Unbiased, Friendly, & Considerate… Welcome to the Epica Awards!

When you think of the Academy Awards or the Tonys, you would assume that experts in the fields of film and theater are the ones who are calling the shots on who gets to take the trophy home. This is, for the most part, very true. Creatives analyze the work of other creatives. That can get very subjective and critical.

In advertising, many award shows have the same type of jury boards who are experts in the field, but not the Epica Awards. What makes Epica so special is that its jury members are all journalists, people who have a different approach to and perspective on creative storytelling. They serve as a liaison between the creatives behind the ads and the audience exposed to the ads. Journalists are also storytellers, analyzers, and, most importantly, outsiders who come in to judge the work of creatives coming from a different background and experience. One of Epica’s greatest missions is to present an “objective and unbiased expertise as long-standing observers of creativity and innovation.”

It all started back in 1987 in Paris. Having originally focused on Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the Epica Awards became officially global in 2012. About 200 agencies submitted work to the show in 2018, representing 69 countries, and people more than 200 magazines and websites from around the world are on their jury board.

Epica’s aim is to reward outstanding creativity, whether it comes from agencies, media consultancies, PR, marketing or tech firms, production houses, design studios, or individual artists, to develop their reputations beyond their national borders.

What’s also very refreshing and appealing about this festival is its humanistic approach to the awards show where they publish their promotions. Epica stays away from the politics and the favoritism behind the curtains of award shows and basically approaches you as a human being. Take a look at their Self-Love Campaign, created in collaboration with Hecho Studios Amsterdam, that they promoted for this year’s awards show. It’s simple and honest but also witty and clever. Basically, it tells the participants who are submitting their work to not be too self-absorbed in their work and leave that mentality to other award shows. “To elevate this we wanted to convey a bold and visually striking message inspired on op art….we managed to create an eye-catching visual that illustrates self-affirmation with a dash of sex-appeal,” explains Gregg Clampffer, executive creative director, Hecho Studios Amsterdam.

If you think about it, many ad agencies want to empower themselves and boost their own ego at any awards show. The advertising game is fierce during awards season, which is why most award shows fuel this fire. But then, Epica presents its campaigns telling everyone to sort of calm down and adopt a vibe of realness.

Our favorite campaign by Epica was 2016’s friendly messages, a series of ads showing a text message visual exchange between the judges of the panel; professional and “formal” communication is dropped in these text messages, and the judges text each other as colleagues, reaching out to each other to have a drink or dinner and just catch up. Just like the good old times, wouldn’t you say?

Most award shows focus a lot on being clever and witty and sometimes have an aggressive approach in their campaigns; it’s always about showing off who has the biggest balls.

But Epica is here to prove that we are simply human beings and that the panel of judges aims to empower and appreciate every entry in the competition by portraying a friendly vibe in their campaigns. The show creators believe that every single entry matters and deserves recognition, and that’s why they developed the Epica Books.

The Epica Books include not only the winners of each year but also special selections of entries that were not awarded but are worth mentioning.

Consider it a glossary for all the amazing campaigns that have been published throughout the year and save it as a library for your research, consideration, and good reads.

Published by Bloomsbury — the London publisher that discovered Harry Potter — this annual bible has become a hit and a gem anticipated by many people in the industry because it not only shows the best work of the year but also offers insights into the industry and the evolution of the market as well as interviews and professionals’ highlights.

The latest topic, featured in Epica Book 32 is the challenge of agencies to find that perfect balance between political correctness and staying true to oneself in the creative process, specifically in Latin American countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.

Basically, an Epica Book is nearly a 400-page encyclopedia of everything you need to know about in the ad industry from the past year.

Speaking of professionals’ highlights, we would consider the Epica Awards show a “people’s awards” show because they not only recognize the creatives and the people behind the ads but they also highlight them and give them a front-page showcase on their website under their Global Headline Makers category. This section puts a spotlight, every now and then, on a successful expert in the field who has had major success as a bold maker/mold breaker in the field: in other words, a creative, strategist, and business-leading person who has brought a new twist to today’s social messaging in multimedia campaigns.

The latest headline maker is Swati Bhattacharya, CCO of FCB Ulka, who specializes in finding smart ways of opening closed doors. One of the latest examples is the Out & Proud campaign for The Times of India, which raised the issue of LGBTQ rights in India.

You can check out the full interview here.

Naturally, when you have a panel of judges full of journalists at an award show, you can at least expect a good amount of media and PR coverage of the event. The Epica Awards has been mentioned by many press outlets around the world, such as Adland and AdWeek, from Europe to the Middle East and America and Asia.

The awards show never fails to give credit and tribute to all participating agencies who have submitted work, collaborated with the award show, or been in partnership.

Epica Tributes gives shout-outs to well-established brands and agencies in the form of e-books in appreciation of the hard work these entities have contributed to the award show.

Some notable brands given tribute are PepsiCo, Audi, Unilever, Ikea, Coca-Cola, Samsung, and McDonalds. Notable agency tributes are those for BBDO, Ogilvy, McCann, Y&R, and Publicis.

The Epica Awards is truly an award show that welcomes everyone with open arms and gives proper, fair, and deserved recognition to every participant.