Winning a major award is worth a lot more than a handshake and a smile.

The media and public relations value resulting from a win makes traditional promotional channels look inefficient by comparison.

A single entry is made to the Marketing Awards in Toronto, at a cost of $74.90 (gst included.) On awards night, in front of 1,290 of your peers, it wins a gold.

As you take the stage to accept your statue, you are filmed by Citytv’s Movie Television crew, who later grab you for a brief interview.

A scribe from The Toronto Star, also covering the show, gets a few quotes from you.

As everyone makes their way home, they pore over the awards annual, which makes a permanent record of your achievement.

It will quickly sell out when it hits the newsstands the next week.

How does this all add up?

Attendance at show 1,290

Readership of annual 42,800

Movie tv segment 35,000

Toronto Star article 1,286,700

Total impressions 1,365,790

Cost of entry $74.90

cpm $0.06

It has been awhile since I have done media evaluations, but on this basis, awards shows outperform other media by a significant margin.

This estimate does not even take into account other non-measurable publicity such as word-of-mouth and headhunter gossip.

And by the way, when was the last time you got a 12-inch bronze statue (suggested retail value $800, in case you have ever wondered) with your media buy? DM

Sources: 1) 1992 Marketing Awards actual attendance 2) Marketing magazine estimated readership 3) BBM Spring 1992, adults 18+ 4) NADbank 92, adults 18+, Mon.-Fri. readership.