Award-Winning Agency Shut Down

Employees blame company’s demise on founder’s compulsive need to win awards.

Creative agency Evenball officially closed its doors for good yesterday, prematurely ending its lease of the hundred and twenty-three square-metre office in Spinningfields, Manchester and leaving its four remaining employees jobless.

Once known as one of the go-to agencies for many upper-middle class companies seeking inventive and unique marketing, Evenball was best known for its recent dominance in the awards circuit scooping up just about every trophy dedicated to the field.

But as some would tell it, Evenball’s founder-cum-Creative Director Joe Phlemos’ penchant for awards might have been what doomed the agency.

Having boasted a modest-but-talented roster of sixteen employees in its heyday, the agency steadily lost much of its manpower with many of the disgruntled ex-staff citing Phlemos’ “addiction to awards” as the primary cause of the agency’s abrupt decline. Human Resource Manager Marge Rita-Patrón stated that the agency had, over the years ,“devolved from a humble but well-functioning agency servicing an international clientele to one obsessed with titles and trophies.”

Advertising Director Janie H. Laurent further accused her ex-employer of “intentionally dropping and forcing creative teams to instead focus on both creating case study videos for past work or generating ‘scam ads’ for the purpose of entering competitions.”

This shift in focus left the agency without a single paying client by end 2012 and Ms Laurent tendered her resignation about nine months ago when asked to take a pay cut “for the greater good.” Her departure caused somewhat of a domino effect with each passing month seeing yet another employee leave. Ms Laurent also suggested that Phlemos is now receiving “much needed therapy” at the behest of friends and family.

However, not everyone seemed to have shared this common sentiment. Copywriter Jenni L. Anderson chose to stay on till the very end. When asked about her choice, Ms Anderson said that “loyalty is my most valued trait … I have faith that Joe will one day recover from his addiction and re-establish Evenball. And I’ll be the first person he’ll want to rehire.”

Graphic design novice and Evenball Senior Intern Mark S. Novak claimed to have not been paid any wages for over eighteen months prior to the agency’s shutting down. Nevertheless, Mark was not unhappy as he believes the experience was worth it, as is the prestige that comes with having his name attached to award-winning works. Said Mr Novak, “I might’ve been livin’ off toast and water for the last six months, but me ma’am always said ‘look at the bright side;’ I can now attach my name to more than five prestigious awards!” Mr Novak was also especially pleased of his promotion from Intern to Senior Intern during his last year at the agency.

While awards are generally seen as a positive milestone in the advertising industry Evenball’s fate proves that an obsession with winning is no different from any other obsession — destructive.

In this age of accolades and global recognition it is best that creatives remember that advertising is ultimately a service industry whereas pursuing awards only serves the creative, not the client.