Earlier this year Admap ran their inaugural essay contest on the Future of Planning [which, as I discussed in the post below, often really means the confusing present].
I wrote a paper about the fragmentation of strategy, looking to incorporate modern psychology and behavioral economic insight into our advertising, and the impact of technology and that.
I shortlisted and wrote about the winning papers [and published mine] here.
They've asked me to judge to the next one, alongside Gareth Kay, Colin Mitchell, Guy Murphy and other people much smarter than I, which is nice.
The brief for this one is:
There is a $5000 prize for the winning paper, and the top papers will be published in Admap. You can get more details over on WARC - the deadline is JANUARY 31st.
This is a topic close to my heart.
A long time ago, when I got into advertising, I decided that I would prefer it if, and therefore I believe that, and work towards the idea that advertising can be a force for good.
The brief contains an inherent assumption, that there is a tension between maximising profits and doing social good.
You can track this dialectic back at least to Milton Friedman, and, by a remarkable coincidence, a few months back I published a paper examining this, and providing a squaring of that circle, looking at the business case for doing good.
This may be of use, if you choose to enter, since I'm one of the judges and that.
{Remember, like any piece of communication, when writing your essay, you are writing for an audience.]
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