Turkeys are not just for Christmas

I can’t remember receiving much feedback on the first profile interview I wrote after starting at Media Week – then a separate magazine and now a brand within Campaign – over 14 years ago. But I do remember that I didn’t get asked to write another one for a long time. 

I don’t blame anyone for that. It’s much easier to ask someone who already provides exactly what you need than to help somebody else learn to deliver it. But we all need to know where we have gone wrong to improve. 

Most creative people, whatever their experience, benefit from thoughtful and specific criticism. It is harder to figure out where your narrative could have been stronger, when you might have questioned more or if you should have pushed harder on your own.  

I spent a lot of time last year speaking to creative leaders about work, in a bid to improve Campaign’s coverage of it. I learnt the most when talking to people about ads they were disappointed with, didn’t like or simply hated. Films that weren’t weird enough, creative departments that had stopped at the strategy line, flabby comedy scripts or ideas that were – to borrow from Stef Calcraft – advertising 1.0.

I also thought about what other publications do – within our world and beyond. On one advertising podcast I listened to, the journalists described their approach to writing about work. They elevated the stuff they thought was great, and ignored what they didn’t rate.  

But that is not the way art, music, theatre, film, tech or restaurant critics do it. It was not the way Campaign approached it for the first 50 years, either. A regular part of Campaign’s output was Turkey of the Week – the editorial team’s pick of the worst recent ad. 

Highlighting only the best bits and ignoring the rest is also not the way the advertising industry approaches Campaign’s editorial. When someone is unhappy with something we have written, they tell us. And I appreciate it. We put our work out there. We are open to feedback so we can keep improving.

The editorial team suspended Turkey of the Week at the start of the pandemic in 2020, when the industry was struggling and the future was scary. I was on maternity leave – dealing with my own challenges – but I understand the decision. Picking a turkey each week wasn’t an exact science and I’m sure we didn’t get each one right. 

I’m not suggesting causation here but the past three years have not been a monumental period for UK advertising. There are bloody good reasons why. But, as we look toward the rest of 2023, with the ad industry facing threats from all directions, it is time to tackle this. Raising standards will help secure advertising’s future. 

I hope Campaign readers will learn by reading about how and why we think ads could or would have been better. And that will be the focus of any critique. We won’t pick a turkey every week – just as we no longer have a Pick of the Week when there isn't an ad worthy of the title – and we will avoid picking the obvious. 

Courageous and talented marketers have a key role in brilliant work. At our Year Ahead Breakfast Briefing in early January the role of bravery came up a couple of times. MullenLowe’s Nicky Bullard highlighted the dearth of brave work coming out of the UK, while ITV’s Kelly Williams said there was an absence of brave marketers. You need one to deliver the other.

Creative work is the heart of Campaign and that is why we’re going to bring turkey back. We want the work to be better. And we want to play our part.

Maisie McCabe is the UK editor of Campaign.