With waning interest and little funding in the coffers, the B.C. ad industry’s Lotus Awards withered away in fall 2014.
But the ceremony honouring the best of the West Coast advertising world will be in full bloom once again this November.
“It’s really considered a unique event in the Vancouver marketplace,” said DDB Canada CEO Frank Palmer, who is serving as co-chairman of the awards along with 123w CEO Scot Keith and Nadine Cole, general manager of Cossette's Vancouver office.
“We really want to have a strong feel to it, that it’s new, that it’s fresh.”
The Lotuses were shelved in July 2014 when the industry group that owns the awards, the Advertising Agency Association of B.C. (AAABC), announced it was dissolving.
Before the AAABC folded, the Lotuses had already lost a number of big sponsors and the show was nearly cancelled in 2011 due to lack of funding.
“It became a show that we weren’t going to enter because it just became not as legitimate as we wanted. And we wanted to have a show we could take our clients to and have our clients proud,” Palmer said.
Former members of the AAABC asked the Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA), which has run the Toronto-based Cassie Awards for more than 20 years, to organize the Lotuses.
The ICA then approached Palmer last October to see if he would take on a leading role in a revived version of the awards.
“I said, ‘Only under the condition we can make it the best show in Canada,’” he recalled.
Palmer said the plan is to add additional categories to recognize more digital and film entries, and he’s also hoping to get the ceremony televised live.
Confirmed speakers for the event include DDB Worldwide chairman emeritus Keith Reinhard, New Business of Advertising principal Peter Levitan and Contagious magazine’s North American editor, Nick Parish.
“It’s just about bringing back creativity and, hopefully, at the end of the day making sure that people know the West Coast is still a very creative centerpiece of Canada,” Palmer said.
The call for entries begins June 1, while the ceremony takes place November 5 at the Fairmont Vancouver hotel.
