Facts and Myths About Awards
Every day, spirit brands seem to be crowing about the awards or accolades they have won. Whether meaningful or not, press releases and brand pitches abound with “we won this” or “we won that” to the point where I often wonder what difference it makes.
At the same time, the purveyors of the award programs are all over the place with implicit vows of brand supremacy and recognition. They seem to be saying that if you enter our contest or event and vie for glory, not to mention recognition, you’ll succeed.
So, let’s take a brief look at awards and accolades from several viewpoints — the awards in general, the trade, the makers, and the impact on consumers. Let’s separate fact from myth, with a few opinions thrown in.
Fact: Major and mainstream brands don’t need or use awards as a distinguishing characteristic. Of course, they don’t need to at this stage in their development. But, even at the outset, brands like Tito’s, Patron, Absolut, Bulleit, and others did not use accolades as a reason for being. Perhaps it was because there were far fewer award contests or because their message, brand attributes, and market positioning were sufficient to win over the trade and consumer.
The only exception I’ve seen is on behalf of line extensions, and then only sporadically. I suspect that a zealous brand manager from a top brand managing a line extension will be attracted to enter the brand in an award contest to show management that the investment in the extension is worthwhile. (Not to mention how great they manage the brand.)
Opinion: Among award suppliers, not all are created equal. I’m not looking to review these companies or make any recommendations, but the two that stand out, in my opinion, are the Ultimate Spirits Challenge and San Francisco Spirits Competition. Sure, there are many other excellent suppliers, but I’m impressed with these two because of their longevity, the people who run them, and the acumen of the judges most of the time.
Speaking of judges, that’s a critical dimension. I have a client and friend who entered his craft product in both these events. Interestingly, one is on the east coast, and one is on the west: same product but markedly different scores. There must be palate differences east and west — why else would he have received double gold in one place and bronze in the other? The only further explanation is that the product produced in one area reflected the taste of that area but didn’t translate across the country.
Fact: Craft brands enter contests that they presume will enhance their go-to-market ability. It’s about recognition and trying to influence distributors and retailers.
Fact: If a craft brand has deep enough pockets, they can enter tons of award events and collect medals (some meaningful, most not) and get lots of bragging rights.
Fact: The best aspect of awards is the opportunity for brand publicity and use on social media.
Fact: But…It’s not about the award itself; it’s how to monetize it.
Fact: Awards don’t build brands. A unique and relevant proposition, together with sound strategies and tactics, and pounding the pavement is what it takes. There are no shortcuts.
Myth: The trade cares about brand awards. The reality is that they look at new brand awards, and it becomes a sort of ‘ticket of admission.’ For many, it’s like chicken soup when you have a cold; it might not help but can’t hurt.
That’s because…
Fact: Brand awards are overdone and a dime a dozen.
Myth: Consumers focus on awards in their decision-making process.
Let’s get real — there are tons of prizes and brands shouting about them — some are multiple golds and some ‘honorable mention;’ some are from no-name award events, some from meaningful ones. Who has time or interest in considering awards to make a purchase?
I’ll tell you what, in my experience, works best — a number on a shelf talker (adjacent to the bottle). A rating of 90+ captures the attention of someone looking to try something new and has more meaning than tons of not understood and pointless glitter. Thank you, wine industry, for using numeric ratings in highlighting top wine brands.
Fact: The only people benefiting from awards are the organizers of the award events. A close second is the brand owner, who thinks that awards are the quick and easy way to succeed.
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If I were to be philosophical and more than a little meanspirited (who me?) I’d say that the award culture we live in stems from the past 40 years or so, starting with camps, organized sports, and other efforts, whereby just showing up earned an award, plaque, or trophy. As my friend and business partner, Rob Warren, says, “It’s the syndrome where everyone who plays or pays gets an award.”
Sure, show them an award or two as an aside, but not the focal point of your brand proposition. To win in the booze business, you need way more than that.
Let me know what you think.
12 comments
All spirit awards shows are crap. Even the San Francisco’s show gives out ‘awards’ to about 92% on entries. It’s nothing but pay for play advertising.
Awards are as much for the people that earn them to validate their claims of superiority as for the investors that yearn for a reason to take a long shot on the next big drinking sensation.
You have a point. Hope you and the family are well.
Arthur: I appreciate your views on the present state of spirits competitions, which have largely succumbed to the enter-and-you-automatically-get-a-medal ethos. Virtually all present day contests hand out medals like hot dogs on the Fourth of July, thereby diluting and making a mockery out of the very purpose of “competition”.
All of which is why Ultimate Spirits Challenge DOES NOT bestow medals. We believe that strict methodology can still serve a purpose in professional spirits analysis. We recognize quality with meaningful awards that are earned over the course of two months of careful evaluations by the best spirits authorities in the world.
Absolutely agree. That’s why I shouted out about USC.
Well, you seem to know a lot. But… there are competitions with an Award cap..but off course in good old Europe..you probably have never heard of them…but have this slightly arrogant view that the USofA sets the standard.
As reacted on LinkedIn:
This is how consumers get wrongly informed, because the info is too selective and subjective.
I agree there are plenty competitions where you simply “buy” a medal, but plenty are not like that. I am an international spirits judge since 2000, so I talk from experience, not myth or “heard internet facts”. I do Spirits Selection from Belgium and Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards in South Africa. Both are not mentioned by you, and they also contradict your story. They don’t give 90% medals, not even 40%. They aim for a max of 30%, and that’s it.
Now your readers think all competitions (apart from the 2 you mention) are bad, and that isn’t true.
This blog is US-centric. Most people understand that. Contests around the world may be more effective and meaningful, but I write about the US. Further, it was not my intent to paint a “bad” picture but to point out that contests in the US, the US, are overdone and therefore often meaningless to the ULTIMATE JUDGE, the consumer.
Sorry if you did not understand that.
See the previous comment. I write about the US. Period. Nothing to do with setting any standards. If this is not to your liking and requires you to post ‘snarky’ (a US term) comments, then perhaps you should read something else.
Since we have conducted a specialized competition for the rum category only, for 10+ years, from 2010 until 2019, prior to COVID, we have watched other competitions come and go. Our rum category competition has not taken place since COVID because we prided ourselves on having judges attend in person from all over the world in order to properly evaluate the rums. Our competition took place in the US during the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival annually. Since travel is not the same as it once was, and we have not been able to assemble the judges as we once did, we have not held our competition again, but will revive it in the future, when we feel it is safe. https://rumxp.com/ Two of the individuals above, Rene van Hoven, and Bernhard Schaefer, have participated as judges in our competition. I believe they will agree that we prided ourselves on holding a prestigious event which was very well executed and the winning expressions were truly “the winners of that particular competition. The International Rum Expert Panel was comprised of hosts from other international rum festivals, noted authors, lecturers, trainers, historians, journalists, consultants, collectors, proprietors, mixologists and promoters of rum. They engaged in a strictly organized blind tasting competition to evaluate some of the best rums available on the market at that time. Our results were tallied by outside independent statisticians and the compiled scores the rums received from the judges would never be shared beyond the competition. We believe our competition was well respected amongst the rum category and we do hope to bring it back in the not too distant future. So in conclusion, we do feel that if a competition is conducted properly, the awards received by the producers are both deserved and should be considered prestigious.
Thank you for this. Very informative. I hope you return soon and best of luck.
Thank you Arthur. We really do pride ourselves on conducting a “good” competition and we look forward to bringing it back when the time is right.