on new blogs are always a bit tricky, aren't they? You must know that, surely, 'cause everyone in the whole wide world has got a blog nowadays. In fact, you should probably have more than one...one for the real you, and one for your Second Life avatar.
OK, so the Flackenhack Awards 2007. What's all that about?
The idea cropped up when Peter Kirwan - the man behind Fullrun - and the mysterious blogger known as ...The World's Leading... (or TWL to save on the typing) had a night on the beers and decided that what the UK technology PR and media industry needed more than anything else in the world was an awards ceremony.
It probably wasn't true, but through the haze of a few pints of Belchington's Old Peculiar it seemed like a bloody good idea. And even when Peter wrote some eloquent words for the Fullrun in a compeltely sober state, it still sounded like something that needed to be done:
"Unlike other awards, where heraldic trumpeters play a fanfare before dinner, the Fullrun-TWL event will take place in the real world. Our ticket prices will be defined in the real world, too. Accordingly,they'll cost far less than the £450-per-seat price point that results in so few PRs ever getting to see the inside of the Grosvenor House during October.
"Without wanting to sound precious, this is a big part of our motivation. High-priced awards ceremonies have the unfortunate effect of reinforcing elitism within agencies and in-house teams. As TWL asks: "How many hard-working AEs and AMs [working on a shortlisted campaign] have sat disappointed as agency heads have wandered around the office in their glad rags prior to jumping in a taxi bound for the Great Room?" Quite a few, we'd imagine.
"Here's something else we'd like to do: open out the event -- so that it becomes a community happening, rather than a creaky sectoral networking opportunity. In other words, journalists will be there. So will publishers, clients and agency folk. Needless to say, dinner jackets and cocktail dresses won’t be mandatory.
"TWL puts the case for a real-world awards event in its own distinctive style. We agree with pretty much every word of it. For good measure, here are a few more details on what's -- hopefully -- going to be involved:
* A judging team of journalists, assessing the work of PRs and marketers.
* A judging team of PRs and marketers, assessing the work of journalists.
* A portion of the ticket price to go to charity.
* Food (this depends on budget...), drink and live music. . .
"What more could you ask for? Not much, we hope."
Quite. You can read another rambling TWL post about the awards here, but it's probably not worth it. All it really says is, "TWL and Fullrun are gonna do some awards together" but in lots more words.
So that's it really. This is the place where all the latest news on the awards will be posted: how to enter, how to buy tickets, when and where it's happening...that sort of thing. If you want to get in touch you can email us at theflackenhacks@gmail.com (we're especially pleased to hear from potential sponsors...)
Stay tuned.
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